“Should I get dressed? Do you want pants?”
“Can I have the ring box?”
“So it is a ring. Okay.” She’s close to hyperventilating. “When did you—I mean—How long—And what—I—”
I take the box from her and set it down, then I squeeze her hands in mine. “Sienna, I love you.”
“Okay.” Her eyes fill with tears.
I feel like I’m hurtling off a cliff into a snowy whiteout, but it’s worth it for her. “I have loved you probably since the minute I laid eyes on you. I fought that love at first sight for a long, long time. Thought I wasn’t right for you, then was sure I was off-limits.
“But even as I knewIwas wrong foryou, I knew you were everything to me. I love your sense of adventure, your fighting spirit, your precocious attitude. I love how clever you are, how bossy you are, and how hard you work.
“When you quit, I realized I had to tell you how I feel, no matter what. Even if you hated me, even if you didn’t want to see me again, I knew I had badly fucked things up between us, and I just wanted you to know that it was me, not you, that you were perfect. Are perfect. Will always be perfect.
“I was spinning pretty hard when I got to the airport. I had a half hour before my flight took off. There was a jewelry store there, and I went in and I saw this.” I gesture to the ring box. “But—”
“I love you, too,” she says, her voice cracking. “But? But what?”
“Will your family understand if we get engaged tonight? When they think I’m some guy who maybe didn’t want to spend time with you this Christmas, and shows up at the last minute? We lied to them, baby. Even if it’s just a little fib, it’s going to take some explaining to set things right.”
“You’re right.” She exhales. “Of course you’re right.”
“Do you want to see it before you wear it? Or do you want me to wait?”
She glances at the box, resting on top of my folded clothes. “Wait.” Then she laughs nervously. “Oh, God, I can’t believe you almost…we almost…”
I stand and take her in my arms. “We are. We will. I love you. We may be two naked fibbers, but you and me know the truth of who are to each other, right?”
She nods. “Right.” Then her face breaks out into a tear-streaked but brilliant smile. “I love you so much. I can’t believe I don’t have to hold that inside any longer.”
“Never stop telling me that, baby.” I kiss her on the mouth, soft and pulling, a kiss that is a promise and a commitment.
“I should warn you, my gifts for you are… not the same…”
“I’m sure I’ll love them.”
“They’re really—”
I kiss her again. “Whatever they are, I willlovethem.”
ChapterEleven
Sienna
Jacob refusesto wear the full matching PJs set for Christmas morning. He wears the top, but insists that he’s a jeans-during-the-daytime guy, and I can’t fault him for that.
I’m in the bright red onesie, because things like that make my mother happy, and since so little of what else I do in life does that, I figure it’s the least I can do.
We’ve all had croissants and fancy coffee, and now we’re gathered in the great room to exchange gifts. I decide to get Jacob’s last-minute presents out of the way first, and plunk them in his lap.
His expression is so hard to read as he turns over the coffee-table book about interstate highways.
He promised he would love the presents, and he chuckled at the shave kit, but the book is getting such a neutral reaction that I’m not sure what to make about it.
And then my sister starts laughing. “Hang on. We got Dad the same book!” She jumps up and grabs a present from under the tree and hands it to our father. “Did you find it at the shop in the village?”
Oh, shit. “Uh…I don’t remember.”