Chapter 37
STERLING
We spend Christmas Eve in the house. Around midnight, when everyone who stayed with us goes to their bedrooms, I get ready for tonight’s surprise. Christmas is just a few minutes away.
“Do you trust me?” I ask June as we reach the bottom of the stairs.
“Blindly,” she responds and smiles because I pull out a blindfold. “What are you doing?”
“Humor me,” I say, covering her eyes.
Slowly, we make our way to the upstairs area. “I’m going to trip,” June complains. “This is silly.”
“Just admit you hate surprises,” I say, guiding her toward the room and stopping right in the middle of the hallway where I press the switch to turn on the twinkle lights I had installed while she was shopping with her mom during the weekend.
Jason and Alex came through, I asked them to sprinkle pine cones and snowflake shaped confetti before they went to their rooms.
“Okay, you can uncover your eyes now,” I say.
She has the biggest smile I’ve ever seen in my entire life.
“This is a lot of holiday cheer for ol’ Scrooge,” she jokes. “But so beautiful.”
I guide her to our bedroom and when she opens the door, she gasps. “We have a tree.”
She tosses her arms around me and hugs me. “When did you do this?”
“Merry Christmas,” I whisper into her ear and release her. “It’s time to open your presents.”
She walks to the tree that sits in her reading nook, then she turns back and says, “Why are your presents here too?”
“Your mom said I should bring those three with me just in case,” I explain, marching toward her.
I bend and give her the first one.
“These are beautiful,” she says, pulling the ornaments out of the tissue paper. “Baby’s first Christmas.”
I made them for her, for our babies. Two snowflakes, they’re similar but not the same.
She looks up at me, her eyes glistening with tears that she’s about to shed. “They’re perfect.”
I pick up the next present. This time she shreds the wrapping paper and smiles at the ornament of two tangled snowflakes. “Our first Christmas.”
“How did you know I’d love this? They’re my favorite ornaments.”
I gather her into my chest, kissing her. “You’re my favorite. Everything about you is what gives me joy. I couldn’t ask for a better present or a better life.”
Brushing a kiss against her lips, I pull out the velvet box and drop to one knee.
“Sterling,” she says my name with fear in her voice. “No, you don’t have to.”
“I know, but I want to with all my heart.” I slide the ring onto her finger. It fits just perfect. “Have I mentioned that as an artist I observe and learn more than people give me credit for?”
She nods slowly.
“I learned to trust you with my heart, that the only reason I’ve never found love is because I hadn’t met you.
For this relationship to work, I have to give you everything without expecting anything back.
I’m afraid enough to have the courage to ask you to be mine forever. I can’t live without you.”
“I love you so much, Sterling Ahern. I never thought this much happiness could be within my reach. That I would fall so madly in love so fast and feel so … alive. I can’t live without you either,” she confesses and begins to cry.
“Don’t cry, beautiful girl.” I rise up and hug her. “You’re never going to lose me. I’m yours forever.”
“You and our babies are the best Christmas present I could’ve ever asked for, I just can’t believe it’s actually happening.”
I kiss her until her arms are entwined around my neck.
“We’re in this for the long run, right?”
“Yes, we are,” she says.
My heart jackhammers against my rib cage, yet I’m filled with a sense of righteous calmness I’ve never had in my life. We’re enough to make each other happy. This isn’t contentment, it’s happiness and a sense of fulfillment. My heart is finally full.
I sway her against my body as we stare at the Christmas tree and the nativity set I made for her.
The last few days, I’ve spent my time in the studio creating what I thought would bring a smile.
Maybe in fifty years we’ll be decorating for our grandchildren with these same ornaments and wouldn’t it be amazing to tell them the story of how the most wonderful woman in the world taught me that love really exists.
“I love you,” I whisper. “With all my heart.”