Page 104 of The Mistletoe Mix-up

“Alright, well, if it’s something that we need to talk about—”

“We don’t,” she said, standing on her tiptoes to give him a kiss. “Let’s just go enjoy Christmas.”

Sam let his concerns go as she took his hand and led him out to the car. The ride over was quiet, and when they arrived at the top of the hill, Lukas came running out the front door, talking a mile a minute about the presents he’d gotten. Sam and Lukas had hit it off the first time they met, and Lukas took both Wren’s and Sam’s hands and led them into the house, telling them all about his new Lego sets and tablet that Santa had brought him.

When they crossed into the house, Luke and Garrett were in the kitchen preparing food while Elizabeth sat in the living room with her feet up, a cup of tea in her hands. Pete set a plate of fruit on the side table next to her, and Wren almost snickered, wondering what in the world was going on. Luke had barely acknowledged how tired his wife was, and now all her brothers were doting on Elizabeth like she was a queen.

Robert was nestled in his chair with a cup of coffee in his hands, smirking when he met her questioning gaze.

“What’s going on here?” Wren asked.

“Your brother offered to make Christmas dinner,” Elizabeth said, beaming proudly at her husband, whose cheeks were flushed.

“And he enlisted my help,” Garrett grumbled.

“Well, that’s awfully nice. Should we be scared about possible food poisoning?” Wren teased.

“Wren, I love you,” Elizabeth said, pointing her finger at her, “but if you ruin this for me, I will bury you in the backyard.”

“I will keep my mouth shut and vomit silently when I get home,” Wren deadpanned.

“Hey!” Luke stopped chopping and brandished his knife, waving it in their direction. “I’ll have you know, I cooked for myself all the time before I met Elizabeth.”

“Yes, but it wasn’t any good,” Pete said.

When Luke swung his way, Garrett leaped back with a yelp before unarming his brother. “Stop waving that thing around, you idiot!”

As the two elder Little siblings bickered in the kitchen, Robert kicked out as Pete passed by. “Leave your brother alone and go say hi to your sister.”

Pete came and gave Wren a big hug, then shook Sam’s hand. Wren made the rounds to her other brothers and then went to hug her dad, whispering in his ear, “Did you say something about taking care of Elizabeth?”

“I did, and I should have done it sooner. When your mother was pregnant, I always took care of her. I’ll do the same for all my daughters-in-law and you, when the time comes.”

Tears pricked Wren’s eyes, and she hugged him again. “You might just make a decent husband out of Pete, yet.”

“Not Garrett?” Robert teased.

“If he can find a woman to look past his hygiene, I’ll be shocked.”

Sam and her father shook hands, while Wren hugged Elizabeth, taking the seat across from her. Once she’d settled in, her sister-in-law leaned forward, eyes bright as she whispered, “I heard about the hostage negotiation at the Den last night.”

“The what?” Sam called across the house.

Wren shook her head rapidly, signaling to her sister-in-law not to say anything, when her brother Luke piped up from the kitchen.

“Are you talking about the holdup at the Den?”

Wren groaned as Pete joined in. “I heard about it on the news. Apparently, some guy went in there with a gun and held a bunch of people hostage and was trying to get money.”

“You were there, right, Wren? You talked him down?” Garrett asked, and Wren silently wondered how three semi-intelligent men could be so obtuse.

“Unarmed from what I heard,” Luke said, frowning. “Which wasn’t the brightest move. Brave, but stupid.”

Wren swallowed as Sam turned to her with a thunderous expression. “I was fine. I had backup.”

“So, you went into an armed situation and didn’t tell me about it?” Sam asked, his tone dangerously calm and in drastic contrast to his blazing blue eyes.

“Technically, I did not,” she said, smiling sheepishly, “because it turned out the guy was using a water gun. It just looked real.”