Episode 65: Christmas Tree

Christmas was the cause of commercial lies.

Nicholas was wise enough to know that but he had still had gone the extra mile this year.

Emily's hand flew to her mouth as she watched him aid the men in unloading the gigantic tree from the truck and drag it into their house.

The pleasantly surprised look on her face told him that getting a tree this year had been a great decision. Her eyes twinkled with a positive emotion as they looked at him as it finally stood tall inside the living room. "You got a Christmas tree?"

"Us," he corrected. "I got us a Christmas tree."

She felt her heart warm.

It had been a while since she'd seen an actual tree much less decorate it. The flood of emotions she was undergoing overwhelmed her. Excusing her herself for a moment, the woman headed for the bathroom.

In a state of panic, Nicholas swiftly went and stopped her.

"Did I do something wrong? Should I have not bought it?"

"No, it's not that." She assured him strongly.

"What is it then- wait, are you crying?"

He took her face in his hands and was greeted by an appearance of tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Em, why are you crying?" His fingers wiped at the wetness on her face quickly and looked her deeply in the eyes. The sudden contact made her heart race, like it always did, and her response was delayed.

"Emily," he pressed softly, snapping her out of it.

"Oh," she blinked rapidly. "It's just that I'm so moved. I haven't seen a Christmas tree in ages."

His heart ached.

That was why he had bought the thing in the first place. Usually, he'd go without it at this time of year because it only acted as a nuisance around the house once it started shedding but he wanted to personally bring the spirits of the season to his little wife. She hadn't celebrated the holidays with someone in a long time and being the person lucky enough to keep her company, he wanted to make it a memorable one for her. A special Christmas that she would recall for years to come until another one spent with him could top it.

"I'm glad that you like it," he mumbled, becoming slightly distracted by her grateful aura. "Let's start decorating it then, shall we? If we get to it now I reckon we'll be able to finish before the clock strikes twelve."

She laughed out loud.

"Who told you it was a good idea to get a Christmas tree the day before Christmas?"

"Nobody. But I had been so caught up with planning everything for Paris that I had procrastinated buying it. It wouldn't be courteous of me to ask Nanny Kim to get something like this done by herself either - this is a man's job."

"Okay, Johnny Bravo. Did you manage to get the decorations at least?"

He shook his head at her childish comparison.

"They're in the bag over there. We can start anytime you're ready."

Emily dragged her feet over to where he pointed with a pout.

He looked at her weirdly for her reaction.

She smiled sheepishly in return.

"I thought the idea of decorating a Christmas tree together would bring more excitement than this from you." Nicholas blatantly spoke.

"It's not that I don't like the tree, it's just the act of decorating it that gets to me. Usually, I'd leave the task in the hands of the professionals and by that I mean I'd sleep through the festivities before the big day and wake up to everything already done."

"Oh."

She shrugged.

"Sorry, but I'll make sure to put in the effort this time around." She promised. "How hard can it be to hang a few things on a tree, right?"

Nicholas gave her a small smile.

Within the next hour, Emily took back everything she said about decorating a Christmas tree not being difficult.

It was one of the hardest things she has ever had to do, especially with how freakishly tall the thing was. What was it? Almost 16 feet? It was so towering that it made Nicholas look ridiculous standing beside it and he was over six feet tall.

She had given up halfway, the man before her reassuring her that she had helped enough. Nicholas had taken over and gotten most of the work done, bringing life to the symbol of merriment. He hung little trinkets on the tree which included traditionally-styled glass ornaments and whimsical star garlands to add elegance to the branches. Beneath that, he had brought out brightly wrapped presents and vibrant red twigs sticking out from every angle. She didn't even know when he had bought those.

From her position on the couch, she watched him with parted lips. "When did you have the time to buy gifts?"

"David helped me. I made a list of all the things I wanted to purchase and he got them in the spare time I'd given him off work. He had a bit of shopping to do himself."

She pursed her lips.

"Do you have any idea how tiresome Christmas shopping is? Trying to find something pleasant to buy for your family is the most stressful thing ever. Imagine David having to do it for two. Poor thing."

"There's no reason to pity him. He's actually the one who suggested doing it once he realized I'd be caught up with immersing myself back into work this week." He admitted and my brows raised in surprise.

"Really?"

"He finds the idea of you not getting a Christmas gift blasphemous if I recall correctly."

She giggled at the image of him saying so. "I really do love David."

The man winced.

She stared at him confused.

"Please do refrain from using that word on another man in my presence if he's not your father."

It finally hit her why he'd reacted with such sensitivity to what she had said.

"What about my Grandfather? Does he get a pass as well?"

Entertaining her teasing Nicholas tapped his finger beneath his chin, eyes staring out in space. "I'd have to think about that."

"You're incredible," she announced before her attention shifted to the tree.

"It looks great. More than great actually, it looks beautiful. You did a fantastic job."

"Thank you. It wouldn't have been possible without you." He said.

"I hardly did anything," she laughed slightly embarrassed.

"There wouldn't be a tree here if it weren't for you so I think you've done enough."

Her eyes lit up.

"So you bought it because of me?"

"Something like that." He teased.

She grinned at the truth written all over his face.

"Thank you." The brunette bade as she got up off the couch and into his arms, giving him a tight hug.

He reciprocated her sentiments and held her close.

"You're welcome, love."

Kissing the top of her head, Nicholas brought her to take a seat again, this time joining her.

"Chase has been pushing for me to make him meet you since he's been back." He brought up suddenly and the change of topic sparked her attention.

"Really? I'd love to meet him. When do you think we can make that work?"

"He was thinking tomorrow."

She paused for a minute.

"Wait but tomorrow's-"

"Christmas Day, I know."

His eyes landed upon her expectantly. "Would you mind? It's his first Christmas back and he doesn't have that great of a relationship with his father to spend it with him. The only family member he's close with is his aunt but she's traveling all the way to Maine to spend it with her kids. He doesn't want to go that far. It's too much of a hassle he says."

Now that she thought about it, that sounded awfully similar to Valentina's case.

When she had spent the night over at her place the girl had said she'd be spending the holidays by herself - like she always did. Her family lived far away from her since the day she had upped and left to pursue her dreams in Hollywood. And that had been from a very young age. It had been a long time since she had been lucky enough to visit them. Whatever the cause was for it not being a yearly occurrence, she didn't say. Only revealed that there was a good reason. However, her homesickness got so bad sometimes she would be physically impacted.

A light bulb moment came to Emily as she regarded her husband.

"I don't mind," she said and he blew out a breath he didn't even know that he was holding. "But do you think it'd be possible for Valentina to join us as well? She's kind of in the same boat as Chase."

He nodded.

"Sure, no problem. The more the merrier."

She grinned from ear to ear.

"But aren't you worried?" He asked out of the blue.

"About what?"

He looked at Emily dubiously as if he couldn't believe that she didn't know what he was referring to.

"Valentina doesn't know we're married," he spoke slowly, "It's not like Chase - the guy doesn't benefit nor lose in any way from knowing about us. However, it's a different case when it comes to her. Do you have that much trust in her to share this secret? Wanting to invite her over for the holidays guarantees that much."

She didn't need to think about it.

Emily trusted Valentina.

And even if by some possibility she were to do something to betray that trust, it wouldn't matter because his wife had already gone past the point of fretting about the revelation of their marriage to the public.

They had a date set and if it were to be revealed before then despite their carefulness, it just wasn't meant to be.

She was exhausted worrying about the chances of a what-if.

Even though it took a while, she realized that this irrational fear she had should've never been so great to take precedence over her relationships. She had argued with Nicholas so many times because of it she had lost count. It was honestly silly to think about it now.

She was an actress. One that wanted to make it even bigger in Hollywood. If she didn't learn to not be affected by people's opinions of her at this point in time, how was she going to manage when she climbed even further up the ladder of success?

"You always tell me that what's meant to be it'll be. I'm going to trust you and do what I want to do for a change. I don't want the fear I have of us being found out about getting in the way of building genuine relationships. I'm tired of being a coward."

Nicholas stared at her, openly stunned by her confession.

He didn't know that she was feeling this way.

However, he couldn't say that he had any negative thoughts on the psychological transformation she underwent overtime.

Frankly, he was immensely proud of her for getting over being consumed by the need to be liked by everyone because that was impossible - not everybody was gonna like you.

He could've rang that into Emily's head over and over again but it would've done nothing if she didn't take the initiative of overcoming her own insecurities.

"I'm so proud of you," he breathed.

She smiled, a hint of shyness radiating from it.

"I mean it," he assured her strongly. "I know you've said before that you don't mind us revealing our marriage to the public but you've never said it with this much...assertion. It's as if you truly mean it this time."

"I do."

This time around his smile touched his eyes and she couldn't help but swoon at it.

"So it's final? We're having Chase and Valentina join us for dinner tomorrow?" He confirmed once last time.

"I guess so." She hummed, excited by the thought of it.

His hand took her small one in his hold and she felt his lengthy fingers begin to play with her own.

He looked like he was deep in thought.

"What is it now?"

"Nanny Kim's off to spend the holidays with her brother."

Emily's head tilted at him questioningly. "And?"

"What are we gonna do about dinner?"

The woman faltered at the idea of trying to prepare anything.

"You do it." She said quickly.

"It's not like we have much of a choice between the two of us."

She held him by the cheek with a fierce glare.

"Repeat that."

He winced at her punishment at his sly words before slowly having her remove her hand from his face.

He opened his mouth and rotated his jaw with a pained expression. "Harsh much?"

"That's how I feel when you pinch my cheeks."

The man paused, brown eyes flickering up thoughtfully. "Really?"

She giggled.

"Of course not."

Rolling his eyes at her, Nicholas stood up.

"Hey, where are you going?"

Her laughter at his gullibility hadn't died in the slightest.

Flashing her a look of disapproval, her husband pointed towards the kitchen. "I'm going to see if we have everything needed to make a good dinner tomorrow. Somebody has to get the work around here done."

She stuck out her tongue at him playfully. "You suck."

"You wouldn't be this talkative if you did too."

Her mouth dropped open.

He smirked.

"Don't know how to react?"

"I don't think I want to." She mumbled, stiff as a board.

Nicholas shook his head highly amused and walked over to her. Placing a kiss to her forehead, he pulled away.

"Go have fun with the pup. I'll be in the kitchen if you need me."

"Is this your way of telling me to stay away from the kitchen?"

"As always, you're quick to catch on." He winked.

Emily huffed.

She couldn't argue with him though.

It was no secret that her place was behind a camera and not a stove.