New Year’s Day: A Lancaster Holiday Novella (Lancaster Prep)
New Year’s Day: Chapter 1

NEW YEAR’S Eve

“Ready?” Iris asks. I swear her body is vibrating with excitement.

Mine is too.

Download more books from epubs.io. I nod at my cousin, the both of us smiling at each other before I reach for the handle and slowly open the door. The slight creak of the hinges has us both frozen for a second, but the music coming from downstairs drowns out any other sound.

We’re in the clear.

“Let’s go,” Iris whispers as she darts out of her bedroom first.

I sneak out after her, slowly closing the door and heading for the meeting spot we all agreed upon earlier.

The entire family is here to celebrate the New Year at the estate where August, Iris and Vaughn’s parents now live. It’s close to the ocean and there are so many rooms, I get lost in here every time we come to visit, which is often.

Makes me grateful for our more normal sized home back in the city. My dad keeps trying to convince Mom we need to move out here or at the very least to a neighborhood just like this, but Mom refuses.

“I love the city too much to leave it,” she’s told him more than once.

I always silently agree with her. And Daddy always gives in to her wishes. I love spending time here, but I prefer the city too.

Iris and I approach the landing, not surprised at all to replace August waiting there along with my brother, Rowan. Their already bored expressions match, and even though I’m two years older than Row, he’s almost as grumpy as August. Or he’s just imitating him because he looks up to August so much.

I mean, how cynical can you be when you’re ten?

“Are we really going to sit here and watch our parents drink, dance and make out?” August grimaces, shaking his head. “That sounds like a nightmare.”

“I want to see what they’re wearing.” The women in my family always dress up for New Year’s Eve. You can always count on seeing vivid colors and an overabundance of sparkles. Iris and I can’t wait to be old someday and dress like they do.

Tonight the boys are still in jeans or khakis and sweaters, but us girls decided to dress up too, wearing our favorite dresses.

“Me too.” Iris walks right up to where her brother sits cross-legged in front of the balustrade, kicking him with her bare foot. He doesn’t even flinch. “If you don’t like it, go do something else.”

“There’s nothing else to do.” August yawns and I send Iris a look, but she’s not paying attention.

She replaces her big brother so annoying and I get it. He’s always acting too cool to spend time with us.

“Yeah.” Row also yawns and I roll my eyes. “This is boring.”

“Shut up,” I tell him, feeling mean the moment the words leave me. I plop down next to him on the floor. “Sorry,” I whisper, leaning my head on his narrow shoulder but he pulls away, annoyed with me.

“Whatever.” Row shrugs, sending me a quick, grateful look. I can’t keep up the mean sister act like Iris can. I’m too nice and I never want to hurt someone’s feelings. Daddy says I’m just like Mom, who’s kind to everyone and I guess he’s right. Even though sometimes inside, I do feel mean.

What sounds like a herd of elephants make their way toward us, all of them spilling out of the various bedrooms, their chatter louder than it should be. August and Iris’s youngest brother Vaughn leads the pack and he stops, holding out his arms to block the rest of them from going any further.

“Quiet guys,” he commands and they do as he asks.

I’m impressed that an eight-year-old can get the rest of the cousins—who are all the same age as Vaughn—to do as he says. I study them all, my little brother Beau standing with the rest of them. They include Christopher, who is Spencer and Sylvie’s only son. And then there’s Carolina and West’s twin daughters, Paris and Pru.

“Come on.” Iris waves her hand. “You can all sit here.”

They walk over to us in a line, all of them settling in front of the railing, their hands going to the spindles, curling around them as they stare down at the party unfolding below.

The butler—who’s been with the family for ages and we all adore him for sneaking us candy—is patiently waiting by the door with his hands behind his back, his worried gaze occasionally going to one of the windows that flanks either side of the massive door. I can see what he’s watching from my perch on the second landing. It’s the snow.

It’s coming down in buckets.

There are candles lit everywhere and music plays from the speakers that are placed discreetly throughout the house. Right now, it’s a gentle piano playing a familiar tune, but later on they’ll put on the more current hits, when everyone drinks champagne and dances with big smiles on their faces.

Someday I will be doing the same thing with my cousins and I can’t wait.

“Look at her dress,” Iris breathes, pressing her face between the spindles, her gaze stuck on her Aunt Sylvie, who is wearing a formfitting dress covered in iridescent sequins. “I love it.”

“It’s beautiful,” I agree but I’m not ready to think it’s my favorite of the night. I need to see everyone else first.

We’ve done this for the last couple of years on New Year’s Eve. The parents put us to bed—but they know none of us actually go to sleep. Eventually we’ll make our way down the stairs and sneak into the kitchen where Marta the housekeeper will serve us some appetizers and desserts from the party that she saved just for us. We’ll drink sparkling cider in the special glasses used for champagne only and say cheers to each other. We pretend we’re at the party too until we eventually head back upstairs and watch them some more.

It’s all very glamorous and exciting to us girls. The boys claim they don’t care about any of it, but they never manage to replace something else to do on this night so I think secretly they must like it.

I know I love it. Someday I’ll be with the adults at the party, and a new generation of children will be watching. Maybe even my children.

A sigh leaves me and I wonder if I’ll ever be a mother. I’ll have to fall in love first I suppose, but what if I don’t? I can still be a mother. I could adopt.

But I want to fall in love. Seeing my parents together and how much they love each other is inspiring. My father is just as romantic as my mother, maybe even more so and that is just the sweetest.

Now, I do have crushes on boys all the time, but my mind is constantly changing. I can’t stick with just one boy long enough to develop any real feelings, but my mom says I’m too young and I shouldn’t focus on any one boy anyway.

I guess she’s right and besides, it’s kind of fun to focus on a variety of boys…

“Your mom looks beautiful,” Iris murmurs, nudging her shoulder against mine.

I smile, admiring how gorgeous she is in the red dress she already showed me earlier. She does look beautiful. People say I look like her, but I just don’t see it. Doesn’t help that I’ve got braces on my teeth and I’m flat-chested. Wren Lancaster is the farthest thing from flat-chested and she’s just so elegant in everything she wears. It’s how she carries herself too. I’d give anything to truly look like her someday. “She does.”

“My mom does too.” The despair on my cousin’s face is almost alarming. “I will never look like her. I don’t care what my father says.”

“You already do.” I pat her knee, trying to reassure her. “And I was just having the same thought. I don’t look anything like my mother.”

The two glamorous women are standing in the foyer, talking to the butler in low murmurs, their brows drawing together in matching expressions of concern.

“Crew,” Mom calls, her voice full of alarm. “Could you come here, please?”

My father appears seconds later, standing at my mother’s side, his hand settled low on her back. He’s listening to the butler I assume repeat what he said to Mom and Summer, and Iris and I both have our heads tilted forward, hoping to catch what is being said.

But all I can hear is the dumb piano tinkling.

Whit appears seconds later, demanding to know what’s happening and the butler fills him in as well.

“Something is going on,” Iris tells me, her voice hushed and her Lancaster blue eyes extra wide. “You realize no guests have shown up yet.”

Iris is right. No one has arrived and that’s unusual considering the time. “Do you think it’s because of the snow?”

“Probably.” Iris nods, her expression now crestfallen. “I hope they don’t cancel the party.”

“I hope they do. It’s so boring.” August makes snoring noises and Row laughs. A little too loudly, which of course catches the attention of both sets of parents.

Oh no.

They all four glance up at the landing at the same time, our mothers exchanging a knowing smile with each other before Summer starts heading up the stairs.

She’s not my aunt but she feels like one—Whit is Daddy’s cousin. Our parents are all so close and I love it. My dad is close to his siblings as well but not all of them are here tonight. My uncle Grant and his wife are currently in Switzerland and Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Perry are in the city, spending the holiday with their immediate family.

Summer pauses at the top of the stairs, her hand resting on the railing. The light catches on the massive diamond on her finger and I wonder if it’s new. I’ve never seen it before.

“What are you children doing?” Her tone is teasing and we all know she isn’t angry.

And she also knows exactly what we’re doing.

“Spying on you!” is what Vaughn tells her as he leaps to his feet and runs to her, wrapping his arms around her legs and tilting his head back to smile at his mom. “You look pretty.”

“Why thank you.” She ruffles his dark hair that matches hers, a faint smile still on her face as she glances up and takes in the rest of us. “Well, the terrible weather seems to have closed the roads and none of our guests can make it to the party tonight.”

“Does that mean we get to eat all the food?” Row asks hopefully. He’s always hungry lately. Dad says he’s growing and warns that someday he’ll be taller than me.

I can’t imagine it but I know what my father says will most likely be true.

August slaps my brother’s arm. “Have a little class, cousin.”

Iris rolls her eyes. “Right, because you’re sooooo classy, Augie.”

He sends his younger sister a death glare. “Better watch what you say, Iris, or—”

“Enough.” Summer’s gentle but firm tone silences her squabbling children. “I do think we’re going to have plenty of food to take care of your healthy appetite, Rowan.”

My brother’s cheeks turn red and he ducks his head.

“Looks like the New Year’s Eve party is family only this evening!” Summer laughs when we all start to cheer. “Consider this your official invite.”

“Wait a minute.” I jump to my feet, my gaze going to Mom who’s currently walking up the stairs, stopping right next to Summer. “We get to come to the party tonight?”

Mom nods. “We have all of this food and decorations and music playing. We can’t let it go to waste just because of some snow.”

“Come on.” Summer hooks her arm through Mom’s and they both start walking down the stairs. We all trail after them. “Let’s get this party started!”