She gasped.
“Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
Her heart exploded with love and happiness. Tears streamed down her face. She flung herself into his arms. “Yes. Yes. Yes, Jesse Phillips, I will marry you. Today, tomorrow, whenever you say.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jesse leaned against the counter, his wife snug in his arms, her back against his chest. He loved being free to embrace her whenever he wanted. “I love you, Hailey.”
“And I adore you, Jesse,” she responded.
“What? You don’t love me?” He spun her in his arms to face him as they played their now familiar game.
“Well,” she teased, “I could be convinced, if you played your cards right.” She wrinkled her nose at him.
“I think I can manage that.” He leaned in to brush a kiss across her lips. Soft at first and growing deeper as he poured his love into the affectionate action. He kissed her until she pushed away with a breathless gasp.
“Okay, you convinced me. I love you.” She kissed him again and rested her head on his chest.
“And don’t forget it.”
“As if I could ever forget how much you mean to me. I’m so excited for this, our first true Christmas together,” Hailey exclaimed, grinning widely.
“Our second,” he corrected lightly. “I consider last year our first. After all, we pulled together and opened Christmas Central, right on time, despite our parents’ feud. The day your truck died outside of Beth’s Beans was the best day of my life.”
She blushed prettily. “Don’t remind me. I’ll never forgive myself for thinking you were a bum. I’m glad I finally managed to see beyond the surface to the man beneath.” The oven timer dinged. “Can you get that?” She snatched the oven mitts off the counter and passed them to him.
“I can’t believe it’s been a year since we became engaged.” Jesse smiled at his glowing wife and pulled the roast beef from the oven. “Gosh, this smells so good. Prime rib. My favorite. Do you think there’ll be enough for everyone?”
Hailey laughed. “Relax, it’ll be perfect. I Googled it. This will feed twenty-five people. Plus, we have veggies, potatoes, salads, and six kinds of pies and cookies. I lost track of how many batches of Christmas cookies I made. I just want the first Christmas in our new home to be perfect.” She twisted her hands together.
“Relax.” He grinned, knowing he repeated her earlier advice. “The food will be perfect; you will be the perfect hostess, and our house is perfect. I am, however, stunned we managed to buy a house, move in and organize ourselves in only three months. I can’t wait for everyone to see it.” They’d managed to keep their families away from the two-story for over a month by promising to have them all over on Christmas Eve for a big get together.
“Do you think they’ll like it?”
She was adorable when she fretted over the little things. He hugged her close and tipped her chin up to his and brushed a soft kiss over her lips. “Does it matter? It’s perfect for us. A master bedroom and four bedrooms for babies. A huge yard for Rover. A fully developed basement complete with a bar, playroom and guest bedroom.” They’d lucked out on finding their green trimmed, white sided house. In a new development, it sat on a double lot and had become available when the original owners were transferred to Edmonton before they could move into the barely completed house.
“It is perfect, isn’t it? I can’t believe I went from living in my parent’s house to being married and in my own home in such a short time.”
“Me either. More than that, I can’t believe you got me into this ridiculous Christmas sweater.” He mock frowned at his plaid sweater with a trio of snowmen on the front. “And matching sweaters with another person? Never in my worst nightmare.”
“Come on,” she teased. “You love it, and you love our matching headbands.” She laughed, making her antlers wiggle. Rover barked his agreement and his antlers fell off.
“Come here, boy,” Jesse snapped his fingers. Rover carried his antlers to Jesse just as the doorbell rang. “They’re here.” He slid the antlers on Rover and embraced Hailey. “Come on, Mrs. Claus, we have guests.”
They opened the front door wide and their families rushed in excitedly. Hailey’s mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law and their kids came first. Beth hurried in, carrying an enormous bakery box in her arms. Jesse’s mother, sister, brother-in-law and their children were next. Lincoln brought up the rear.
“I want a tour of this place,” Jesse’s mom demanded.
“Me, too. I can’t believe you held us off this long,” Hailey’s mom declared.
Everyone followed them through the enormous house, oohing and aahing over the layout, large rooms and plush carpeting in the bedrooms. The tour ended in the kitchen.
“Well, son,” Hailey’s father patted Jesse on the back. “I’m proud of what you and my daughter have accomplished. You’ve made Christmas Central a roaring success, breathed new life into Two Angels Gifts, and brought our families back together. Well done.”
“It wasn’t just me. Hailey was the driving force behind it all. Especially behind helping my mother overcome her addiction.” Jesse turned toward his mom. “I’m so proud of you and your strength. You’ve been clean and sober for a year.”
She pulled a shiny coin from her sweater pocket and flashed it at him. “Look at this. I received my one-year token from AA last week.”
