County Line

Christmas Surprises

Brantley’s POV:
Christmas was only weeks away and I still had absolutely no idea of what I was going to get Darci. She and I had taken off to Atlanta a few days ago to finish up shopping for Bray and the rest of our family. She was the only person that I had left to get something for and I was completely drawing a blank on that to get her. Darci deserved the moon, the stars, and the sun for loving Braydon and I as fiercely as she does. But since those things were possible, I knew I had to think of something that would be just as important and meaningful.   

Sitting on the couch watching Darci wrap Christmas presents on the floor while Christmas music played through the speakers of the surround system on the house, I found myself wondering when I had ever felt this content in my life. I had an amazing son, a woman that loved me with her whole heart, a baby on the way, a damn good job, and family backing me in every decision that life threw my way. For the first time in years, I felt happy with whatever plan God had in store for me. After all, putting my faith in him had been how I’d managed to stay clean all this time. Putting my faith in him had led me to Darci. But most of all, putting my faith in him and his path for me had led me to be the man that I am proud to be now. 

And then it dawned on me what I could get her. A few weeks ago, I’d made the comment that I couldn't wait until the day that I could call her my wife. For Christmas this year, that was just what I was going to give her… myself and my last name. Since it was only a couple of weeks until Christmas, I knew I had to get started on the planning and that I would need to recruit everyone that I could to make it happen. Luckily, her parents were planning on coming into town for the holidays anyway so there wouldn't be a huge rush of getting them here since they already had their plane tickets. 

“I’m gonna go down to the studio for a while if you don't need my help.” I said as I stood from the couch and began walking over to her.

“Okay. I’ll call you if I need anything.” said Darci, looking up at me. There were scraps of what I had learned was buffalo check printed paper in various shades scattered all around her. I didn't care about what was on the paper but she loved it and that's all that mattered. 

“Okay.” I said and I leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her lips as she tipped her head back. “I won’t be long.”  

***

As soon as the door to my studio closed, I dialed Mama’s number. My heart was racing a mile a minute by the time she answered. 

“Hey baby boy. What's up?” said Mama.

“I need your help. I don't have long to talk and I want to make sure that this stays a surprise, but I finally figured out what to get Darci for Christmas. I’m going to give her a Christmas Eve wedding. Nothing fancy because that just is not who we are but I still want it to be meaningful to her.” I said quickly. Mama knew that I had been struggling on what to get Darci for Christmas. 

“Don't you worry ‘bout a thing, baby. I’ll take care of it. I’ll get Ashley, Hillary, and the ladies from church that I know can keep their mouths shut to help. You just let me handle everything okay?” said Mama.

“Works for me.” I replied. “But I get to pick out her dress.”

“Brantley, you know that you can see the dress before the wedding…” started Mama but I cut her off. 

“Mama, I can't see her in  the dress. She's not going to know about the wedding so I can't have her trying on dresses now can I? Just let me worry about the dress. I’m trusting you with everything else.”

“Fine. I'm assuming you want it to look Christmassy?” said Mama.

“Yep. Just surprise me.” I said. “Oh, and one more thing. I want to have the wedding at the small park in town. That's where we went on our first unofficial date.”

“You got it, baby boy.” said Mama. “Anyways, I better get off here so I can get to work. I have a lot to do in two weeks.”

“Love you mama.” 

“Love you too baby.” 

As I ended the call with mama, I couldn't help but smile. Braydon had said a few days ago that this was the best Christmas ever because he got the tree he wanted. He’d said it again when she had taken him shopping and let him pick out new ornaments for the tree, including one that was his favorite superhero. I was thinking it was going to be the best one yet because I got to call Darci Grace Tillet my wife. All I had to do was make sure that she didn't know what I had up my sleeve. 

Darci’s POV:
When I heard the studio door shut, I jumped from the floor and grabbed my phone from my purse. I needed to see if I had gotten a call back from the doctor's office. I had called my doctor earlier to see when I could get an appointment to find out the sex of the baby. I wanted to surprise Brantley with the sex of the baby as part of his Christmas gift. I was planning on giving him a new leather cuffs that had ‘read me my rights’ embossed on them since he had told me that was one of his favorite songs to perform on stage. I wanted him to have something to remind him of me and the kids while he was on stage. I had already gotten his guitar that I ordered the other day that Braydon was going to give him. I didn't know much about guitars and it probably wasn't up to par with what he played on stage, but when Braydon had seen the camo acoustic sitting in the window of the local guitar shop, he’d begged me to buy it so that he would be able to give it to his daddy for christmas. Me being the sucker than I am when it comes to Braydon, brought the damn thing and even had the fretboard embossed with his and Braydon’s initials. 

When I saw that I had a voicemail, I quickly checked it. The doctor could get me into the office two days before christmas. I know it was cutting it close, but the closer to christmas I could get the appointment, the less likely I was to spill the surprise. Keeping the secret for two days was going to be bad enough. I couldn't imagine how I would handle it if I had to know for longer than that. 

I made a note in my calendar and quickly deleted the voicemail. I didn't even want Bratnley to know that I had an appointment. He had just been talking this morning about how it was just about time to find out the baby’s gender. It wouldn't take much for him to figure out what I was up to if he knew I had an appointment. Now, I just had to figure out how to get him out of the house that day. The one person I knew that would be able to tear him away for a few hours was Kolby. I quickly typed out a text message to him telling him that I needed him to keep Brantley busy on that particular day and that it was for part of Brantley’s Christmas present to which he replied no problem. 

I erased the message and slipped my phone back into my purse before heading back to the living room to continue wrapping gifts. I couldn't have helped the smile on my face if I had wanted to. I couldn't help but think how Braydon had said this Christmas was the best one ever. Not for the first time since I’d met Brantley and Braydon, I silently counted my blessings, making sure to count the two of them twice.