Arranged marriage to the princess of the Red Scorpions
Chapter 252 A Very Mafia Christmas Pt 4

Lena wasn't sure how long they stayed outside playing snowball tag. All she knew was that by the time everyone was ready to go back inside for a brief break and some hot chocolate, her hands were completely numb despite the gloves that she was wearing.

They could only hold out so long against the cold before the wet started seeping through them. She would need to let them dry for a while before she was going to be able to put them back on if she didn't want her fingers to freeze and fall off.

Alonso had disappeared to go and change his coat. It had gotten rather wet from the numerous times that he had ended up falling on or landing in the snow. It wasn't made for this kind of messing around.

The only one who had protested about coming back inside was Jovani's little cousin. The kid seemed to enjoy being out in the cold and acted as though it hasn't phased him at all. Must be nice to have that kind of endurance.

He only stopped complaining when he saw the hot chocolate that was delivered to them. Since it was a special occasion, Ryan had added marshmallows and a generous amount of whip cream to the top of each of the cups.

Lena chose to stay quiet as she consumed her hot chocolate and instead listened to whatever else was talking about it. It was nice when there were enough people that everyone else could do the talking while she just sat there and listened to what was going on.

"Are you getting tired already?" Samuel asked, wrapping an arm around her when he noticed that the princess had her eyes closed before she took another drink of her hot chocolate.

"Not in the slightest." She replied as she looked over at him. Months had passed but he was still a very touchy affection person. Seemed that part of him was never going to change even if other things did.

"When are we going to do the next activity?" She asked noticing that almost everyone else had already finished their hot chocolate and were sitting around waiting to finish warming up.

"We could do caroling next if you want. I don't think that we should do the others until later since they include alcohol." Samuel replied as he mentally went over the list that he had made.

"Is everyone going to be ready for that?" She asked. Ryan and Clive weren't there but it would be easy to go and fetch them if everyone else was all ready to head off.

"He seems to think that he would rather stay here to play around in the snow than come with us." Jovani replied as he pointed at his younger cousin who nodded his head in agreement.

"He can stay here if he wants. Zoe and Lisa would probably go out and play with him if he asked. They'll be done with their work soon. I don't think that Julius would say no and there are more than enough people around to watch out for them."

How easy it was to please children the princess couldn't help but think when she saw how excited he got at this news.

She figured that it would also be better to not have him tag along with them. He seemed to have a short attention span which would make it hard to keep an eye on them once they started.

"Why don't I stay behind and keep an eye on him as well. I wouldn't mind doing that." Alonso piped up. Jovani chuckled when the other said this.

"Don't be silly. You came along to take so much-needed time off. There's no reason for you to stay behind and keep an eye on him while we're all off having fun. The princess seems to already have it covered as it is." He assured the other who looked rather deflated to hear this.

He probably felt consoled to know that he wasn't the only one who wasn't thrilled about going along with this. Clive was doing it as part of his duties so he didn't complain even though he looked rather somber.

Ryan had no problem speaking his mind about the matter, however. He would have rather been in his kitchen working away on dinner than being pulled along with everyone else.

Lena refused to let him do that though as she blamed him for their current predicament. He should have put less faith in her fiancé if he didn't want to get stuck tagging along with them.

Clive only drove them until they reached the city. Once they had found a block with a lot of houses around, he parked the car so that they could get out and start. Jeff was planning on meeting them there which gave them time to get ready.

Since not everyone knew all the songs, he had made sure to print out the lyrics for the few that they would be going over. It seemed that he was confident that they would be doing more than just one or two by the stack of papers that he had handed everyone.

Jeff and his brother ended up showing up not long after. The younger stuck close to his brother and was rather quiet as he looked around the area they would be covering. The houses looked nice enough, they could only hope that the people who lived inside were equally as nice.

Lena knew that she was going to regret this later on, but went ahead with it for Samuel who was eager to get started. It was something that he had always done with his family. How could she stop him from keeping the tradition if it meant so much to him?

The first house went by smoothly. The couple inside was very nice and gracious about them singing there. They only did two songs- jingle bells and we wish you a merry Christmas. The princess had assumed that it was one song per house. She had obviously been wrong about this assumption.

practically everyone else except for her had been singing. She decided to keep her mouth shut until she better understood exactly how it worked. Listening and watching allowed her a chance to also learn the lyrics.

The only thing she could at least say that was positive was that Samuel didn't have a bad choice when it came to singing. He did a fairly good job of staying in tune through both songs while Alonso and Ryan struggled a certain amount. They knew the songs but this wasn't something they had done before. Jovani and Jeff didn't seem to care. They were just there to enjoy the whole thing.

The princess decided to stay quiet through the next house as well. She couldn't bring herself to get the words out. The fact that it was complete strangers who were watching them made it worse. She instead focused on all the extravagant Christmas decorations that were hanging up.  They certainly did seem to love to go over the top when it came to Christmas.

Samuel had noticed that Lena wasn't joining in on the singing. He didn't say anything though as everyone else seemed to be having a good time and she was there going along with them.

The third and fourth houses, she managed to participate halfway. She didn't sing any song fully but she joined the parts that she knew. She didn't sing as loudly as everyone else, but she didn't miss how Samuel would glance over at her and his eyes would sparkle whenever she would join with everyone else.

It made her heart do that strange fluttering thing she didn't like as she felt the heat rise to her face. She chose to ignore it though as she focused on what they were doing. It was better that way.

After the fifth house, they decided to call it quits. Clive and Ryan were ready to be done and the snow was coming down harder than it had been before. The wind had picked up as well causing the air to feel rather bitter.

Jovani had offered to go and fetch everyone some hot chocolate from a shop that was located on the other side of the street. Ryan went with him so that he could warm himself up and help carry everything out.

Looking around, Samuel could tell that everyone seemed to be having a good time despite the bitter cold. The princess was still being quiet. It seemed to him that it perhaps had more to do with the fact that she was cold than that she wasn't having a good time.  She had her hands in her pockets and her shoulders were hunched as she stood near the bench where everyone else was sitting.

Though her clothes were well layered, it did little against the bitter cold. Even her hat couldn't do much to protect her from the nipping wind. Next time Samuel wanted to do something of the sort, she was going to make sure that it was done on a day where it wasn't so cold.

The hot chocolate that Jovani and Ryan went to fetch was more appreciated when they finally came back with it. They would have gotten extra if it weren't for the fact that it would have cooled off too quickly before anyone would have had a chance to get to it.

It had helped to raise some of their spirits so much that Jeff and Samuel were talking about getting back to it for a while longer before calling it quits for the night.

That had been the plan until Jovani interrupted things. He had waited until everyone finished their drinks as to not allow them to get cold while he was making his announcement.

"While I think that this day overall has been rather fabulous so far with a great deal of fun, I don't think it will be complete until one more thing happens for the very important couple that is here with us today. " He emphasized what he was saying by snapping his fingers and indicating behind him.  Much to everyone else's delight and surprise, a horse-drawn carriage came over.

It wasn't odd to see them at this time of year. They often were brought out for the fun and romantic ride through the decorations and lights that had been strung up all over the city. It was the first time though that they had seen one that night. Jovani had managed to set it up though through one of his contacts who owed him a favor.

"Now you two can be as romantic as you wish to be." He informed them as he went over to talk with the driver. This was something that Lena could get behind doing despite how cold it was.

Samuel was quick to take her hand as they walked over. The carriage was a bit high up making it so that Samuel had to help support the princess to get inside due to how short she was. He didn't have much of a problem getting in but his older cousin still helped him anyways.

"And don't worry about us. Enjoy yourselves. We'll either replace our own way back or be waiting here for you when you get back." He assured them before waving them off so that the ride could get started.

Lena hadn't done anything like this in years which made it rather nostalgic for her. It wasn't the kind of thing she would have normally agreed to, but for sentimental reasons, she did even though the romantic comment that Jovani made had annoyed her.

Samuel didn't say anything for the first few minutes of the ride. There was a lot on his mind that he wanted to say to the other but opted for wrapping his arm around her as he pulled her closer to him. He could get away with it right now since it was supposed to be a romantic setting and they were technically alone inside the carriage.

"Do you like it?" He finally asked when he noticed that Lena was keeping her gaze fixed on the decoration they were going past. The part of the city that they were going through now had more extravagant decorations than the one that they had just come from.

"It isn't really my thing, but I can't deny that it is rather beautiful." She replied as she turned to look at the other.

"Was this another one of those surprised you planned?" the usual annoyance in the tone of her voice had been replaced with something softer.

"This wasn't something that I had planned. I think Jovani did it on his own." He replied as he rested his head against the others leaning over slightly so as to make it work better.

Where the princess usually would have said that the other was being troublesome in meddling with their relationship, she couldn't replace any issue with what he did this time. It was a rather harmless kind gesture. It would have been nicer if it was done on a warmer day, but there wasn't much the older cousin could have done about this.

"You think that you'll be up for the rest of what we planned for tonight?" Samuel asked as he dropped his left hand to gently cup the other's stomach. Lena had to stop herself from involuntarily stiffening at this action. There were still some small touches and intimate things that she hadn't quite gotten fully comfortable with yet.

"I'll be fine. It's not like I will likely be the one who has to drink all that much in the first place." The princess replied as she softly placed her hand over her fiancé's.

"I think that the bigger issue will be who is going to get everyone settled if they end up having too much to drink?" Samuel chuckled at this question.

"I think that there will be enough people back at the estate to help with that. Plus, I doubt that Jovani will drink too much since his younger cousin is with him." The princess hummed in agreement.

"Then I suppose that there shouldn't be much of a problem with it." She concluded as she turned her attention back to the lights and other Christmas decorations that they were passing.

She didn't know how long the trip would last, but this was one of the few times that the princess wasn't bothered by that. She didn't mind however it took for the carriage to pull them through the town and back to everyone else.

Even though it was freezing cold outside, the bitterness of it didn't reach her inside the rather cozy carriage box with Samuel being pressed so tightly against it.

If nothing else stuck about this event tonight, she was certain that this would be one of the few memories she would be able to keep with her.

The other decided to make it even more memorable when she shifted his position so that he could kiss her passionately on the lips. At least the cold had already made her cheeks red which helped to hide how the princess blushed at this unexpected action.

A memorable occasion indeed.