Tessa let out a soft sigh of relief. No doubt she was thinking of her father and his untimely death in a car crash. Her fixation on seat belts made sense, and Lucas was grateful that she needed him as much as he needed her.
She intertwined her fingers with his, leaving their hands to rest against her thigh. “Much. Thank you.”
“Anything for you, baby.”
“Mmm.” With as much give as the seat belt would allow, Tessa leaned in her seat, getting as close to Lucas she could. “Five hours back to Dayton. We’ll be home in time to share our own Christmas Eve dinner.”
Lucas breathed in deep. Tessa always managed to smell like cinnamon. Now, with the scent of Maria’s oversized Christmas tree and freshly fallen snow clinging to his soon-to-be wife, Tessa smelled just like Christmas.
A content smile tugged on his lips. With care, he drove out of Hamlet, watching as a soft flurry started to drift down through the early afternoon sky.
“Perhaps,” was all he said.
Tessa cocked her head to the side, raising her eyebrows as she looked at him curiously. “Perhaps?” she echoed.
Lucas nodded. “We’ve got one more stop first.”
Then a second, because Tessa never got the chance to go to that spa and resort she used as a bluff to get her last husband to Hamlet. He didn’t book a room in the same one because even he wasn’t that cold, but he found a better one that he was sure she would love.
Her gold-colored eyes lit up. “Where are we going?”
Lucas glanced over at her, daring to take his eyes off the cobblestone road for a moment even as they approached the gulley that bordered Hamlet. “Do you trust me?”
Tessa’s answer was swift and exact. “Always.”
“Then consider it a Christmas surprise.”
“Oh?” The noise she made was somewhere between a joyful laugh and a delighted squeal. “I love Christmas surprises!”
“And I love you,” he responded simply.
Tessa sighed, her grin still wide. “Me too, Luc. Me too.”
The snow continued to fall as they drove out of town. Stretched out like a preening cat, Tessa relaxed into him, singing along softly to the Christmas carols piping in through the radio’s speaker once Hamlet’s borders were in the distance.
With his gaze locked on the snowy horizon, Lucas found himself humming in time to the song.
… oh tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy, oh tidings of comfort and joy...