Page 62 of Levi
“Really? You’re going to use the oldest trick in the book?”
“Absolutely,” he says, and kisses me while his family cheers. “I’ll use any trick in the book to get my lips on yours.”
Later, after dinner, after presents, after hours of laughter and stories and Molly embarrassing both of us with childhood photos, Levi and I find ourselves alone on the back porch.
It’s cold out, and we’re bundled in jackets, our breath coming out in white puffs. But the sky is clear and full of stars, and Levi’s arm is around me, and I’ve never felt warmer.
“Magnolia Grace,” he says softly.
“Yeah?”
“I know it’s too soon. I know you just got divorced literally today, and I know we’ve only been together a short time.” He takes a deep breath. “But I need you to know that I’m going to marry you someday. When you’re ready. When the time is right. I’m going to spend the rest of my life loving you.”
Tears prick my eyes, but they’re happy tears. “Is that a promise or a threat, Harrison?”
“It’s a promise,” he says seriously. “A vow. You’re it for me, Magnolia. You’re everything.”
I turn to face him, reaching up to cup his face in my hands. “Then I promise you the same thing. Someday, when I’m ready, when we’ve had time to just be us, I’m going to marry you. And I’m going to spend the rest of my life showing you what real love looks like.”
He kisses me, and it tastes like hope and Christmas cookies and forever.
Inside, someone calls our names, and we head back into the warmth and noise and love of the Harrison family.
My family now.
Our family.
And as Levi pulls me close, careful of his healing shoulder, I realize something important.
This is what happily ever after looks like. Not perfect, not without scars, not without struggle.
But real. And true. And worth fighting for.
“Merry Christmas, Magnolia Grace,” Levi whispers.
“Merry Christmas, hotshot,” I whisper back.
And surrounded by family, with the man I love at my side and a future full of possibility stretching out before us, I finally understand what it means to be home.
Epilogue Two
Molly
Glancing at the clock, I’m starting to get annoyed. He should’ve been here an hour ago, but he texted me and said he got caught up in a traffic stop that Fish and Wildlife were called into.
I should be at my parents, ringing in the New Year with my brother and my best friend, but I ate dinner, and then I lied, saying that I didn’t feel well.
All so I could come home and wait for the man who’s been rocking my world for the better part of the last six months. It’s not been easy. Not when our lives are so intensely enmeshed. I’ve been lying a lot lately, and so has the man I’ve been seeing. When he should be at work, he’s checking on me, and avoiding my brother, even though they know each other very well.
I’m twirling the ring on my finger and watching some stupid show on TV about the end of the year, when I see headlights in my driveway.
“It’s a damn good thing you didn’t take your good panties off, Molls,” I tell myself, as I get up and smooth my skirt down.
There’s a knock at my door, and since I’ve been raised in a family full of law enforcement officers, I know not to throw it open without checking who it is first.
“C’mon, Moll, let me in.”
Although I recognize the voice, and would do anything that man asked me to do, I still stand on my tiptoes and glance out.
When I see him standing there, still in uniform, I smirk, before unlocking it and throwing the door open. “It’s about damn time.”
“Sorry, had to help your uncle.”
Shoving the door shut, I wrap my arms around his neck and lean in for the kiss I’ve wanted all day. Right before his lips take mine, I say on a breath. “Hope you’re ready to ring in the New Year the right way, Dakota Keller.”
* * *
