Today, I thought it would be fun to write a scene where we see what Christmas with Logan and Melissa is like. These two characters had their romance in Ruined by the Earl. (Ruined by the Earl is Book 3 in the Marriage by Deceit Series.)

This story takes place December 25, 1822. The setting is Logan’s country estate. At this point, Logan and Melissa have four children. Matthias is now 5, Jerry is 4, Charles is 2 (will be 3 in January), and Joshua is nine months old. (I thought it fitting to give this couple quite a few kids since Logan kept talking about having them during the course of the book. And honestly, he really wanted to have kids, so this is part of his happy ending.)

Again, please note this is a first draft post. It is purely for entertainment purposes. I am not publishing this in a book, so there’s no need to comment with any errors you find. Let’s just have fun with this. We’re enjoying a peek into this couple’s happily ever after.

***

Logan packed down the snowball in his hand then gave it to his brother, Geoffrey. He pointed to the snowman Matthias and Jerry had helped him make. “The goal is to hit Malcolm the snowman.”

Geoffrey rolled the snowball in his hand. “Malcolm bad.”

“Well, I don’t know if I would bad.” Logan couldn’t have Geoffrey saying that in front of Melissa. Melissa wouldn’t like that. Malcolm was, after all, her brother, and Logan owed it to her to be respectful of him. However, he couldn’t act as if he was happy whenever the gentleman was around. “Malcolm is not like us, Geoffrey. He doesn’t take time to have any fun. He spends all of his time worrying about money. I mean, I like money as next as the next gentleman, but I don’t obsess over it like he does. Do you know what Melissa said he’s doing today?”

Geoffrey shook his head.

“Melissa said Malcolm invented some kind of game about finances that he’s giving his own children as Christmas gifts,” Logan replied. He had been shocked when Melissa told him about it, but saying it aloud seemed to make the situation much worse. It was a good thing he and Melissa had given the poor children actual toys that they could enjoy. “As if the books and lectures he gives them isn’t bad enough.”

“Malcolm bad,” Geoffrey repeated.

“Well, maybe one could say he’s bad at knowing how to let children have fun.” Yes, that would work. Melissa would agree with that statement. So if she caught Geoffrey saying Malcolm was bad, he could use this as a suitable explanation. He patted his brother on the back and pointed to the snowman. “All right, now see if you can hit him.”

Geoffrey gave a nod then threw the ball.

It missed. But it came close.

“I bet you can get the next one,” Logan hurried to encourage him so he wouldn’t give up. He scanned the area and saw Matthias and Jerry making snow angels. “I thought you two were going to make a lot of snowballs. We can’t defeat the snowman without your help. If we don’t defeat him, he’ll ruin Christmas, and you won’t get your Christmas presents.”

Matthias and Jerry immediately stopped playing in the snow and hurried to make more snowballs. He had decided not to tell his sons that the snowman really represented Malcolm. Word of that would get back to Melissa, and after she caught him and Matthias throwing darts at Malcolm’s portrait a while back, he learned that it was best not to upset his pretty little wildflower.

Matthias was the first one to come up to them with a snowball, and Jerry soon followed. “When do we know we won?” Matthias asked.

“When the snowman’s head falls off, we’ve won, and Christmas is safe for children everywhere,” Logan replied as he patted down one of the snowballs. He handed it to Geoffrey. “Cheer him on, lads. It’ll fill him up with Christmas spirit, and that will help him hit the evil snowman.”

“Malcolm bad,” Geoffrey repeated and threw the snowball.

This time he hit the snowman in the abdomen.

The four cheered.

Logan gave him the second snowball. “Try to his it in the face this time. We can’t open up presents until we knock its head off.”

Geoffrey repeated, “Malcolm bad.”

As he threw the snowball, Logan saw Melissa coming out to them. Joshua was in her arms, and Charles was running next to her as fast as his little legs could take him.

The snowman’s head fell off, and Geoffrey, Matthias, and Jerry gave out a loud cheer, followed by Matthias yelling, “Christmas is saved!”

Logan gave his excited brother another pat on the back. “Good work, Geoffrey. Now we have banished all things boring and dull from our midst.”

Melissa reached them, a puzzled look on her face. “I thought you all came out to build a snowman, not to destroy it.”

Before the others could give the truth away, Logan slipped his arm around her waist. “There’s my sparkling snowflake.” He kissed her. “We were just waiting for someone to come out and tell us it’s time to open up the presents. We made the snowman and got bored.”

“Malcolm not have fun,” Geoffrey told her.

Logan shot him a panicked look. Sometimes Geoffrey remembered things too accurately. Noting the way she arched her eyebrow at him, Logan chuckled and squeezed her waist. “My darling heart, even you have to admit that the presents Malcolm is giving our nephews isn’t right.”

She sighed. “I agree that giving Leonard and Harry financial books and making up financial games for them to play when they’re still young is absurd. No child has fun with things like that.”

Glad to have the matter resolved so easily, he said, “That’s what Geoffrey meant by Malcolm not having fun. Can you imagine if we tortured our precious little ones that way?”

“The evil snowman is dead,” Matthias cheered. “Ready for presents!”

“Presents!” Jerry agreed and bolted for the manor.

Charles tugged on Logan’s breeches, so Logan bent down to swoop him up in his arms. “I think we’ve been out here long enough. Come on, Geoffrey. Mother has everything ready in the morning room.”

“Ride horse?” Geoffrey asked as they headed for the manor.

Logan inspected the sky. While it was cloudy, he didn’t think there was any danger of more snow later in the day. “We can ride, but we have to take it slow.”

Geoffrey nodded in agreement. “Go slow.”

“Will you take Matthias with you?” Melissa asked Logan.

“Of course, I will. Now that Matthias is old enough to sit with me in the saddle, I had planned to take him out while we’re visiting my family,” Logan told her.

“Good because I think he’s starting to get bored just sitting with us ladies all day,” she replied.

“Malcolm boring,” Geoffrey said.

Logan’s face grew warm. He really shouldn’t keep going on and on about how much he didn’t like Malcolm whenever it was just him and Geoffrey. Melissa frowned and glanced back at the snowman. At once, Logan knew she was putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

“It’s not what you’re thinking,” he told her.

“Oh? So the snowman isn’t my brother?” she asked in a tone that let him know she wouldn’t believe him if he were to deny it.

“All right, yes it represented your brother.” Might as well get it over with. “But it’s not one of his portraits. It’s just a bunch of snow rolled up on the grass. It’ll melt soon. You know he sends us portraits because he wants me to be aware of him every time I go by it.” He shuddered. “It’s his way of reminding me that he wishes I hadn’t married you.”

At first, he thought Melissa was going to deny it, but she ended up conceding to his point. “I suppose it is strange that he keeps sending us portraits. He doesn’t even always do it of his family. Sometimes it’s just him.”

“It is strange. I can only hope our attic is large enough to fit them all.”

They reached the manor, and she gave him a sympathetic look. “For what it’s worth, I’m very happy to be with you. You turned out to be a wonderful husband.” Her eyes lit up. “I think you’ll like what I’m giving you for Christmas.”

“Are you going to tell me we’re going to have another child?” he guessed.

She blinked in surprise. “No, not this time. We have four.” She glanced at their youngest. “And Joshua is only nine months old.”

“All of our children are close in age, and I am a firm believer that you can never have too many children.”

“You only say that because you don’t have to give birth to them.”

Though she uttered the reply, he could tell by the smile on her face that she had enjoyed carrying them. Sometimes he thought it would be nice to feel a new life moving inside of him. Ladies were lucky that way. However, he would never want to go through the actual process of giving birth, so he was more than happy to leave that part of creating their family up to her. His role was much more fun.

When they entered the morning room, Matthias and Jerry rushed over to the stack of presents in the middle of the room. To the side was a buffet set out with an assortment of treats, and the room was decorated with bells and ribbons. Logan put Charles down then helped Melissa and Geoffrey out of their coats. Afterwards, he led Geoffrey to a chair near the roaring fire that warmed up the room.

It was hard to believe his sister Isabella was old enough to be married already. This was her first year not spending Christmas with them. She was spending it with her husband’s family instead. Marybeth, however, had just turned fifteen, so they would be able to enjoy her company a few more years.

“Who wants to open their presents first?” his mother called out.

Matthias and Jerry hurried over to her. Logan supposed he should remind the children that when they were inside, they shouldn’t be running around and jumping up and down, but it was Christmas, and the children were excited. He didn’t want to spoil the mood. Besides, a little running and jumping never hurt anyone. At least he knew the presents they were getting would be things they could actually play with. So, in a way, this was just as fun for him. He was looking forward to seeing the excitement on their faces when they opened the brown paper to see what they received.

“Who should we start with?” Marybeth asked, putting her finger to her lips as if this was going to be a difficult decision.

As Mathias and Jerry competed to be the first one to receive a gift, Charles went over to the presents. Logan couldn’t blame him. What child didn’t want to see what gift was waiting for them? Even someone as young as two couldn’t help but get into the Christmas spirit. Logan sat with Melissa on the settee and put his arm around her shoulders. This was nice. It didn’t matter to Logan what his gift was. He had Melissa, their children, and his family to celebrate the day with him. And best of all, none of Malcolm’s portraits were in the room to torment him.

The End