Jen

This is a short story set at Christmas after Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers. If you haven’t read that yet, you can find it at all major book retailers, including Chapters Indigo.

---

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8

---

Tuesday the 31st of December, 2002 – Westmeath, Ontario

“Five, four, three, two, one!” Jason, Kennedy, Zoe, and Gabrielle counted down with the TV. “Happy New Year!” The couples exchanged kisses, and then hugged the others.

“I can’t wait to see what year two thousand and three will bring,” Kennedy said, cheeks flushed with the champagne they’d opened.

“Plenty of good things,” Zoe replied, smiling at Jason, and squeezed Kennedy’s hand.

Jason grimaced anxiously at his sister, who he could see was trying not to laugh. “I know what’s in your immediate future,” he said to her. “Sleep.”

Gabrielle checked the clock. “For another hour at least. Brooke usually wakes up at one or one thirty for a boob.”

“Then we’ll get out of your hair and let you get as much sleep as possible,” Kennedy said, wincing in sympathy.

More hugs were given once they were dressed in their winter gear. Jason tucked her under his arm and they headed next door, back to their house.

“Do you mind if we go into the backyard for a minute?” he asked, his stomach tying itself in knots. “I’m not quite ready for tonight to end.”

“I’m up for anything as long as I’m with you,” Kennedy replied, giving his arm a squeeze.

I really hope she is, Jason thought anxiously. He led her up the driveway to the back of the house and plugged in the cord that turned on the fairy lights he had set up the week before, while she’d been at her parent’s.

“Ohhh!” Kennedy gasped, clasping her hands to her chest. “Jason! Did you do this for me?”

“I did.” He took her hands in his and admired the way the little lights reflected in her eyes. “You’re so beautiful,” he breathed.

Kennedy blushed. “Is this when you’re finally going to tell me what’s been on your mind? You’ve been distracted for weeks.”

Jason gaped at her and then laughed ruefully. “I should have known you’d notice.” His carefully prepared speech vanished from his mind and he gulped nervously. “You haven’t felt upset about it, I hope?”

“Not at all!” Kennedy replied cheerfully. She kissed him gently. “You don’t keep secrets from me without a very good reason. I look forward to hearing about this one, whenever you’re ready.”

He nodded. “I’m ready.” He took a deep breath. “But it’s okay if you’re not.” He smiled at her confused expression. “I had a whole plan, but now that it’s time, I’ve forgotten everything I wanted to say. So I’m going to keep it simple.”

Her eyes widened as he let go of her right hand, pulled out a box from his jacket pocket, and dropped to one knee. “Kennedy Fairfield, you make me happier than I ever thought I could possibly be. You are my light and I love you with all my heart. Will you marry me?” He opened the box with a flick of his thumb, revealing the emerald ring.

“Jason!” she gasped, her hand trembling in his. The other rose to her mouth. “We’ve only known each other a few months!”

“I have never been more sure about anything in my life.” He swallowed hard, steeling himself for her refusal.

Kennedy looked thoughtful. “I have fought assassins, robots, aliens, gang members, and monsters of all shapes and sizes with you.” She collapsed into a straddle on his knee and kissed him, lips trembling. “I will gladly keep doing that as your wife.” She kissed him again, more firmly this time.

Jason could hardly believe his ears. He pulled back to look her in her eyes, heart beating what felt like double-time. “Wait, sorry, is that a yes?”

“Yes!” Kennedy laughed. “Yes, yes, yes!”

---

I hope you enjoyed this year’s Christmas story! Have a great New Year!

This is a short story set at Christmas after Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers. If you haven’t read that yet, you can find it at all major book retailers, including Chapters Indigo.

---

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8

---

Saturday the 28th of December, 2002 – Parry Sound, Ontario

Suddenly Kennedy was draped across his back and he collapsed to the ground with a wheeze. “Warning!” he gasped, and everyone chuckled. “Or you can go with high weight, low rep.”

Kennedy settled herself, the scent of her shampoo filling his nostrils. He braced his hands and toes on the floor, tensed his abdomen and glutes, and pushed up. Down, up, over and over, he concentrated on pushing his body through the motions it was used to until he reached ten. He controlled his downward motion one last time until he relaxed.

He heard clapping and flushed. “It’s just a push-up,” he mumbled into the carpet.

“It’s impressive and you know it,” Kennedy chuckled. She sat up and climbed off him, letting him stand. “Come on, get in the shower and then we can start our day. Dad’s promised to take the sleigh out for rides!”

It turned out that the sleigh was large enough for four adults and a driver.

Jason helped push the sleigh out of the barn and watched, curious, as Gerard hooked up the two draft horses to the shaft. Then he helped the others pile the inside with warm quilts and blankets.

“Sometimes my dad would wake us up in the middle of the night to go for a ride,” Kennedy told him. “The stars would be out and it felt like we could see the whole universe. It was absolutely breathtaking.”

“Sounds idyllic,” Jason replied, smiling.

They were joined in the sleigh by Eliza and MacKenzie, and Kennedy cuddled into his arms. He knew she didn’t always get along with her sisters and gave her a squeeze.

“All set?” asked Gerard as he sprang into the driver’s seat at the front of the sleigh. He clucked at the horses and flicked the reins.

The brisk wind swept into the open sleigh and Jason burrowed deeper into the coverings, tucking his hands under Kennedy’s sweater and tracing her developing muscles. Her soft skin twitched as she giggled.

“Your hands are cold,” she murmured into his ear.

“They’ll warm up fast.”

She placed her hands over his, stilling them. “This is nice,” she said, loudly enough to include her sisters in their conversation.

“So how did you two meet?” Eliza asked, leaning forward to see past her sister.

Jason smiled. “I was out for a jog and I saw this beautiful girl eating a croissant. I waved and said hi, and she almost choked on her food.”

“That’s not the whole story,” Kennedy protested. “I saw him, wanted to get his attention but couldn’t figure out how, and then inhaled croissant crumbs. He made sure I was okay, we introduced ourselves, and then he said he’d see me around.” She pretended to swoon.

“And here I thought you meant that the whole story was you beating an assassin with a chair, kicking his knife away from him, and then sitting down to finish your croissant, as cool as you please!” Jason said wryly.

“I had to sit down, or else my knees would have given way.”

“That makes so much sense.” Jason grinned at the shocked expressions on the twins. “Then I found her again after work and brought her to a dance.”

“Where we stayed until it closed at three in the morning!” Kennedy laughed. “I was so tired at work the next day!”

Jason ducked his head sheepishly. “I actually slept in the next day.” He’d been up until almost sunrise with Phantom work.

Kennedy glanced at him sideways. “Lucky.”

“Mmm, I am.” He planted a kiss on her hair.

“And your first kiss?” Eliza asked slyly. “Was it at the dance?”

Kennedy blushed. “I wanted one then.”

“Did you?” Jason asked.

Kennedy rolled her eyes. “I would have let you—” She cut herself off abruptly, flushing even more.

Her sisters made faces. “We get the picture.”

Jason grinned and settled back. “Is that what you were thinking about while we were dancing?” he murmured into her hair.

“Trying not to think about,” Kennedy whispered back. She kissed his lips, her nose cold against his cheek. “I barely knew you at that point. I would have kicked myself if I’d fallen into bed with you so fast.”

“So you waited, what,” he did a quick calculation on his fingers, “Six days?”

“And five more dates,” Kennedy said primly.

Jason chuckled. “Only you would count all of those as dates.”

She raised her eyebrows at him and he laughed harder, pulling her closer. “It was the right timing for us. Too fast, too slow, those only apply if we say they do.”

“What is it that you do, Jason?” MacKenzie interrupted. “Kennedy said something about investments?”

“I run a pizza place and an investment company with my younger sister.”

“Working with your sister?” Eliza wrinkled her nose. “What’s that like?”

“We butt heads sometimes, but if we take a step back, we recognize that we’re working toward the same goal and can figure out a compromise.” Jason tried not to laugh as he remembered one standoff last week, when they were discussing the Council at home. It had ended with him soaking wet from a ball of water she had dropped on top of him. “She’s usually right. I have a one-track mind and sometimes fail to see the bigger picture.”

The girls looked impressed, and silence fell over the sleigh.

Jason looked out across the snowy fields, filled with what he knew was winter wheat, oat, and barley. “This place must have been pretty amazing to grow up in, with all this space.”

“We didn’t go out in the fields much as kids, but we rode the horses around the property pretty much every day.”

The house reappeared on the horizon, and they pulled back in front of the barn for the second group.

Jason hopped out first and offered his hand to each family member as they stepped down.

“You’ll do,” Eliza said as she accepted.

“Ringing praise,” Jason replied dryly.

MacKenzie laughed. “Gotta keep you on your toes.”

“What was that about?” Kennedy asked him as they walked back to the house together.

He shrugged. “Sibling approval?” he offered.

Kennedy glanced at the empty house, the rest of the family having squeezed into the sleigh for a second trip. “Hey… How long do you think they’ll be gone?”

Jason grinned down at her, hoping she was thinking along the same lines as he was. “At least half an hour, plus putting everything away.”

“What are we waiting for?” she asked, breaking into a run and tugging him toward the house. “That’s plenty of time for a quickie!”

He tossed her, laughing, over his shoulder when she stumbled in the snow. “I love how your mind works.”

---

Read Part 8 Dec 30, 2022

This is a short story set at Christmas after Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers. If you haven’t read that yet, you can find it at all major book retailers, including Chapters Indigo.

---

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8

---

Saturday the 28th of December, 2002 – Parry Sound, Ontario

He trotted back down the stairs, pulling his shirt on as he entered the kitchen the second time that morning. He sat at Kennedy’s abandoned place and picked up a piece of toast, dipping it into the egg. He looked up at the rest of the table, all of whom were staring at him. “Um, good morning?” he said. “Don’t worry, I’ll get her another plate once she’s done in the shower.”

The silence continued, and he took another bite of breakfast.

Finally, Tommy spoke up. “How…” his voice cracked. “How do you look like that?”

“Easy.” Jason swallowed his mouthful. “You get scars if you’re in a lot of knife fights.”

He bit into his toast again and tried not to laugh as one of the twins—MacKenzie this time, he thought—whispered to the other, “What scars?”

“I don’t recommend it,” he added, pointing at the boy with his toast. “Very painful.” He mopped up more egg.

“I think he meant the muscles,” Sarah said, raising her eyebrows. “Do you have a specific training routine, or…?” she trailed off.

“I started out working on a farm mucking out stables as punishments, but when I stopped getting in trouble, I started lifting weights, push-ups, jogging, martial arts, and, well, genetics plays a large role in how much muscle you can put on safely and practically,” Jason said, enumerating on his fingers. He looked back at Tommy, who was staring at him, mouth agape. “D’you want me to go through one of my routines with you after breakfast?”

The boy nodded enthusiastically.

“Do you have free weights?”

“No.”

“Hmm.” He took a bite of sausage and looked down the table at the toddler. “Hey Sarah, mind if we borrow Arthur for a bit? He weighs what, about twenty five pounds?”

“Feels like a hundred sometimes, but yes. Mind if I watch?”

“Not at all.”

“There’s space in the rec room in the basement,” suggested Lilah. “I think the lot of us are interested in watching.”

Jason fought the colour he could feel rising in his cheeks. I can do this. I’ve been a teacher plenty of times before. Just, not usually with an audience.

He insisted on helping to clear the table and fill the dishwasher, and by the time that was done, Kennedy was downstairs again. As he’d told her family he would, he made her a fresh plate and everyone headed for the basement.

“You can use anything as free weights,” Jason said, reaching for Arthur. “Want to be tossed around a bit, buddy?” The toddler laughed and reached back, so Jason took him. “Cans of soup, textbooks, bags of potatoes, even bales of hay. But kids are the best because they are unpredictable.” He tossed the boy in the air, and Arthur giggled. “You have to keep your core muscles tight to balance yourself, because the way he comes down isn’t always the way he went up. If he lifts his legs, his weight shifts.” Jason put the boy on one side of his body, squatted, lifted him high in the air, and brought him back down on the other side, twisting his torso and squatting again. “It makes the workout much more interesting.”

“You sound like you have a lot of experience with kids,” Phillip remarked, leaning against one wall.

“I have a lot of honorary cousins, and my niece is exactly Arthur’s age, to the day.”

“What a coincidence!”

Jason nodded and continued the lesson. “I usually do about fifteen squat twists five times with a thirty pound weight to start, so medium weight, high rep…” Jason walked Tommy through his regular workout routine for the next half hour, Jason using Arthur as his weight, and Tommy using a book. Finally, when the boy looked completely worn out, Jason grinned and clapped his hands together. “Two last things before cool-down. Push-ups and a jog.” When Tommy groaned, Jason added, “We can leave out the run today, mostly because I didn’t bring the proper shoes.”

He got Tommy settled in the proper push-up position and then took Arthur back from his mother. “Once you get used to doing push-ups and feel like they’re too easy, you can add a weight to them too.” He showed Arthur how to climb onto his uncle’s back and hold on.

Tommy tried to do a push-up and collapsed to the ground. “What do you use for yours?” he asked, gasping for breath.

“I used to use a weighted vest, up to a medium weight. I couldn’t add more than fifty pounds to it without damaging it.” Jason said. He gave the child back to his mother and got into position beside the boy, demonstrating as he talked. “When regular push-ups are too easy for you, you can switch it up, hands closer to your body, one handed, fingertips, and so on. Work up to the added weight.”

---

Read Part 7 Dec 29, 2022