Page 80 of Soldier's Christmas Promise
She nodded through her tears.
“Don’t cry, Mama,” Dove said. “We won’t be far away from grandma and grandpa. We can go see them every day.”
“Of course you can, sweetheart,” her grandfather said. “You’ll be able to see our house from yours and come keep me company anytime you want.”
Dove wiggled out of Dalton’s arms to go hug her grandpa, who didn’t even wince. His back was still an issue, but having Dalton around for the heavy lifting over these past few months had done wonders for it, and with Dalton’s encouragement, he had made a New Year’s resolution to start physical therapy, which already seemed to be helping.
“We’ll just let you two talk it over,” her mother said with a smile.
Ella watched the three of them head over to the buffet to choose more appetizers, with Dove laughing and talked happily with her grandparents.
“I hope you didn’t mind me answering for you,”Dalton said. “And I hope I guessed right what you would want.”
“I can’t believe it,” Ella said softly. “It’s all I ever wanted. Are you really okay with it?”
“Ella,” Dalton said, cupping her cheek in his hand, as he loved to do. “I’m more than okay with livinganywhereas long as you and Dove are there too.”
She smiled up at him, leaning into his hand.
“But this is just right,” he told her. “I think I’ve got the hang of the farm now. And that means we need to convince your mother to take her retirement. But she won’t do it if she isn’t sure that farm is being run right.”
“That’s true,” Ella said, smiling at how well he already knew her mother.
“Well, this way she can see it all,” he said. “But she’ll have her house to herself, and we’ll be right there when they need us.”
“You don’t mind the responsibility?” Ella asked.
“You and your family are a package deal,” Dalton said, his blue gaze serious. “I’ve never doubted that for a second. And you have to see that this is all I’ve ever wanted, right? A family to love and take care of?”
Ella hugged him close, pressing her cheek to his chest and losing herself to the steady beating of his heart—a heart that had been broken so many times, and only come out stronger and bigger and kinder.
“I don’t deserve you,” she whispered through her tears.
“You deserveeverything, Ella Tyler,” he told her roughly, pressing a kiss to her head. “And I’m going to make sure you get it.”
Ella believed him.
But as she opened her eyes and looked at their family and friends around them, and felt her husband’s arms wrapped around her tightly, she knew that she already had everything she could possibly want.
***
