This winter I found true love! (A 'The Santa Clause' Story)

chapter 24= Matrimony?!?!

Julia's POV

As I sat in my dad's armchair, Bernard retrieved my dad's infamous red coat.

As he carried it over to dad, dad stared at himself in the mirror in slight worry, as the held the hem of his pants away from him.

"That's weird, isn't it?" Dad asked.

"Uh oh!" Said the two puppets, Punch and Judy, stood in the puppet stand in my dad's office.

"These fit yesterday!" Dad turned to Bernard with worry.

As Bernard slid dad's coat onto his shoulders, Abby, the hot cocoa elf, entered the room.

"Hot cocoa for you, Santa!" She announced.

"This is not a good time, Abby." Bernard sighed.

"I sent Dasher down for some Brazilian cocoa beans!" She stated, placing the hot cocoa tray onto my dad's desk.

My dad stepped in front of his desk chair, examining Abby's face with squinted eyes.

"What's the bad news?" Dad asked.

"What do you mean?" Abby replied, mocking my dad's tone.

"Whenever you play the designer bean card, genuinely, you have bad news!" Dad smiled at the elf.

Abby's smile faded straight away.

There was a moment of silence, until Abby pulled out a little scroll which looked like the naughty list.

"What are you doing with the naughty and nice list?" Dad asked.

"Just don't shoot the messenger." Abby stated with a hint of warning.

Dad slid on his moon spectacles and unravelled the naughty list.

"It's... Charlie!" Abby finally sighed.

"Sheen? I thought he straightened out?" Dad asked, turning to Bernard and I stood next to him.

"Not that Charlie!" Abby added.

My heart dropped.

Dad's eyes shifted from Abby to the Naughty list. Until he must've seen that one name.

"My Charlie?" He asked.

"My brother Charlie?" I asked. Abby nodded.

"He's on the naughty list?" Dad asked.

Punch and Judy shrieked and hid behind each curtain of the puppet stand.

"Listen, Abby, there's gotta be some mistake!" I leaned forward over dad's desk.

"We don't make mistakes. I'm sorry, Santa, Jules, please excuse me!" Abby sadly bowed her head and walked out of the office.

I walked around my dad's desk, frantically pacing the area with worry.

"How could this happen?" Dad asked.

"Is this what you and Curtis were trying to tell us, Bernard?" I asked.

As soon as I said that, Curtis came in with a large magnifying glass machine.

"Great! You told them! Good! Now let's get you dressed for that meeting!" Curtis smiled.

"I can't have the meeting here! I really can't! I'm gonna have to go see Charlie!" Dad sighed as Bernard buttoned up his coat.

"Number two! Tell them right now!" Bernard sighed.

"Tell us what, guys? Come on, come clean!" I exclaimed.

"Santa, Julia, there's a clause!" Curtis stated.