Suddenly exhausted by the stress of the evening, she leaned back against the seat. To her shock, Ryan reached out and folded his fingers around hers. He didn’t let go as he continued to drive through the night while the sound of Christmasmusic played on the radio and a deep sense of peace settled over her like a warm quilt, soft and all-encompassing.
Somehow she must have dozed off at some point in the drive, or maybe her body only needed a reset after the stressful evening. When she sensed cessation of movement, she opened her eyes and was shocked to see they were in the driveway of Rose Cottage.
Her Christmas tree gleamed a welcome in the window.
“I can take you to Kim’s so you don’t have to walk home,” she said, remembering she had offered the same thing the night of the wedding, which seemed a hundred years ago.
“I don’t mind walking. While we were still at the Moore house, I called my dad and told him I didn’t need the helo after all and that Lydia had been found. I told him to tell Kim I would be home later.”
“I need to call my family, too. They didn’t even know Lydia was missing. When I never came back to their house, as I promised, my mom texted me to make sure I was okay. It was right after we found her. If they had known what was going on, my brothers probably would have beaten us to Haven Point and ripped the town apart, looking for her.”
He hit her garage with the remote opener and pulled inside, turned off her engine then walked around to open the passenger door for her.
“So are you heading back for your family slumber party now?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t decided.”
She suddenly remembered where she and Ryan had been and what they had been doing when she received that fateful call from Brittany. It seemed hours ago that she had been in his arms.
“I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been here. Thank you,” she said. “You stayed calm when I wasfreaking out. It was your idea to check the park. I don’t even want to think about the possible outcome if we hadn’t.”
The horrifying magnitude of what might have happened to her baby suddenly burned through her. Holly hitched in a breath that turned into one sob, then another.
Suddenly she was crying, all the emotions of the day pouring out of her. She couldn’t hold back, try as she might.
In an instant, Ryan reached for her, his arms solid and dependable. “Hey. Hey. I’ve got you.”
For how long?
She couldn’t think about that now. For this moment, she only wanted to stand in the circle of his arms, where she felt safe.
Holly pressed her face into his chest, her tears soaking into his shirt, but he didn’t seem to care.
She clung to him, moved beyond words at the way he held her like she was something precious.
Gradually, her sobs slowed then stilled, but she didn’t step away. Christmas Eve, her family, everything else felt far away. Irrelevant in this moment.
All that mattered was Ryan. His warmth, his strength, the steady rhythm of his heart against her cheek. She pulled back just enough to meet his gaze, her fingers still clutching his shirt.
“Thank you,” she whispered again, her voice trembling but full of sincerity. “I don’t know how to—”
He shook his head, his eyes locked on hers. “You don’t have to thank me.”
The intensity in his gaze sent a shiver down her spine.
I can’t stop thinking about you.
His words echoed through her memory, as tantalizing now as they had been when he murmured them to her earlier.
Without giving herself time to second-guess, Holly rose on tiptoe, her lips brushing his in a tentative, searching kiss.
For a heartbeat, he froze, as if he couldn’t quite believe it. Then he responded, his arms tightening around her, the kiss deepening into something that felt as inevitable as the snowfall outside.
Chapter Twenty-Six
THIS PROBABLY WASN’T THE SMARTEST IDEA SHE’D EVER HAD.
She was feeling entirely too vulnerable right now, with her emotions raw and tangled. She couldn’t move away, though. Not yet. She wanted to hold onto every possible moment with him.
