Chapter Twenty-Four
Jorja
“A ND THE SECOND ANNUAL Mastin Bookshelf Christmas fair is officially open!”
Haley clapped, along with Toni and Gayle, our two new employees. It might just have been the five of us—the three of them, plus Seth and me—but I still wanted to make the announcement feel special.
“And I bet it’s going to be even more successful than last year,” Seth remarked, as we headed outside to start manning the tables.
“I know it will be,” Haley called to us, as she carried out another box of books. “I keep telling you, Jorja, we’re not going to be able to keep up with everyone with the stock we have in.”
“Well, we’ll do our best,” I replied, as I planted myself down behind the table. Mrs. Braithewaite, along with a few of her friends from her Bridge club, were already waiting impatiently to start sorting through the book deals. I swear, they had been single-handedly keeping the store afloat the last year, with how much they had been spending on bringing books to their new weekly book club.
“Finally!” Mrs. Braithewaite huffed playfully, and she gave me a quick wink to let me know she was only joking. I grinned at her. We’d gotten to know each other a lot better this last year, since I had made it my mission to get to know the community better. Now I was planning to run for the council next year, I wanted to make sure I would have as many people voting my way as possible.
But that was for after Christmas—for now, Seth and I had decided to pour all our energy into the Christmas fair, which we had set up with Haley and the two new employees we’d had to hire to keep the shop in working order.
It was hard to believe it took five of us to keep the place ticking over, but, ever since Seth had joined me, we’d been getting way more people coming in, a lot of them just hoping to catch sight of him and maybe get an autograph, but almost all of them ended up buying a book or coming back later. He was good for business.
And good for me, too. The two of us had been living together officially for the last six months, and walking home together to Mia after a long day at the bookstore had become one of our most sacred rituals. I loved spending time with him. Even after a year together, I still hadn’t run out of things to talk about with him. It was strange to me, that you could know someone so well and still find them so fascinating, but that was what being in love meant, I supposed.
I was so glad I had taken my grandmother’s advice and jumped into this thing with him at last, taken a chance that I never would have before. Being with him had taught me so much about myself, and about how important it was to push the boat out and try things you never would have otherwise, and, knowing I always had him to fall back on if anything went wrong certainly made it easier to indulge my more reckless side.
It had been his idea to do the book fair over again, this time, for fun, not because the store was in any kind of trouble. And I had loved the plan. These days, I actually looked forward to the chances I got to connect with the community, to meet people and spend time with those I had grown up around. So many of them, I had found out, had such wonderful memories of my grandmother, and hearing them recount those stories made me feel a little closer to her, especially at this time of year.
Haley was right—it didn’t take long until we had run through the stock we had put aside for the fair completely. People had been coming and going all day, chatting, enjoying the free hot chocolate that Gayle had been making all day. The first drifts of snow were just starting to fall from the sky as we finished up, and Haley and the other employees offered to tidy it all away for us.
“Are you sure?” I replied, furrowing my brow. “I don’t mind helping.”
“No, I think you should get out of here,” Haley told me, with a grin, like she knew something I didn’t. “I think Seth has something planned for tonight.”
Seth emerged from the store with my jacket, draping it around my shoulders.
“I thought we could go pick out a Christmas tree,” he suggested. “At the same farm we went to last year. You up for it?”
“I’d love that,” I gushed at once. We hadn’t had a lot of time to decorate for the season, with how hectic things had been at the store, but I was more than happy to take a little time away from everything to pick out a tree for our little home.
He insisted on driving, and, I noticed as we went, that there was a cooler in the back of the car. I thought this was just a spur-of-the-moment thing, since he hadn’t mentioned it to me this morning, but maybe he’d had it planned. Something fizzed at the back of my mind, as though my brain was in the process of piecing together things I hadn’t even really considered yet.
The night darkened around us, until stars were gleaming bright in the sky overhead. As he pulled the car to a halt, I noticed that the farm was quiet. I would have expected a lot of people here at this time of year, but it was just the two of us as we stepped out into the light dusting of snow.
“Let’s find the perfect one, huh?” he suggested, slipping his hand into mine as we started to make our way through the trees. The scent of pine filled the air, the needles crackling beneath our feet. It couldn’t have been more perfect.
“You remember picking out our tree here last year?” he remarked as we walked.
“Oh, yeah.” I laughed. “It was right when everything was going crazy. I wasn’t even going to decorate the house, but you practically insisted.”
“Because I still believe in the power of Christmas, no matter what else is going on around it,” he replied.
“I know you do, babe,” I murmured back, giving his hand a squeeze. And then, I saw it—the perfect tree. I knew it as soon as I laid eyes on it, and I practically dragged him over to it.
“Oh, this one, I love it!” I exclaimed. “It’ll be perfect in the living room. I can just see it.”
But, as I spoke, I noticed he had gone quiet. For a moment, I was worried that he hated my choice, but then, I turned, to see him down on one knee beside me.
My jaw dropped. Oh, this... this was the last thing I had expected. But I would have said yes right then and there, he didn’t need to so much as say the words. When it came to him, I had already made my mind up. But, despite that, I fell quiet, hands clasped to my chest, as I let him speak.
“Jorja, you’re the reason I believe in Christmas miracles,” he told me, his eyes pinned on mine, glittering with those silver flecks that had become so familiar to me over this last year.
“Because last year, when I came here, I found you,” he continued, his voice catching slightly as he spoke. “And you were my miracle. You showed me there’s so much more to life than chasing new places and new experiences. You showed me how much there is to learn in just... being still for a while. Laying down roots, becoming part of a community. I would never have been able to do that without you. And I want to do that with you for the rest of my life. So...”
He reached into his pocket and drew out a small, blue velvet box. When he popped it open, a slim silver ring, embedded with a gleaming diamond, was staring back up at me.
“Will you marry me?”
“Yes!” I squealed, before I could stop myself. He laughed as he got to his feet, lifting the ring from the box and taking my hand.
“Well, enthusiasm is always good when it comes to engagement,” he murmured, and I watched as he slipped the ring on to my finger. I stared down at it for a moment, this symbol of the promise he had just made me, and a wave of emotion hit me hard.
I couldn’t believe how much had changed in this last year. Just over twelve months ago, before I had met him, I had felt like everything was falling apart around me. I had felt useless, hopeless, on the brink of losing the store or the house or both. But then, he had come into my life, and he had shown me how much more there was to life. He had taught me to be brave, and he had brought a balance to my life that I didn’t know I needed.
I wrapped my arms around him, pressing my head into his shoulder, hanging on to him tight. For dear life—for the rest of my life. This man was everything to me. He had opened up my world and allowed me to access a version of myself I didn’t even know existed. He scooped me off the ground and spun me around, laughing, my hair snagging on a couple of the pine branches around us, but I didn’t care. I knew, even if my hair was a mess, he would still adore me.
He planted me back down again, and I caressed my hand over his cheek.
“I love you so much, Seth,” I whispered to him.
“I love you, too, Jorja,” he murmured back, and he kissed me—the first kiss we had shared as an engaged couple. I could already imagine what it was going to feel like to kiss him at the end of the aisle, in front of all our friends, all the people close to us. It would be picture-perfect, even more so than the front covers of the romance books he used to shoot for.
He pulled back and brushed his nose against mine softly, and then glanced at the tree beside us. It was going to be tough to get through the front door, but when it was glittering in the living room, draped in all my grandmother’s old decorations and some of the new ones I had picked out this year, it would look gorgeous.
“Should we get this thing home, then?” he remarked. “Get it decorated and ready for Christmas?”
“Sounds perfect,” I replied. Though last Christmas had been one of the most amazing of my life, I got the feeling this one was going to be even better. And the one after that, and the one after that. Because, from here on out, I was going to be spending them with the love of my life by my side.
I couldn’t imagine anything more magical or miraculous than that.
THE END