Danielle Steel - Southern Lights

“You sound happy,” Muriel said in a tender tone.

“I am,” Alexa said softly. “He’s a wonderful man.”

“Do I hear wedding bells?” her mother asked, getting excited. Being the wife of a senator sounded good to her. And a good man for her daughter sounded even better. It was time.

“No, just happy bells,” Alexa said. “I don’t need to get married. I did that.” And got burned too badly to do it again was the rest of Alexa’s sentence, but she didn’t say it. And Edward wasn’t Tom. There was nothing weak or dishonest about him. He was a totally straightforward, decent man.

“That’s how I feel about marriage,” Muriel said. “But I’m a lot older than you are, and I can’t see the point. At your age, you should be more courageous.”

“Why? I’m happy like this.”

“If he’s a good man, you might be happy married to him too. Just don’t rule it out. You never know how you’ll feel about it later.”

“Maybe,” Alexa said, sounding unconvinced. Marriage scared her, and probably always would.

When the Senate recessed for Christmas, Alexa took a week off, and they flew to New York. Savannah was staying with her grandmother and Stan, and Alexa and Edward checked into the Carlyle again, as they had over Thanksgiving. She took a room there for Savannah too, who was going to stay at the hotel with them. And Turner was coming up the day after Christmas. They were going skiing in Vermont over New Year’s with their friends, and Edward and Alexa were staying in the city. Alexa was loving her job too.

On Christmas Eve, Sybil arrived with her small army at Muriel’s apartment. The only ones she didn’t bring were the parrot and the dogs. She had all five children and John’s girlfriend, who had come with him from London again. Brian had brought his niece unexpectedly, and two grown children from a first marriage Alexa hadn’t known about, and they all crowded into Muriel and Stan’s apartment and drank eggnog and champagne. Muriel told Sybil how much she liked her books, Brian and Stan talked about favorite old movies and fly-fishing, John and his girlfriend were talking to Savannah, and Ashley, Edward’s daughter, was fighting with her boyfriend in California on her cell phone and crying. It was total chaos, and Alexa stood back, watching it with Edward, and laughed.

“My family has certainly grown. Last Christmas was just me, Savannah, and my mom. Stanley came by after dinner, he had to visit a sick friend.”

“What do you like better?” Edward asked her honestly. “That or this?”

“This,” she said without hesitation. “It’s so alive and so happy and so loving.” And the next thing she knew, her mother had suggested they order Chinese takeout and camp out in her kitchen and on the living room floor. She had put a small turkey in the oven, which they could eat the next day. Sybil and her troops loved the idea and voted to stay, and scrap their own dinner at home, which Sybil said was a mess anyway.

The young people sat on the floor in Muriel’s living room. The grown-ups sat in the dining room, which only seated eight. And somehow it all worked. It was the best Christmas Alexa had ever had, even better than the good days in Charleston.

They left Savannah at her mother’s for one more night, and Edward and Alexa walked to the Carlyle as it started snowing. They sang “White Christmas” together off-key and he stopped on the street and kissed her. It was the happiest Christmas of her life, and he felt the same way. He had loved being married to Sybil in the beginning. But this was better, it was more grown-up. And sometimes Sybil was a little too wild, even for him, although he loved her dearly.

“Maybe it’ll keep snowing and we can have a snowball fight tomorrow,” Alexa said, sounding hopeful, with a hand tucked into his arm.

“I don’t think so,” Edward said, looking down at her with a serious expression.

“No? Why not? Don’t you like snowball fights?” It seemed so unlike him not to. He was a good sport about everything else.

“I do like snowball fights,” he conceded, as he stopped walking again and looked at her. “I just don’t know if it’s a good idea for a senator’s wife to be lobbing snowballs at people in the park. You might hit a stranger and wind up on the news.” Her eyes opened wide as he said it. “What do you think about that?” he asked softly.

“The snowball fight?” she asked breathlessly.

“No…the other…the senator’s wife thing. Does that sound too crazy?” He knew how terrified she was of marriage, but he was sure now himself. He had waited a long time to find her. Sybil was right. Alexa was the one. The perfect one for him.

“I…yes…no…” She stumbled on her words, and he kissed her again. “Yes. I mean no. No, it doesn’t sound too crazy…and yes, I want to.” She was crying and laughing when he kissed her again, and then with her hand tucked tightly into his arm, they walked into the Carlyle. Alexa was grinning broadly, and looked ecstatic, despite the butterflies doing somersaults in her stomach, and the senator from South Carolina looked extremely pleased.