Epilogue
“Maggie! MAGGGIIIIEEEEE!”
I shoot up in bed and feel winter’s icy fingers prickling my skin. My sheet falls to my lap, pooling over Billy’s draped arm, and my hair tickles where my tank top spaghetti straps expose my shoulder blades.
My heart pounds wildly out of control, thrumming and aching as I glance dazedly toward Billy’s bedroom door. Our bedroom door, I guess. Since I haven’t slept in my room next door once since that day inside the diner.
“Too early,” Billy grumbles, dragging me closer and pressing a noisy kiss to my hip. He burrows into the mattress and squishes his face in the crevice where my thighs touch the bed. “Need another hour.”
“Maggie!” Jeremy bursts through the bedroom door, slamming the heavy wood open until it bounces off the wall and swings back again.
Giggling, he slaps it with his open palm and reveals a fresh gap in his teeth.
“I lost my tooth, Maggie!” He darts across the room and bounds onto the bed, landing with a thwump and accidentally digging his elbow into my thigh.
But then he surges onto my lap, wrapping his arms around my neck and squeezes tight enough to cut my air off.
This is who he is. A rough and tumble little boy completely clueless about how strong he is. But when he smooshes a juicy kiss to my temple, giggling so I feel the bouncing air on my skin, I know I wouldn’t trade him for a single thing in the world.
“Maggggiieee? Are you even listening? I lost my tooth!”
Billy chuckles against my side, massaging my hip under the cover of our sheets.
“I heard you, handsome.” I look down at his little fingers pinched around the tooth. “That’s really lucky timing, huh?”
“Yuh! Santa came last night, and now the tooth fairy will come tonight!” He gasps, his eyes shooting wide. “Wait! Did Santa come?”
“I don’t know.” I finger the locks of brown hair off his forehead and search his sweet face. “You didn’t sneak down and take a peek?”
“No way!” He vaults off my lap and slaps his tooth down on my bedside table.
“Keep it here, so the tooth fairy brings the money to you and not me.” Then he snags my hand and yanks me to the side so hard, I know I’d fall clear out of bed if not for Billy’s seatbelt grip.
“Come on, Maggie! Let’s see if Santa came! ”
“He did,” Billy rumbles, sated and smug. “Several times.”
I smack his shoulder. “Wilbert!”
“What does that meannnnn?” Jeremy tugs as hard as he can. “He came back more than once?”
“I guess he must’ve forgotten one of your gifts.
So he visited again when he found it at the bottom of his toy sack.
” I peel Billy’s arm off my lap and drag the blankets away.
Twisting on the mattress, I stumble to my feet when Jeremy pulls.
Then we’re off. Darting out of the room and onto the garland-wrapped staircase.
Jeremy drags me down the stairs, too fast for safety, which is precisely how he ended up at the ER just four weeks ago with a buckle fracture in his wrist. It’s why, three weeks ago, he had a goose egg square on the center of his forehead.
And two weeks ago, he had a sore ankle—not broken, thankfully.
I judged Billy when I first came to town, labeling him a neglectful parent, when really, this kid just doesn’t have an off switch.
Dragging me off the stairs and onto the hardwood flooring, he pulls me into the living room and lets out a scream of delight at the sight of our Christmas tree bursting with wrapped gifts underneath and, right in front of it all, a green and black bike with a giant bow stuck on the handlebars.
“Arghhhhhh!” He releases my hand and darts to his new bike, swinging his leg over the slightly too-high seat and overbalancing, because his feet don’t touch the ground. “Mag—”
I jump forward and grab on to the handlebars before he wipes the whole tree out, then I’m rewarded with his lips colliding with my forehead. He stands on the pedals and lays a juicy kiss right between my eyes, then he sits back again, kisses his palm, and slaps that to my forehead too.
“Ow.” Laughing, I rub my face. “You’re getting strong, ya know?”
“Naw. That’s just the strength of my lurrrve.” He dings the bell and scans every tiny detail of his new bike. The black racing stripes and the shimmering green paint. He grinds his butt down over the seat, searching for his comfy spot, then he brings bright green eyes up to mine. “Santa came!”
“He sure did.” I lower into a crouch, the front tire trapped between my legs, then I rest my arms on the handlebars and my chin atop my hands. “Looks like you got all your wishes, too. There are a lot of presents here for you.”
Awed, he looks around at the stack of gifts surrounding the tree.
“It’s a lot, huh? Oh! This one’s got your name on it.
” He bounds off his bike and dives through the deluge of wrapped boxes.
“Here, Maggie!” He swings back around and thrusts the parcel into my face.
“Open it! I already saw my bike, so now it’s your turn. ”
“Oh… well…” I lower to my butt and stare down at the box I don’t recall seeing under the tree when Billy and I finally went to bed last night. “I don’t know, handsome. We really should wait for your dad to get downstairs.”
“Nuh-uh! You can open this one.” He speeds around his bike and skids to a stop on his knees right in front of me. “It’s not even from Santa, it’s from me. So you can open it, and that would be okay.”
“From you?” My heart swells and throbs. “You got me a Christmas gift?” Grinning, I tug the perfectly neat bow undone and carefully set the ribbon by my legs. With shaking hands, I peel the tape open and unfold the neat corners. “This wrapping is very well done. Did you get help?”
“Yuh! My dad helped me. He said I could choose whatever wrapping paper I wanted and even let me tap his bank card.” He leans in, whispering conspiratorially, “I snuck some of my tooth fairy money into his wallet, cos I wanted to help pay, since I picked it out. But I’m still saving too, though, so I can buy the Smiths’ house. You don’t have to worry.”
“You might seriously be the sweetest little boy I’ve ever met in my whole life.
” Tears tickle my lashes as I carefully unwrap my gift and reveal a jewelry box of dark blue and gold trim inside.
My stomach tumbles with nerves, and my fingers tremble as I pinch the box between them. “You went to a jewelry store? Honey…”
“You have to open it!” Too impatient for his own good, he snatches the box out of my hands and whips it open. Cackling laughter bounces throughout the room as he spins the box and reveals… nothing.
“Uh…” Snickering, I bring my eyes back to his. “It’s empty, honey.”
Giggling, he points past me. “You gotta turn around now, Maggie. This was a decoy gift.”
My heart lodges itself dangerously in my throat, nerves pounding against my voice box until I can barely breathe.
But I glance over my shoulder and let out a surprised cry when I find Billy just six feet away, settled on one knee, his happy green eyes the exact kind I remember from our youth.
His lips curl up on the side, then he extends his hand and reveals a glittering diamond ring pinched between his fingers. “Magnolia Sava…”
“I picked it!” Jeremy hollers, surging to his feet and racing around to kneel beside his dad. On one knee, his toothless grin glittering under flashing Christmas lights. “I helped! And my dad said we could marry you.”
“He—”
“But you gotta say yes,” he mock-whispers, tipping his head forward until hair falls to his forehead. “You have to say yes, Maggie.”
“Oh my gosh.” I twist to face them and press my hand to my mouth. Tears spring from my eyes and trickle onto my cheeks. “Oh my gosh.”
“She’s not saying yes,” Jeremy grumbles. “Dad! Why isn’t she saying yes?”
Unconcerned, Billy merely grins. “I suppose, it’s probably because we didn’t actually ask yet, buddy.” His eyes glitter and warm, looking me all over. “Magnolia Sava—”
“Will you marry us?” Jeremy shouts over his dad. “Please, Maggie. Cos I wished for a bike this Christmas. But I also wished for you to marry us.” His eyes turn a little watery. “I want you to be my family forever.”
“I mean…” Billy hooks a thumb in his son’s direction. “What he said.”
“You just have to say yes, though,” Jeremy insists. “It’s important you say yes, otherwise people might not believe I get to keep you.”
“Yes.” I crawl across the space separating us and fold myself into the most amazing Caster family hug. “Definitely. I’ll marry you guys.”
Billy slams hungry lips to mine. Nipping and soothing.
Grinning and tasting. He wraps his arms around my torso and squeezes until my lungs empty.
“This means your one hundred percent matchmaking success rate stays intact.” He takes my lips again, greedy and unapologetic.
“Pretty sure I told you before date number one how this would go.”
“Oh, shut—”
“I love Christmas!” Jeremy whoops, slamming a noisy kiss against my temple. “Can we make donuts today?”
***