Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 24719 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 124(@200wpm)___ 99(@250wpm)___ 82(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24719 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 124(@200wpm)___ 99(@250wpm)___ 82(@300wpm)
“Decided you wanted to get your—”
“Sweetheart, there are kids in the audience,” I warn her and I want to laugh. Joy is standing there looking up at me and she looks like she wants to kill me, but she’s here and she feels something for me, even if it’s hate. After a week of being without her, I’ll take it. I’ll take anything she wants to give me.
“I want to leave.”
“One look at you, Joy and I changed.”
“I. Want. To. Leave.”
“You made me a better man, Joy.”
“I made you get off,” she hisses, and the audience gasps. Joy blushes like crazy and tries to pull away so she can leave.
I drop down to one knee, pulling out a ring box. I open it up and I can see when she realizes what is going on.
“Joy, I was a fool. I love you. This last week without you has been hell. I’m so sorry I ever hurt you, but if you had stuck around you would have heard me tell Loretta that you are nothing like I expected. You’re more than I ever dreamed. You’re everything to me Joy and if you give me the chance I’ll prove it to you.”
“Eb…”
“Will you marry me, Joy?”
“But, we don’t know each other and you said…”
“I was a fool. And I don’t care how long we’ve known each other, I just know I love you and without you I will slowly die inside. Marry me, Joy.”
Chapter 25
Joy
“But… you said you were just….”
I stop. I’m so lost. I can’t talk. I don’t know what to say. I just keep staring at the ring resting in the jeweler’s box. The diamond sparkles against the black velvet and then blurs as tears begin to fall from my eyes. My heart slaps against my chest, beating erratically.
“You didn’t hear it all. I was an idiot, Joy. I was, but I’m not now. This last week without you has been miserable. Please, sweetheart, forgive me, marry me. Shit, Joy put me out of my misery.”
“Eb, I don’t think this is a good idea.”
“Fair enough, but if you don’t take me back and I have to warn you I’m going to carry you out of here and chain you to my bed until I make you agree.”
My mouth drops open at his threat. My eyes widen when I see the look on his face, because I’m positive he’s not joking. Suddenly that fear inside of me lets go. As crazy as all this is, I want it.
I want Eb.
“Then I say no,” I answer, keeping my face as blank as I can, wiping the tears from my eyes.
“Joy, please. Sweetheart, you have to listen to me.”
“But, I’m definitely open to you taking me back home and convincing me to say yes,” I add, interrupting him before he can say anything more.
“I was just shooting my mouth— Wait… What did you say?”
“Take me home, Eb. We have a lot to celebrate.”
“That sounds like a yes to me,” he answers.
“It’s not a no, but I probably need more convincing,” I hedge, but he understands because he’s already sliding the ring on my finger.
“I love you Joy,” he whispers, bringing my hand up and kissing my finger and the ring.
“I love you, Eb.”
“Enough to marry me tomorrow?”
“On Christmas? You hate Christmas.”
“It’s growing on me and if you marry me, it will be just one more reason to love it.”
“Then, yes. Definitely yes, Eb.” I whisper, as he takes me in his arms. I hold him close, looking over his shoulders where my hands are on his back, pulling him to me as tight as I can. The ring is staring back at me as bright as the Christmas star and it fills me with warmth.
This is the best Christmas ever and Eb is the sole reason why.
Epilogue
Joy
Two Years Later
I look around the children’s wing which has been transformed into a winter wonderland, that would rival the North Pole. I cater this Christmas party every year, but this one is extra special. My gaze drifts over to the green velvet chair that looks like a throne. Sitting in it is my husband, Eb, dressed as Santa.
We’ve been married for two years today.
They’ve been years filled with a little bit of arguing, because Eb can be stubborn, but they’ve mostly been filled with laughter and love.
Definitely love.
My heart squeezes inside my chest as I see the gentle way he’s holding our son Nicholas in his arms as he reads T’was the Night Before Christmas, to him and to the other children which are gathered around him. Tears sting my eyes as I watch our one-year old son reach up and play with Santa’s beard.
Nicholas is really too young to understand Christmas or who Santa is, but he does recognize his father’s voice and our little boy could listen to his daddy read for hours on end. Mostly because that’s something Eb does with Nicholas every night. A ritual that Eb started while I was carrying our son and has kept doing every night since.