25. Becca
25
BECCA
B ecca sat in the window seat of her small apartment on Christmas Eve, admiring the twinkling holiday lights out the window while she talked with her family on the phone.
She could hear her grandparents laughing at something her youngest brother said, and Christmas music playing in the background, like always.
At first, the phone had been passed from person to person, like it usually was when she called. But she had been telling her father about Zane Lawrence and his boys for ten minutes now, and he’d hardly said a word.
“Sorry,” she said. “I guess I’ve been talking your ear off.”
“It sounds like you really care about this man,” her father said quietly. “And his children.”
“I do,” she said with a smile.
“Well, you’ve been out with him every day for a week,” Dad teased, chuckling.
“I have,” she said, smiling at the memory of a week happily spent walking around town with all three Lawrence boys, dinners with Zane’s parents, meeting the siblings and little cousins, and even exploring more of the farm.
“That’s still not very much time,” her father said softly. “To know you love someone.”
“H-how did you know I love him?” she asked, stunned.
“A father has his ways,” he said with a smile in his voice. “Have you thought about what it would be like to be in a serious relationship with a man who has children?”
“It’s pretty much all I think about,” she admitted. “And I’ve come to the conclusion that a serious relationship is the only kind when children are involved. Those boys need stability.”
“And you’re going to give it to them, huh?” her father teased.
“You think I can’t?” she asked.
“Quite the opposite,” he said right away. “You’re the most serious, focused member of this family.”
There were shouts in the background of the call, followed by wild laughter.
“Maybe the only serious one,” he amended. “But I know how much you love helping people, so I have to ask, is this really what you want?”
“It is,” she said, feeling nothing but peace at the admission. “I’m not sure he feels the same, though. After what they’ve been through, I doubt he’ll be ready to take the next step for a long time. But I’ll be ready when he is.”
“I’m glad you feel that way, kiddo,” Dad said.
“I love you,” she told him impulsively.
“I love you too,” he replied, his deep voice very serious for once. “Well, I know you have to go.”
“Where am I going?” she laughed.
But the doorbell rang before he could answer.
“What in the world?” she murmured as she hopped up and headed for the door.
“Merry Christmas, sweetheart,” her dad said. “Call us in the morning.”
She put the phone away, then pulled on her boots and headed downstairs, wondering who it could possibly be. Zane told her earlier in the week that he had something important to do tonight. She’d been a little disappointed at first to be alone on Christmas Eve, but she also had a lot of work to do before the break was over, so she’d been prepared for a quiet night in grading projects and revising her seating chart.
But when she opened the main door, it was Zane standing there, his breath pluming in the cold night air. Cal and Nick stood beside him, their eyes sparkling, both of them clearly trying not to giggle.
“Hey,” Zane said, the tenderness in his rough voice sending a little thrill through her as it always did when he spoke to her these days.
“Hi,” she said, breathlessly. “I didn’t know you were coming.”
“It’s a surprise,” Nick blurted out.
Cal elbowed him and they both started giggling.
“Hi, boys,” she said, unable to help smiling along with them. Nothing made her happier than when they were happy.
“I wondered if you might want to go for a ride,” Zane said, gesturing behind them.
It was only then that she noticed what was parked in the street.
“A horse-drawn carriage,” she sighed happily.
“Well, that’s the old milk cart,” Zane said. “From the days when we did a daily delivery in the village. But we piled it with blankets, so it should be cozy enough. Want to try it out?”
“Yes,” she said right away. “I should grab my coat.”
“No need,” he told her, peeling his off and hanging it around her shoulders.
“Won’t you be cold?” she asked him.
“I won’t be cold,” he told her, one side of his mouth tugging up slightly as if it was a silly idea.
“Can we play in the park, Dad?” Nick asked.
“Sure,” Zane told them.
“But we’ll come over after you—” Cal started.
Nick elbowed him before he could finish, and the two of them took off into the snowy park at top speed.
Becca watched after them, her heart light at how happy they both were. They had been happy at school lately, too—both of them more confident now. Everything seemed to be coming together for her at once, personally and professionally.
In spite of Allie’s assurances that there were no rules against dating parents, Becca had gone to Principal Chittenden the morning after her first date with Zane, and admitted to her that she was involved with Nick and Cal’s father.
The principal had smiled knowingly, and nodded.
“Well?” Becca asked, almost in tears. She wasn’t sure what she would do if the principal didn’t approve. But she knew she wasn’t the kind of person who liked keeping secrets.
“First of all,” Principal Chittenden said, “I’ve already heard all about this from the rumor mill, though I appreciate you coming to me about it.”
“Already?” Becca asked, amazed. “We only went to dinner last night.”
“Already,” the principal said with a smile. “While there are no specific rules against this kind of relationship, I would normally want to move the boys into the other classroom to avoid any appearance of impropriety.”
Becca felt her heart breaking. The idea of giving up this year with the boys in her class was unthinkable.
“ However ,” the principal went on. “Given everything that happened, and your role in their vast improvement this month, I think we can all agree that everyone is best served if the Lawrence boys stay right where they are.”
“Thank you,” Becca sighed in relief.
“I’ll be counting on you to be honest with me, as you were today,” the principal went on. “If you don’t think you can be fair and impartial with your students, we’ll change our game plan.”
“I will,” Becca promised.
And so far it hadn’t been hard at all. Now that both boys were thriving, she was able to turn her extra attention to a handful of other students she thought could use extra help and encouragement. She had so many plans for after the break that it was hard to imagine relaxing and enjoying her time off.
“Come on,” Zane said, offering her his arm.
She took it happily, and they set off for the makeshift carriage, stopping to pat the horse.
“How did you get here, Pepper?” she asked the speckled gelding, as she scratched behind his ears.
“We brought the trailer,” Zane said. “It’s parked around the corner.”
“Wow,” Becca said. “Well, this is amazing—it’s the best Christmas present ever.”
“Hopefully not,” Zane said.
She glanced up at him, but his lips were sealed, his jaw flexing, like he was holding something back. He lifted her into the cart as if she were lighter than air, and then hopped in beside her.
“Here,” he said, pulling the blankets over both their laps. “Will you be warm enough?”
“Yes,” she told him. “Thank you.”
He clucked to Pepper and the old horse began pulling the cart around the park with a surprising spring in his step. The clip-clop of his hoofbeats rang out against the pavement and Becca couldn’t help noticing a few people gazing out at them from the storefronts in town.
“You okay?” Zane asked her.
“Yes,” she said, nodding up at the faces peeking out of the apartment windows above the shops. “More than okay. But I think we’re attracting some attention.”
“We always seem to do that,” Zane growled.
She could only laugh.
“What?” he asked. “Can’t a man talk with a woman in peace?”
“Sure,” she told him. “But not if he’s doing it in a horse-drawn milk cart trotting around the town park on Christmas Eve.”
Suddenly, Zane was laughing, his head thrown back, the sound ringing through the snowy park.
“Wow,” Becca teased him, delighted. “Zane Lawrence is laughing at me.”
“I’m laughing with you,” he corrected her, panting a little.
But that only made her laugh too.
“Thank you for this,” she told him after a moment. “I was feeling a little homesick.”
“Of course you were,” he said, serious now. “No one should spend Christmas Eve alone.”
She smiled up at him. His eyes shone in the starlight, and he was so handsome it was almost blinding. Of course he’d had this romantic ride planned all along. She should have known better when he’d made up some excuse about having stuff to do tonight.
“So, how would you like to spend your holidays?” he asked. “I mean, how do you picture them in the future?”
“Oh,” she said, surprised. “I don’t really know. I think I’d love to have a big family, lots of noise and home-cooked food, maybe sing carols around the tree, and read the Christmas story out loud for the kids?”
“It sounds like you do know,” Zane said with a smile. “That’s a great answer. What about regular days?”
The horse turned and they headed down the long side of the park, past where the boys were chasing each other around the big Christmas tree.
“I kind of like the way my regular days are,” she said, shrugging. “I love teaching, and planning. And it’s been fun this week visiting with you and the boys at the farm.”
“Yeah?” he asked.
“I really like the big family dinners,” she confessed.
“More than a fancy dinner at the Moose?” he asked.
“Oh, I loved our first date,” she told him carefully. “But yes, I definitely like family dinners even more than fancy restaurants.”
“Me too,” he said softly.
She searched his face, wondering why he sounded so serious.
“You said you love a big family,” he said, his eyes suddenly ahead of them. “Does that mean you want a family of your own one day? Kids?”
“At least two,” she heard herself admit, her eyes on the boys as they flung themselves to the ground, making snow angels.
They’re already angels. Wild, rambunctious, sweet as honey angels…
“Boys,” Zane called out suddenly. “Pavilion, now.”
She blinked up at him in surprise, wondering why he was cutting their tour around the park short. But he leapt out of the cart and tied Pepper to a lamppost before she could ask.
“Let’s go see what the boys are up to,” he said mysteriously, offering her his hand.
She took it, allowing him to lift her out, and getting that same electric tingle she always got when their hands touched.
The path to the pavilion was shoveled and salted, so she didn’t have to watch her footing. Which was a good thing, because she was so busy trying to figure out what in the world was going on with all three Lawrence boys.
Nick and Cal sprinted up the steps of the pavilion ahead of them, scampering around and looking like they would bounce off the walls, if there were any. It was such a beautiful sight—the two little boys under all of the Christmas lights and holly, with the twinkling colors making their blond heads seem to glow like little halos.
Zane gazed down at her as they climbed the steps together. When they reached the top, the boys paused in a rare moment of stillness, watching as Zane led her to the very center of the structure as snow began to fall softly on the park all around them.
“What are we…” she began.
But she forgot how to speak as Zane went down to one knee in front of her, holding out something small and sparkling.
“Rebecca Hawthorne,” he said, his voice deep with emotion. “Will you marry me?”
Tears sprang from her eyes as she finally registered what was happening, and before she could even think of answering, she found herself sobbing so hard that she couldn’t get a breath in.
“Miss Hawthorne, are you okay?” Cal asked, running over to hug her. “We didn’t mean to make you sad.”
“You don’t have to get married,” Nick said, sounding a little sad himself.
His blue eyes looked even larger and more beautiful than ever behind his new glasses, and somehow that made her cry even harder.
“I’m n-not sad,” she managed. “I’m so h-h-happy .”
“You don’t look happy,” Nick pointed out.
“That’s because she didn’t say yes yet,” Cal said firmly. “And he didn’t kiss her. They definitely have to kiss, or it doesn’t work, and it’s not forever.”
“Do you boys want this?” Becca asked them. As much as she wanted it, more than she had ever wanted anything, she wouldn’t push her way in. “Do you want me to be part of your family?”
“ Yes ,” Nick yelled.
“We helped choose the ring,” Cal told her. “You have to stop crying so you can look at it.”
“Oh,” Becca said, wiping her eyes so that the world came into focus again and she could see the pretty little ring in Zane’s hand.
He held it patiently, and she could see that there were tears brimming in his eyes too.
“See how there’s a big one?” Nick asked. “That one’s for Dad.”
“And the two little ones are for us, ” Cal said. “Because if you say yes, you get all of us to be your family.”
Sure enough, a pretty little diamond flanked by two tiny ones winked up at her from the golden band.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathed.
“So, what do you say?” Zane asked her. “Will you take these three Lawrence boys to have and to hold?”
“Yes,” she told him, trying her best not to start crying again and upset the boys.
The next thing she knew, he was on his feet, sliding the ring onto her finger, and then the four of them were all laughing and hugging each other.
“We have to go now,” Nick said suddenly.
“Yeah, it’s time for the kissing,” Cal added, giggling.
The boys chased each other down the steps and onto the playground beside the pavilion.
“I know you wanted to take things slowly,” Zane said gently when she turned back to him.
But she was already up on her toes, twining her arms around his neck.
When he bent and pressed his warm mouth to hers, the light of a thousand stars shimmered and burned between them, brighter than any diamond. And she knew that the boys were right—this love was forever.