“Secret?” Kara asked.
Her mother pointed to the screen. “Ours and Nicholas’ gifts this year were getting out of the way so that you two would have time to figure things out.”
Nick chuckled. “Thanks for that.”
Kara was slightly shocked, but since she’d been filling her parents in on their relationship process, somehow, she’d already guessed as much.
“Meddlers.” She joked.
“Merry Christmas.” Her father said with a smile. “And, you’re welcome.”
“Merry Christmas. Now, get off the phone and enjoy the view.” Kara smiled.
“Will do. We’ll talk later tonight,” her mother added before the line went dead.
“You haven’t told them about the barn yet, have you?” Nick asked.
“No.” She shrugged. She hadn’t even wanted to think about it. Not yet. “I don’t want to worry them. Besides, what could they do? They’d probably cancel the rest of their trip or spend it worrying.”
Nick nodded. “Okay, so let’s finish eating so we can start a fire and open our presents.”
She glanced towards his tree. “I had Daryl grab your presents from my place.”
His eyes moved to the tree. “All of them?”
She shrugged. “Except one.”
His eyebrows shot up. “I want to open that one first.”
She laughed. “Not unless you tell me which one of those my ring is in.” She pointed to all the boxes.
He shook his head. “Okay, so I’ll wait.”
She nodded. “I thought so.”
Once both of their plates were empty, they moved into the living room. She started shaking each box under the tree with her name on it while he started the fire.
“That’s cheating,” he pointed out.
“You can’t cheat when it comes to opening gifts.”
“Oh? Then you won’t mind if I…” He reached over and tore a bow off one of the presents she’d bought for him.
She laughed. “Go ahead.”
He shifted and sat beside her, but instead of opening the box, he handed her one instead.
“Start with this one,” he said.
She smiled and shook it lightly, causing him to laugh again. Then she tore off the red bow and the decorative paper.
Inside was a small blue box with a silver bracelet inside. The silver design looked older.
“It was my grandmother’s,” he pointed out. “It’s a bangle. Or so my mother always called it. There’s a really old engraving inside.”
She turned the bracelet in her hands until the light from the fire made the words easy to read.
“My heart, my life, all for my love,” she read out loud.