Chapter 33
Christmas morning
Roland stepped up on the porch in the pre-dawn light, excited about seeing Nelly again.
True, he said goodbye to her barely eight hours previously, but.
.. it felt like forever. They'd been texting in the meantime, but he couldn't wait to see her in person, to be able to put his arm around her, greet her with a kiss.
Say Merry Christmas to her hopefully for the first time in a lifetime of Christmases together.
He had his hand raised to knock when the door opened.
Nelly's face stretched with a huge smile as she stepped forward after opening the door and said, "Merry Christmas!"
But she didn't stop. She came directly to him, and wrapped her arms around him.
He lowered his head and gave her a Christmas good morning kiss.
It was better than the ones he remembered from last night. And he was smiling as he lifted his head.
"I wanted to come two hours ago. But that made it worth it."
"I was up two hours ago. You could have," she said, as he clasped her hands and they looked into each other's eyes.
He supposed they were in the early part of a relationship where everything seemed fresh and new, except they'd been working together for a while, and he really knew her. He knew she was the kind of woman that he had been looking for all his life.
He just didn't know if she thought he was the kind of man she wanted.
"Well there he is. I could have told you that the two of you were going to get together." Gram came to the door, her purse over her arm, and a coat making her look all snug and warm.
"Really? 'Cause I really didn't have the assurance that she even liked me, yet alone that we'd end up together," Roland said, offering his arm to the older woman, and smiling as she took it.
She batted her eyes up at him, and almost sounded like a young girl when she said, "If I were younger, I'd have been after you myself."
"Gram!" Nelly said. "I couldn't let you have him. He's mine."
The ladies argued a bit over him, as they walked to his truck.
He had told Nelly he would be there in the morning so that he could drive them to his family's house where everyone would be gathered by eight o'clock to spend Christmas morning together.
They'd be eating breakfast, working on making a meal, and teasing each other about gifts.
They'd probably even open them too, although that wouldn't really be the focus of the morning.
They'd read the Bible story together out of Luke, and sing carols, play games and be together.
He loved their Christmas morning traditions, and was excited to be able to share them with Nelly.
She and her gram fit right in as his family arrived shortly after they did.
His sisters welcomed Nelly with open arms, and even Isadora, who had a lingering sadness around her eyes, seemed exceptionally cheerful.
The kids running around made it a happy chaos, and the idea that there would be more babies next year added to the anticipatory feeling in the air.
But, Roland's eyes were mostly on his mother. She seemed... happy. Totally at peace. Even joyful.
Meanwhile, in his mind, he was thinking this could be the last Christmas they all spent together with her.
He wanted everyone to know, so they could savor it as he was, but she had specifically asked for no one to be told, and he had honored that promise.
He hadn't even told Nelly, although he wished he could have.
He wanted her to tuck these memories of his mother away.
They were important to him, and he thought that Nelly respected her as much as he did.
Still, the atmosphere was joyous and celebratory and they had a great time, eating and singing, and opening gifts and playing games and just fellowshipping with each other.
Nelly glowed. His mother had hinted that maybe it was the glow of a woman in love, and Nelly had agreed wholeheartedly.
He thought it was just the way she always looked.
Later, after the celebration, and they had eaten their meal and cleaned up the dishes and played more games, Gram seemed to be nodding off on the couch, and he leaned over and suggested to Nelly reluctantly that maybe they should take her home so she could nap.
Nelly seemed just as reluctant as he to say farewell to everyone, but they did so in short order and indeed once they got home, Gram went straight to bed.
Which was fine with Roland, because as much as he loved the boisterous atmosphere of his whole family being together, he enjoyed sitting on the couch with his arm around Nelly, her pressed to his side, as they talked about everything and nothing at all and somehow they both seemed to assume that their relationship was going to end in marriage.
He knew that was what he intended, but it was gratifying to know Nelly felt the same.
"Do you think we'll be able to continue to do the Secret Saint once we're married?"
"Of course," he said easily and then he paused. "But... Maybe it would be a good idea to try to hand it off to someone. Just in case..."
"We have children?" Nelly finished and while her cheeks reddened a little, she didn't look embarrassed. "I do want kids. Lots of them. Maybe ten."
"I think we need to draw the line at six," he said, not really caring whether they had six or ten or twenty, if that's what Nelly wanted.
"Regardless, it might be hard to continue the Secret Saint activities with a growing family."
"I agree completely. We should probably be looking for someone to pass the baton to.
" He didn't think there was any rush, although he did have a small box in his pocket, and he had been considering asking her a question all day.
On one hand, he thought it might be premature, on the other, he was pretty sure he knew her answer.
After all, they were talking about marriage and children.
And neither one of them were dating to mess around.
They were dating with the intention of getting married.
"I have a friend who might be taking the a position at the school here in Mistletoe Meadows.
She's unmarried, and with her position as counselor, she would have access to all kinds of great information, even if there was some she couldn’t share for privacy reasons.Still, I think she would be a good candidate to consider. "
"She sounds perfect."
"Do you think we should try to find a man to do it with her?"
"I know that having you do the Secret Saint with me made a big difference for me."
"Same. There were so many things I wanted to do, but couldn't, and we were able to pool our resources and do so much more together than we could do apart."
He thought about marriage. Wasn't that what that was?
Two people coming together and becoming more than the sum of the two of them.
They made each other better, they encouraged and helped the other person achieve more than they would have been able to achieve on their own.
Those were just some of the many benefits of marriage.
Secret Saint partnerships were not exactly like marriage, but... it worked the same way. People became more than the sum of themselves alone.
"I definitely think that's something to think about. But we have to make sure that we get two people who are compatible. If...if we had known who the other was at first, we might not have gotten along so well."
"That's true," she said with a laugh. "I can't believe I ever thought anything bad about you. You've totally changed my opinion and without even trying to."
"Same for you. I didn't expect to like, get along with, fall in love with Nelly Bushnell. But I have."
She beamed.
And, without giving it a second thought, he put his hand in his pocket, took out the little box, and then slipped off the couch and onto one knee.
"Nelly, I know this is crazy fast, but... I love you. Will you marry me?"
He probably should have prepared a speech, had all kinds of wonderful things to say about how the moonlight shone on her hair or something, but he got out the words that were important, anyway.
From the look on Nelly's face, he'd done okay. She practically radiated joy, as her hands covered her mouth, and then they slipped around his neck as she hugged him and said, "Yes! A thousand times yes!"
He laughed, because she hadn't even given him a chance to put the ring on her finger.
She pulled away after a lingering kiss, and he said, "I don't know if it'll fit. It belonged to my grandmother. She lived with us for a while, and I'm not sure why she entrusted me with her wedding band, but she did."
"I didn't even look at it,” Nelly said, looking at the delicate golden band he held. “It's gorgeous."
He loved that the ring wasn't the most important thing to her. It was him. He was the most important thing to her, and she couldn't have been more obvious about it.
"I can have it resized if it doesn't fit," he said.
"That's fine. And I'm honored to wear her ring," she said as he slipped the ring on her finger.
It glistened in the light, and looked perfect on Nelly's finger, at least in his opinion.
"I couldn't have picked out a better ring if I had had a million to choose from."
He felt like maybe he had done the right thing.
And interestingly, he didn't have any qualms at all about marriage.
At one point he might have thought that it was a huge step, and he'd never ever be able to make a decision without a lot of fear and trembling.
But, this felt like exactly the right thing to do.
"I love you," she said, putting her hands on his cheeks and looking into his eyes.
"I love you too. Merry Christmas."
They spent the rest of the afternoon curled up on the couch, talking about plans and hopes and dreams and how soon they could possibly plan a wedding, what kind of wedding they wanted, and all the million things that a couple in love talked about.
It was the best Christmas he ever had.