Page 41 of Doctor Holliday
“Happy holidays to you and your family.”
Chapter 19
Christmas Day
Lucy
“Happy Christmas!” Marty raised his glass. The adults around the dinner table raised their glasses and nodded.
“So, Aunt Lucy delivered a baby in your stockroom?”
Kade, Lucy’s nephew, stared at Keaton with big eyes. For once, he looked five, rather than sixteen. Lucy took a quick look around the table. She missed the old days, when Callie and her nieces and nephews were little. So much had changed through the years. Her brother’s dark hair was more gray than brown now. Her parents didn’t move as quickly, agilely, as they used to. Her little girl would leave for college next fall.
Keaton’s hand found hers under the table almost as if he felt her distress. She flashed him a quick smile.
“She did.” Keaton nodded.
“Sounds gross.” Kade shuddered in disgust. Lucy snorted as she sipped her wine.
“So gross, Kade,” she agreed.
“Remember that.” Her sister-in-law pointed at him and narrowed her eyes. “You don’t need a baby yet. Which is why you and?—”
“Mom!” Kade’s cheeks flushed deep red. Lucy and her sister exchanged a look.
“So, what’s going on with the baby, then?” Marty asked as he dug into his prime rib.
“You know I can’t tell you that.” Lucy didn’t even look at him.
“Oh, come on. It’s a little like the whole Christmas thing. A baby born out in the cold?—”
“A young girl giving birth to a baby in a stockroom in a strip mall is hardly like the whole Christmas thing,” Lucy argued. “Just stop.”
“Is that a smart TV, you said?”
Lucy looked at Kim again before turning to look at her dad.
“It is, Dad.”
He nodded as he took a bite of his mashed potatoes.
“How long have you been dating?” her mom directed her question at Keaton.
“Can we watch movies with it? Blue-Ray?”
“You can stream movies, Grandpa,” Kade told Lucy’s dad. “You won’t need the blue-rays anymore.”
“What about football?” her mom asked. “I like him, Luce. I think you got a winner this time.”
“Mother.” Lucy sighed, patting Keaton’s leg when he chuckled.
“How longhaveyou been seeing each other, Luce?” Deanna asked.
Wine glass at her lips, Lucy looked at her sister-in-law over the top and held up a hand as if to ask for a second.
“Since the night she delivered the baby,” Keaton answered for her.
“That wasn’t a date,” she argued as she put the glass down.