“Miranda?”
“Like fromSex and the City?” I ask.
“Athena!”
Knox shakes his head. “Do you want your child to be bullied in school?”
“I think Athena’s badass,” Natalia says, taking a seat on Knox’s lap. She easily wraps her arms around his neck and nibbles on his earlobe. I learned very early on that my aunt isn’t afraid of a little public display of aggressive affection.
Heath enters the living room with a large plate full of chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven. “We’ll put a pin in it,” he says. “Though, since we’re in the realm of cool goddess names, how about Freya?”
“Ooh!” Darlene cools. “Now there’s an idea.”
“Turkey’s going to be finished in another half an hour,” Zane says, joining me on the couch. “Do we want to open a couple of presents before then?”
“Me first!” Heath declares, swooping in to pick up one of the gifts with his name on it. I noticed he was eyeing it earlier, smiling like a twelve-year-old instead of thirty-nine.
“Who’s it from?” I ask.
“My favorite niece Anna,” he says, reading the label. He promptly rips into the wrapping, tossing aside the ribbon without a care. He pulls out several smaller items out of his one big box. “Hair dye, specialty coffee beans, reading glasses, and a mug that says World’s Favorite Uncle.” Heath grins at Knox. “Did you hear that? I’m Anna’s favorite uncle.”
Knox flips him off. “Fine by me, as long as I’m Marcus and Leo’s favorite. That’ll even the playing field.”
“Me next!” I say, moseying over to pick out a box with my name on it. I frown when I realize there are none. “Uh… This is going to sound like a stupid question, but did Santa forget to drop off my presents? Or was I not a good girl this year.”
Zane chuckles. “Turn around, darling.”
I do, pausing when I find him down on one knee. In his hand is a small ring box, opened to reveal a gorgeous diamond ring on a band of white gold. My mouth drops open, my heart skipping a beat.
“What is this?” I ask.
“This is something I should have done a long time ago,” he admits. “I love you, Willow. I think I knew I loved you the moment you told me to get on my knees at gunpoint.”
I roll my eyes. “Not this again. I said I was sorry.”
Zane smiles, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “You deserve the world, Willow. And I have every intention of giving it to you. But to start, I figured I should probably do this for real and ask you—perfectly sober—if you’ll do me the honor of being my wife.”
I throw my head back and laugh. “Of course I’ll marry you, Zane. Again.”
He slips the ring on my finger and gets up, immediately diving in to press a kiss to my lips. “Now, what do you say we celebrate with margaritas?”
Natalia hops up quickly. “I’ll get the margarita mix and ice!”
“I wonder what kind of drunken adventures we’ll get up to this time,” I say.
“I don’t know if we ever went bungee jumping like Heath wanted.”
“That’s a little too wild.”
“What’s wrong? Don’t tell me you’re scared of heights, Mrs. Phillips.”
I snort. “I’m not scared of heights. I’m just thinking about the twins.”
“They can come with,” he teases.
“Absolutely not! I think we’ve both had more than enough excitement for one lifetime.”
“Maybe we’ll just settle for half a margarita each and a nice bedtime story.”