Yuletide
by Melospiza
Author's Notes: Written for a friend. Was supposed to be a drabble, but Rick wouldn't shut up.
Disclaimer: The Mummy, The Mummy Returns and all associated characters belong to Universal Pictures, not me. I am making no profit from their use.
The weather didn't suit her.
The diffuse light of the gray winter skies did not highlight her glossy mahogany hair like the relentless brightness of the desert. And while she did look quite attractive with her cheeks flushed from the brisk wind, the white and gray of winter in the city made her look ashen and washed out. And she slipped constantly, her dainty shoes no competition for the icy sidewalks, though he had to admit that he didn't mind having to repeatedly catch her in his arms.
Even his family's reaction had left much to desire. They thought her bookish ways were quaint and didn't see her passion, they were too busy being amused by the way she spoke to listen to what she had to say. It didn't help that her first night there, she'd gotten quite drunk off the egg nog. He supposed it didn't really matter what they thought, anyway, but she was still the old-fashioned sort in some ways and he knew their opinions were important to her.
Kneeling in the sitting room with the scent of evergreen strong around him, he held a small, glittering object in his rough palm, frowning at it in the failing light of the fire in the hearth. Would she like it? Or would she have preferred some priceless Egyptian artifact, something dearer to her own heart?
Sighing, he placed the ring back into its velvet box and re-tied the ribbon that had been closing it, reaching out to thrust it back into its hiding place in the branches of the brightly-decorated tree. There was no changing it now. It had been hard enough to muster up the guts for even this. Maybe in the end she would be charmed that sometimes he could be just as old-fashioned as she was.