Candy Cane Kisses {A Holiday Romance Novella and sequel to 'Hate or Fate'}

Chapter 5

"Jesus, Jamie!" Gray rarely raised his voice, so his harsh outburst even shocked me. "Get the hell out of here!"

"Don't you use that kind of language with me, mister!" Jamie bit back.

"Then don't barge through closed doors!" Gray shouted. "I can't believe you guys!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Judy cried indignantly. "We're your family Gray! And why is there blood all over my new clean carpet?"

"Because I broke the extremely offensive picture you left on the dresser, mom." Gray speared her with a look before standing up to offer me his good hand.

"What picture?" Jamie turned to investigate like it was any of her business. She walked over and picked up the ruined frame as her brother pulled me to my feet. "Oh, Gray! How could you do that to Mel's picture?"

"How could I-?" Gray's voice broke off as his nostrils flared with the resentment clouding his expression. "How could you do that to us? To Isla? To the woman I love! Did you even consider how seeing that picture would make her fucking feel?"

"Language!" Jamie covered Terry's ears with her hands.

Judy wasn't about to take that sort of criticism when it came to her hostess skills or her hospitality. Her cheeks and nose grew redder and redder until she could give Rudolph a run for his money.

"Now that's ENOUGH!" Bill bellowed over his son while wrapping a supportive arm around his wife to clash the stripes of their sweaters. "Have some respect, young man! And put on a shirt! Your mother worked night and day to make this Christmas special for the entire family and you-"

"Then where's Molly?" The next words from Gray may as well had been a bomb.

Everyone's expressions, even the kids, melted like wax.

It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop on carpet. The music switched downstairs and the first few bars of Andy Williams singing It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year filled the room.

The uncanny irony must have been the final straw.

"What did you say?" Gray's father dropped his voice to the same dangerously low octave as his son.

The hairs on the back of my sweaty neck jumped up, ready to run with the rest of me.

"If Mom did this for the entire family," Gray was intentionally provoking his dad's anger. Goading him to get him to break, which meant Gray was past reason, himself. "Then where? Is? Molly? Where's Molly's homemade sweater? Where's her stocking on the fireplace, huh?"

"Stop it! Just stop it, Gray!" Judy cried, balling her hands into fists at her side and stomping as if she were getting ready to throw a tantrum. "We don't say that name in this house!"

"Is that your new family tradition?" Gray snorted. "Pretend Molly doesn't exist?"

Judy's face crumpled and she turned to bury her crocodile tears in her husband's wooly shoulder.

"Haven't changed a bit have you, son?" Bill shook his head while I burrowed into the safety of Gray's side. I could hardly believe it. How could his own family be so cruel? No wonder Gray barely talked about them or rarely ever went home. "Still got a smart comment for everything, don't you? Tell you what, college boy, if you got any sense, you'll apologize to your mother. Right. Now."

My guts dissolved into the stomach juices boiling my skin. The raw fury radiating off my boyfriend may have had something to do with my full body blush too. 

"He'd better apologize," Jamie scoffed as she pushed past her dad to get in Gray's face. "Or Mom'll never give him Nana's ring, and then he won't be able to propose to the girlfriend he stole from Eli."

"OK, that's it!" I blurted so loud that it stopped Gray from whatever he was going to scream at his sister. "I'm sorry!"

"Not you, sweetheart," Jamie snapped in a deceptively cloying tone while twisting her mouth into a condescending sneer. "This is a family matter."

"Isla is my family," Gray snarled.

"Apologize!" Bill shouted into the fray to make Terry whimper.

Jesus, we were scaring small children on Christmas. That was not the holiday celebration I'd envisions when I'd asked to meet Gray's family!

"I apologize, alright?!" I hollered as my heart took off, trying to tear through my chest. "Me! I'm sorry because I'm the reason Gray's here, not some old Nana-ring!"

I made sure to look each of them in the eye as I ran through everything that I was apologizing for. 

Not Gray, though. After hearing about the ring, I was too afraid to look at him. Especially after what I was about to do.

"I am very sorry that I ever asked your son to introduce me to you! I'm extremely sorry that we turned down what would have been a fabulous party with our real friends, like Molly, so you could partake in one of your favorite traditions of browbeating Gray! And last, but certainly not least, I am truly sorry that you can't put those differences aside for one freakin' Christmas!

"You know, I'm not lucky enough to have my family at the holidays because they're all gone. I will never get to see them again, or hold them, so I hold those memories as dear as I can." Actually, I hid those memories away in the pages of my book collection because I missed my family so much. "But you? You're lucky! You still get to wake up Christmas morning and tell your family you love them. And yet, you choose to spend what precious time there is in life shunning and shaming Molly and Gray. I'm sorry we ever came here."

No one said a word. No one moved. I'm pretty sure no one dared breathe until they were certain I was done humiliating them in their own home.

When I felt Gray's lips tenderly brush the crown of my head, my entire body unclenched to release a flood of warm endorphins and relief. I relaxed into his strength as he encircled me in a protective hug.

If nothing else, we had each other, and that was more than enough. 

"We're going to leave," I finally said. Much quieter that time. "So, I guess, I'm also sorry things had to end like this."

"Me too," I could feel the rumble of Gray's voice against my back. "I'm finished holding on to all that anger, and I hope you guys can let it go too. One day, we'll try this again. I love you, and I'm sorry we still can't be together."

His family stood stark still, staring at us like we'd just announced that Christmas was cancelled.   

I followed Gray into the bathroom to retrieve his t-shirt before scooping up our luggage.

"Ezra, brother, I miss you. Come visit if you ever get tired of this shit. Billy? Terry?" Gray nodded to each of his sister's boys. "I'm sorry you guys had to hear all that. Maybe Isla and I can come to one of your games Billy. That way we can all hang out again."

Billy nodded fervently, but Jamie defrosted and stepped in front of him to intervene.

"The hell you will!" She scowled.

I gasped loudly and covered my mouth to draw everyone's full attention.

"Language!" I whispered.

Gray erupted into deep, booming laughter, like claps of thunder in a rainstorm, that echoed through the house and into my core.

Judy, Jamie, and Bill sputtered their displeasure, but for once, they were at a loss for words.

Todd and the boys watched us leave with silent waves, while Ezra held up a single hand for Gray to high-five on our way out the door.