Maybe she said more than she needed to, but he had been listening, drinking in her words like he was hanging on every syllable, and enjoyed hearing her.
"So... Would you like to spend Christmas at my house tomorrow?" he asked softly.
"I'd love to. Except... My gram." She was downstairs with the other ladies. From what Nelly had seen, she had been lucid all evening.
"Her too. Of course. My mom would love to have another lady her age there, maybe it will help take everyone's mind off of her, and help her as well."
"I'm sure her grandkids will help with that, but if you don't think anyone would mind?" She paused. "I'd love to spend Christmas with you." She'd love to spend the rest of her life with him.
As though he read her mind, he said, "I'd love to spend the rest of my Christmases with you. I don't want to push too hard, but I'm not playing. I am looking at a serious relationship that ends in marriage in the not too distant future. Does that scare you?" he asked, and grinned a bit, almost as though he were afraid of her reaction.
"Far from scaring me. That makes me happy."
"Nice." He hesitated just a moment and then said, "It would make me happy to kiss you."
Her smile filled her face. "I was so upset when we got interrupted the other day while we were delivering gifts, and you passed up the perfect opportunity to kiss me. I thought that meant you didn't have feelings for me."
"I thought I was being a gentleman."
She laughed. "Maybe you were, but I think there are certain times in a woman's life where she doesn't want her man to act like a gentleman."
"I'm your man?" he asked, his head lowering towards hers.
"I think that's what we just established."
"Hmm." He said. "I thought we just established that I was going to kiss you."
The light shimmered, and laughter drifted up from downstairs, as he leaned closer and his lips settled on hers.
She couldn't think of a more romantic setting, and she couldn't think of a better outcome for the Christmas program. And then she quit thinking, and just enjoyed the feel of his lips on hers, his hands on her back, the cords of his neck under her fingers, and a sweet spirit of Christmas swirling all around.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Christmas morning
Roland stepped up on the porch in the pre-dawn light, excited about seeing Nelly again. True, he said goodbye to her barely eight hours previously, but... it felt like forever. They'd been texting in the meantime, but he couldn't wait to see her in person, to be able to put his arm around her, greet her with a kiss. Say Merry Christmas to her hopefully for the first time in a lifetime of Christmases together.
He had his hand raised to knock when the door opened.
Nelly's face stretched with a huge smile as she stepped forward after opening the door and said, "Merry Christmas!"
But she didn't stop. She came directly to him, and wrapped her arms around him.
He lowered his head and gave her a Christmas good morning kiss.
It was better than the ones he remembered from last night. And he was smiling as he lifted his head.
"I wanted to come two hours ago. But that made it worth it."
"I was up two hours ago. You could have," she said, as he clasped her hands and they looked into each other's eyes.
He supposed they were in the early part of a relationship where everything seemed fresh and new, except they'd been working together for a while, and he really knew her. He knew she was the kind of woman that he had been looking for all his life.
He just didn't know if she thought he was the kind of man she wanted.
"Well there he is. I could have told you that the two of you were going to get together." Gram came to the door, her purse over her arm, and a coat making her look all snug and warm.
"Really? 'Cause I really didn't have the assurance that she even liked me, yet alone that we'd end up together," Roland said, offering his arm to the older woman, and smiling as she took it.
