Epilogue
– Kade
One year later…
Snow drifts down outside the windows, a fire blazing in the fireplace of the Lantern Inn common room. The tree is decorated to the nines, the room smells like cinnamon, and the mistletoe is hanging from the top of the doorway.
The scene couldn’t be more perfect.
Except my insides are rioting with nerves.
“Don’t be anxious, mate,” Mars says, slapping me on the arm. “You’ve got this.”
I can’t believe I’m getting a pep talk from Mars, a man who, one year ago, I glowered at in this very room. But he has experience with the whole getting engaged thing, as evidenced by Abigail’s flashy rock that adds an extra level of glimmer to the room. In fact, the two of them eloped shortly after. She’s currently regaling Andrew and his girlfriend about plans for the cabin Mars is building for them just up the mountain from the inn. Harriet and Harold are here too, as well as Ahmad, who has taken a short pause in his travels, to join us for this special night .
A lot can change in a year. I’ve changed a lot in the past year of Gia loving me, of letting someone hold my heart.
Now, here I am, waiting under the mistletoe for her to arrive with Bryn and make her mine officially.
My pocket, though, is notably empty. I’m waiting for my dad to deliver the ring, and every minute that passes sends my anxiety higher and?—
“Kade—”
I jump out of my skin at the sound of my dad’s voice behind me. “Ah!”
My father grabs my shoulder. “Relax! It’s just me.”
“Relax? How can I possibly relax at a time like this?”
Dad shakes my shoulder. “This is exactly how you should be feeling.”
Mars agrees. “Exactly. Means it’s right.”
“You mind giving us a moment, Mars?” Dad asks.
Mars lifts his hands in surrender and backs away, dramatic as ever, before returning to Abigail’s side across the room.
“Gosh, I feel like I’m gonna pass out,” I say, pulling at my collar.
Dad smiles knowingly. “I have something for you.” He reaches into his pocket and produces an old ring box.
Pressure lifts from my shoulders. “Thank goodness.”
“I hope she likes it,” he says as I take the box from him.
I open the box and find my mother’s engagement ring gleaming and golden, looking back at me. It’s not nearly as fancy as Abigail’s, but it means more than any ring I could buy. “Are you sure you’re okay with giving me this?”
Dad smiles, his eyes scrunched with sadness. “Time for it to have a new life. And I can’t think of anyone better to wear it. Other than your sister, of course, but she’s given her blessing. ”
“Thanks, Dad.” I wrap my arms around him and relish the hug he gives me in return. After so many years apart, Dad has now become a fixture in my life. He came with Gia’s parents to Rome and then stuck around for a whole month of the tour. Then, he joined us in L.A. once the weather started getting cold.
Life is good. So good.
“They just pulled up!” I hear Antonia shout out from the front hall. “Everyone! Places!”
My heart sinks into my stomach as Antonia and Carlo scramble into the room, giving me a flurry of kisses and well wishes. They take my dad with them to find a spot by the Christmas tree.
I give everyone a final look. It’s just like last Christmas, but better. We have more memories and more love in the room.
So much more future ahead of us.
I hear the front door open, and hurriedly, I put the ring box in my pocket. Turning, I lean on the doorframe and watch the girls come in.
Bryn enters first. Over the past year, I’ve seen her be transformed with an ease she didn’t have before. She’s still on top of her game, as always, running Gia’s life. However, since Gia has backed away from the spotlight a bit, Bryn has had more time on her hands to attend to herself and her desires, including spending a lot of time here with Dad. And she gardens now. Apparently, she has a green thumb we never knew about. Started with those countertop herb plants, and then tomatoes, until suddenly the yard was overrun with all her “babies,” as she calls them. Gia’s planning on building a greenhouse for Bryn for her next birthday.
“…‘Gia DeLuca’s Christmas album was a passion pr oject that is a smashing success on the charts,’” Bryn reads aloud from her phone.
“I like the sound of that!” Gia calls out after Bryn. Her arms are laden down with bags from their shopping trip meant to be a distraction while we got everything ready for the proposal and made sure everyone was in place. When she sees me, she smiles. “Hey, babe! You look nice!”
“Do I?” I ask, unable to crack a smile because of my nerves.
“Bryn, read him that article we found,” Gia calls out, clearly unphased by my response as she drops her bags and sloughs off her coat.
Bryn tries to laugh, but there’s no doubt she can not only see but feel all my stress. “Oh, come on, Gia, it will just freak him out.”
“He can take it! He’s had a year in the public eye!” Gia says, waving her hand through the air. “Basically, TMZ is speculating about whether we’re broken up because we haven’t been out in public. But I’ve been working on the album, and you’ve been working on the business?—”
My personal training business emphasizes getting strong after recovery from injury. Specifically geared toward vets, of course. Gia was right that I’d find a new passion project with my time.
“Reporters are ruthless,” she says, then flies over to me, lighter than air. “Hello, mistletoe!”
She springs into my arms, kissing me with all her might. I gasp into her mouth. I’d welcome the kiss if not for all the people staring at us.
Gia pulls back, beaming up at me. Gosh, she’s beautiful. Her caramel skin, her brown curls and matching long lashes, the smile that always seems like it was made just for me. Then, she realizes we aren’t alone. “Oh my gosh, hi everyone! Sorry, I?— ”
Gia starts to step away, but I grab her hand. “Gia, wait, stay here.”
“What? Why?”
Bryn sneaks past us, her phone already out, ready for recording. She goes to join our parents by the tree.
It’s now or never.
“Kade, why?” Gia says through a laugh.
I’m so nervous I can’t find the right words to start with. And Gia clocks this, her amber eyes flicking across my face, trying to find an answer.
“Kade? Are you okay?”
“Yeah!” I say breathlessly. “I’m okay. I’m great.”
She frowns. “Okay…”
I take Gia’s hands in mine. “I’m better than great, actually.”
Recognition passes over her face. “Oh. Oh .”
“The first time I ever kissed you was right here under the mistletoe. A year ago, almost to the day.”
Her lips tip upward.
“But it was not the first time I wanted to kiss you. Not by a long shot.”
There’s sniffling from someone in the room already. Can’t they hold it together for just another minute or two?
“I’ve loved everything about you for a long time. But it took me a long time to figure out how to show you.”
Gia shifts her hands in mine, pulling them closer to her.
“I thought I was afraid of how free you were. How much you were yourself . And how you never apologized to anyone for being exactly as you are. And why should you when you’re… perfect.”
She scoffs, blushing, “I’m not perfect.”
“Oh, Gia, you absolutely are. Perfect in every way.”
She blinks, her eyes filling with tears .
My eyes fall to the golden bumblebee at her neck. She wears it every day. A reminder of me. Of herself. “It turned out I just wanted to learn to be as free as you. And during this year together, I have learned how to give myself away. To love without fearing I’m losing anything.” I glimpse my father by the tree, his arm around my sister. “To love you and everything you are. I am so, so lucky to be chosen by you.”
“Kade…” My name trembles from her lips as tears slip down her face.
I release one of her hands, unwilling to part with her completely, and get to one knee as I pull out the old ring box. “You knew it was coming,” I say, smiling up at her.
“Not today! Not now, I had no idea, I had no…” She cuts herself off with a breathless smile and wipes her tears away.
I pop the box open, revealing my mother’s ring. “Will you marry me, Gia?”
Gia bends at the waist and presses her forehead against our clasped hands. Her tears run down my fingers. Her love is so full and real, abundant and bounteous. Tears well in my own eyes.
“Of course, I’ll marry you, Kade,” she answers, then kisses my knuckles. “Yes. Yes .”
Our loved ones burst out in cheers, although their tears are just as loud. They feel our love as profoundly as we do.
I slip the ring on Gia’s finger and let her pull me back to my feet so she can wrap her arms around me and bestow kisses all over my face until finally landing in my arms, holding me close. “I love you. So much,” she whispers.
I hug her close. “I love you,” I say in return, then kiss her temple. “You’re mine forever, Gia.”
“Yes, I am,” she says, a smile returning to her lips .
Begrudgingly, we let each other go to be embraced by our adoring friends and family. Up first and foremost of all, Bryn. My sister. And Gia’s, too.
She swings her arms around our shoulders and pulls us close. “I’m so happy for you. For us.”
The three of us hug. Nothing is different, and yet everything is. One thing is for sure: The fear of losing gets in the way of loving. And now that I have Gia, I am never, ever going back.
THE END