Epilogue Elizabeth
Heavy snow falls outside of the large windows in the kitchen as the sky darkens.
It has turned into the perfect Christmas.
I run over to the oven as the timer goes off, and I pull out a tray of rolls.
“Jon, can you grab me the rest of the presents out of the closet for the family,” I holler from the kitchen. “They’ll be here any minute.”
It’s the first time we’re hosting Christmas dinner at our penthouse, and I’ve been frantic all day, running around, setting out last-minute decorations, and prepping food.
Jon comes out of the spare bedroom, carrying a large tote filled to the brim with wrapped gifts we’d gotten for my family, along with some for Dani and Chase, who have also agreed to join the festivities.
Karl is even bringing over his fiancée, Eleanor. They lost contact after she left for college, but she’s since moved back home to her family and they rekindled a love that never really left. I was lucky enough to witness the proposal.
My brother never struck me as a romantic, yet he set up an entire array of flowers and candles at the place where they had their first date many years ago. It was a small Italian restaurant a few miles away from my parents’ house.
Jon sets the gifts under the tree neatly, and a soft cry from the nursery catches our attention. Jon disappears and I remain in the kitchen, putting the last few marshmallows on top of the sweet potatoes.
“Momma, someone wants to see you,” Jon calls out as he walks into the kitchen from the nursery, holding our son gently in his arms.
Weighing in at a healthy seven pounds, eight ounces, our son Calvin was born three months ago.
After finding out the gender of our baby, I began going through all the names in a few of our baby books, but Jon wanted to name him after his late father. While he had my piercing, blue eyes, the rest of his features were Jon’s, so it only seemed fitting.
Jon’s father meant everything to him. He had worked so hard making sure that Jon had a good life and a business after he had gone.
And when Calvin was born, it was the only time I ever saw Jon emotional, and I’ll never forget that moment.
“Well, good morning,” I whisper as I take him from Jon. “Just in time. Grammy is coming.” Calvin is dressed in a Christmas-themed outfit with red and green presents covering his onesie.
“I got all the gifts out,” Jon says. Anything else we need before they get here?”
Smiling, I point to the Christmas tree. “Yes. You and Calvin need to put on the star and then everything is finished.”
Handing him the baby, I run into the hallway closet and grab the star that I’d picked out a few weeks after I officially moved in with Jon. He was more than happy to allow me to decorate his dull penthouse, agreeing with me that it seemed cold and uninviting.
Before me, it was only him living here, so he didn’t care what it looked like. But he said he wanted it to feel more like a home and not just a bachelor pad.
It also didn’t take long after moving in to announce to the office staff that we were together and that I was pregnant.
I assumed there would be at least a few women who would have something negative to say, but that wasn’t the case at all.
They actually came together and threw us a mini baby shower.
Sherry was the one who planned most of it, which really threw me through the ringer.
Just weeks prior to that, we weren’t even on speaking terms, but since then, she’s become a friend at work. She even began dating a man in another department. The entire situation makes me feel ridiculous for all the worrying I did.
What was I so worried about?
Jon has since kept me on as a full-time assistant, keeping his promise of not making me go back to reception.
But now, I’m floating between people who need my help, spreading my knowledge throughout the office. It’s an amazing feeling to be recognized for all my hard work.
“Here,” I say, handing him the star in his free hand and pulling out my phone to get a video of Calvin’s first Christmas tree. I’ve been guilty of capturing his every move since he was born, but being a mother has completely changed my life for the better.
There’s a knock on the front door and my eyes light up. “They’re here.” Smiling, I take Calvin again and open the door. My mother squeals as she normally does and hands Jon two large red bags filled with gifts before taking Calvin from me.
“There’s my cutie,” she coos and sits down on the couch.
“Hey, kiddo.” My dad greets me with a hug and hangs his coat on the rack by the door before joining my mother on the couch to play with Calvin. Next, Karl walks in with Eleanor under his arm and he nudges my arm.
He goes to the living room while Eleanor stays in the kitchen with me. “Everything looks great,” she exclaims, looking at all the food I have spread out on the counter.
“Thank you. I’ve been working on it all day.
” Grabbing the peach cobbler, I put it in the oven.
It’s the last thing that needs to cook and then the entire meal is complete.
I’ve helped my mom with many meals, but this is the first one I’m doing completely on my own, and I couldn’t be more proud of how it all turned out.
“Just waiting on Dani and Chase. Then we can eat,” I announce to everyone. “Mom, want to help me slice up the ham?” She reluctantly passes Calvin to his uncle Karl, not wanting to give him up just yet, and joins us in the kitchen.
There’s another knock, and upon opening, Dani pulls me into her for a tight hug.
“I missed you,” she whispers before pulling away.
It had been a few weeks since we’d seen each other.
It’s been a hard adjustment since I was used to seeing her every single day, but it’s worked out for the best for both of us.
Shortly after I moved in with Jon, she moved in with Chase and they seem very happy with the decision. “I missed you too. Chase, everyone else is in the living room, and your godson is awake as well.”
He rushes in, sits next to my father, and grabs Calvin. We’d named Dani and Chase the godparents after Calvin’s birth. It only seemed fitting since they have been our rock, a shoulder to lean on for years separately and now together.
Dani stays in the kitchen with the rest of the women as we finish up the meal and watch the men having a blast playing with the baby.
Jon smiles from ear to ear, and I can tell he enjoys having a family around a home filled with love. This is the beginning of many family gatherings … I hope he is ready for it.
If someone told me this time last year that my life would be like this, I wouldn’t have believed them. I was going into every day feeling as if I had no control over my chaotic life. Now, I have my friends, my family … even a small family of my own with a man I’m madly in love with.
Once the table is set and the food is laid out, we all watch the men playing with Calvin, now in front of the Christmas tree. My mother takes the reins and pulls out her phone to capture the moment.
It doesn’t take long for Calvin to get fussy, and Jon feeds him a bottle quickly before laying him back down in the nursery. Jon is the last to join the table, but we wait for him to begin eating.
Once he arrives, everyone begins filling their plates and talking, having their own smaller conversations amongst themselves, but Jon suddenly stands from his seat with a champagne glass in his hand, slightly raised.
We all stop talking and face him. “I just want to start this off by saying that I never grew up feeling the warmth of the holidays or how it felt to have a house full of people who love me. I want this to be our new tradition, especially now that Calvin is here.”
Everyone smiles and raises their own glass as he continues. “I haven’t felt this much love ever, and I want you all to know that I love you and I appreciate you accepting me back when Lizzy and I started dating. And I can only hope that one day, I can make you my family permanently.”
My eyebrow raises and I look around the table until my eyes land on Dani. Her bulging eyes tell me that she is thinking the same thing I am … Is he doing what I think he’s doing?
He stalls and clears his throat before turning to face me.
“Lizzy, from the moment you walked into that conference room, you turned my life completely upside down, but in the best way possible. Every moment spent with you since has been nothing short of amazing. I don’t want to go another second just being your boyfriend. So …”
He stops again and reaches into his pocket before pulling out a small, black velvet box and lowering himself down on one knee beside me. My mouth falls open as he lifts the top, and inside is the most stunning diamond ring I’ve ever seen.
My mom gasps, but I don’t look away from Jon. “Elizabeth Nicole Morgan,” he announces. “Will you marry me?”
With tears streaming down my cheeks, I nod vigorously. “Yes … Yes, Jon. I’ll marry you.”
The table erupts in congratulations and cheers as he places the gorgeous ring on my finger and kisses me.
I still can’t wrap my mind around what just happened as I stare down at the shimmering diamond on my finger.
I’m getting married to the man of my dreams, with a family of my own …
This is the life I was meant to have.