Chapter Thirty-three
T he family was sitting around the Christmas tree looking through all the presents and talking. Spiked eggnog had been passed around, and for those who couldn’t partake, tea and hot chocolate. The dinner turned out to be really good with no upset stomachs. Wren suspected that something was afoot, though, because Sam had been extra charming today. Instead of being reserved and letting the rest of the family do all the talking, he had joined in, even razzing her dad several times; Robert seemed to take it in stride considering how he’d felt about Sam for nineteen years. To see him come around so quickly boggled Wren’s mind.
Sam excused himself and went outside, and when he came back, he had one more gift that he placed on her lap.
“For you,” he said.
She opened the small, flat box, and inside was a piece of transparent paper with a drawing of two hearts on it: one had the date they met nineteen years ago, and the other had the date of their first dinner after reconnecting. He’d taken her idea one step further by coloring in the hearts with watercolors in brilliant shades like a sunset. In addition, he included a small heart at the end.
“I figured we could always add in the last date when the time came,” he said, and she knew he was talking about when she got pregnant. Wren’s heart thudded in her chest as she stared down at the beautiful gift that had come from his heart.
“It’s beautiful.” Wren traced the outline of the hearts with her fingertips, imagining what they would look like on her skin, and her heart swelled with pride and happiness. This was something meaningful, something she could imagine putting on her body. The fact that Sam understood and had created something so perfect touched her deeply.
“What is it, some kind of drawing?” asked Elizabeth, craning her neck to see.
“It’s my tattoo.”
“You’re gonna get a tattoo?” Pete asked incredulously.
“I am. I’m going to get this tattoo.” Wren turned the picture around to show her family, and Pete was the first one to get up, truly studying the drawing.
“What is it?” he asked.
Wren shot Sam a warm smile. “It’s the first time we met and the date we reconnected.”
“Oh my gosh, that’s so romantic,” Elizabeth gushed.
Luke made a face. “Gross, that’s my sister.”
“I don’t care that she’s your sister,” Elizabeth said, elbowing him in the ribs. “I think that’s sweet.” She turned to her husband with a scowl on her face. “Why don’t you get a tattoo of our first date?”
“I should. At least then I wouldn’t get in trouble for forgetting our anniversary,” Luke said.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes.
“I think you should adjust the tattoo, Sam,” Robert said.
“What do you mean, Dad?” Wren asked.
“I think you should have one more heart for the date you two get married.”
Wren glanced at Sam, her gaze spinning around the room to the expectant expressions of her family members. Everything had shifted so completely, Wren felt like she was in a parallel universe. How could her dad have casually brought up marriage as if they hadn’t recently had a conversation about her very strong feelings regarding holy matrimony. Was he messing with her or Sam on purpose?
“Will you excuse me?” she said. “I’m gonna go to the bathroom.”
Wren went into the bathroom and took a deep breath. She couldn’t believe that her dad had brought up marriage. After the conversation they’d had, he knew she was on the fence about it, and he’d thrown the possibility out like it was a certainty. Plus, getting Sam’s hopes up?
God, how could he be so insensitive? She could just imagine Sam thinking that she had mentioned something to her dad, and her sweet, wonderful Sam would be elated, and then she’d have to be the one to burst his bubble.
What her father needed was a swift kick in the pants for interfering and opening his big, troublesome mouth.
There was a knock on the door, and Robert asked, “Peeing or pooping?”
“I’m not doing either.”
“Well, then, open up the door and let your dad in.”
“You wanna have a conversation in the bathroom?”
“Isn’t that what you girls do? You have something serious to talk about, so y’all crowd into the bathroom and talk?”
“You are not a girl.”
“Maybe not, but I wanna have a talk with you just the same.”
Wren opened the door and let her dad in. “What do you want?”
“I just want to say that I know we had that talk last week about feelings and marriage and lifetime commitments.” Robert leaned back against the sink, crossing his arms over his chest as he stared down at her. “You said you can’t see yourself being married, but you are talking about putting a permanent mark on your body for that man. If you are that far gone, the least you could do is put a ring on your finger.”
“Tattoos can be removed.”
Robert scoffed. “Yeah, but it’s expensive and hard and painful. You are thirty-five years old and have never gotten one. Now you are talking about getting one that marks your relationship with that man out there.”
Wren copied his posture, crossing her arms and glaring at him. “Which is not as big of a deal as saying yes to the dress, and the cake, and till death do us part.”
“Married or not, love is a big deal, sweetheart,” Robert said, reaching for her shoulders and squeezing them. “You need to stop talking about all this stupid foolishness that ‘you don’t see yourself getting married because of your past, blah blah blah—’ Kiddo, get over it. I made mistakes, your mom made mistakes, you’ve made mistakes. Learn from the mistakes and have the kind of relationship you want.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do, but everyone else keeps pushing,” she muttered with no real conviction. The thought of walking down the aisle to a waiting Sam held some definite appeal.
“If you really don’t wanna get married, that’s fine,” Robert said, reaching for the door handle and opening it. “But if you’re just not getting married because it’s something you’ve been telling yourself you don’t want for nineteen years, you go out and you look at that man’s face, because I guarantee you, he would marry you tomorrow if you said yes. That is how far gone he is for you.”
Wren opened her mouth to answer, but he stepped out and closed the door before she could get a word in, jumping in surprise when he stuck his head back in. “Also, I’m not one to gossip, but I’ve heard a few things around town about Sam Griffin and women. So if you’re the one for him and he’s the one for you, I’d snap him up, because he apparently has a line of ladies waiting for him.”
“To throw a pie in his face,” she quipped.
“Oh yeah, I saw that.” Robert smirked. “Stopped by between cutting ice sculptures to throw one myself.”
“You were doing chainsaw ice sculpting?” Wren’s mouth hung open when her father nodded. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because I didn’t want any of you stopping by to watch in front of the whole town.”
“You don’t care about that kind of thing,” Wren said, suspicions swirling through her. “Why didn’t you want us to come see you?”
Her father’s face turned beet red, and he muttered, “Because I had a date.”
Now Wren had heard everything. “You had a date to the winter games? Who is she?”
“I’m not ready to talk about it yet,” he said, trying to close the door on her, but she stuck her hand out, stopping him. “We’re just taking things slow.”
Wren laughed. “I want to meet her.”
“You’ll meet her in due time.”
“No, I’m gonna walk out there and tell everybody that you are dating someone unless you tell me who she is.”
Robert scowled at her. “If I tell you, you’ll keep your trap shut?”
“Yes, I will.”
“Fine. Margot Jenkins.”
“Miss Jenkins.” Wren mulled the name over before everything clicked into place. “My fifth-grade teacher?”
“Yes.”
“You are dating Miss Jenkins?”
“Yes,” he sighed. “I am dating Margot Jenkins. What?”
Shock rushed through her as she tried to picture her burly dad and the plump, sweet Miss Jenkins getting it on. “How long?”
“Six months or so.”
Wren’s mouth flopped open and closed several times before she blurted out, “You called her an uptight California interloper.”
“That was back then,” Robert said calmly. “Woman makes a mean pot of chili.”
“Oh my God. Six months?! That’s a long time, especially—” He gave her a dark look. “Especially for someone who is getting on in years,” she finished.
Robert laughed. “Don’t say anything. She’s got grown children, too, and we haven’t quite figured out what we are going to do.”
“Are you talking about living together?” she asked.
“I don’t know what we’re talking about. All I do know is that I’m not lonely anymore, and she makes me laugh, and we have a lot of fun together. I just want to be happy.”
“Me, too. I want you to be happy, too, because you deserve it,” Wren said and kissed his cheek. You really were a good dad. You had a few hit-or-miss moments, but I’m glad you stuck around.”
“Me, too, or you’d have been raised by your Uncle Floyd.”
“Who is Uncle Floyd?”
“You don’t wanna know,” Robert said as he made a move toward the door. “Come on out when you’re ready, but just remember you need to start living your life for you and not using all these excuses to hold yourself back.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
He exited the bathroom, and she stared at herself in the mirror for several seconds before holding her ring finger up, imagining the heavy weight of a band on it. It didn’t terrify her. It didn’t make her wanna run in the other direction as long as Sam was the one she would be marrying. If her dad could move on, even if it had taken him a little bit of time, maybe she could, too.
Wren stepped out of the bathroom, and when she came back into the living room, everyone was standing except for Sam, who was bent down on one knee. In his hand was a ring box, open to reveal a glittering diamond ring.
“What the hell?” she said.
“Your dad gave it to me,” Sam said. “It was your grandma’s.”
Wren glanced at her dad with tears in her eyes, realizing that whole speech was to prepare her for this moment, because the two of them had colluded on the entire situation. While she should’ve been pissed off beyond belief, she was actually so filled with joy, she thought she would burst.
“You’re really asking me to marry you on Christmas, in front of my whole family, with my grandmother’s ring?”
“Yes, I am.”
Tears pricked her eyes, and she glanced at her dad, who simply quirked an eyebrow at her as if to say, What’s it going to be, kid?
“That is just the most perfect proposal I could ever imagine,” Wren whispered.
The whole family sucked in their breath as she walked into the living room and held her hand out.
“You gotta ask me, though, ’cause I’m not gonna assume anything in this moment.”
Sam smiled. “Will you marry me?”
“Yes, I think I will.”
“You only think?” he asked incredulously, his eyebrows hiked halfway up his forehead.
“Well, I guess you better hurry up and get something planned before I change my mind,” she said.
Sam climbed to his feet, slipped the ring over her finger, and he kissed her. “I’ll get right on that.”