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“You are beautiful, and magical, and the strongest woman I know,” I said. “Assholes like Landon will never realize what a true treasure you are. But I do. I’ve always known. And nothing that will ever happen and no decision you will ever make will change that.”
She lifted her reddened eyes back up to mine before a small smile broke out across her face.
“Thank you, Ethan,” she said.
“No thanks needed for the truth, Tink.”
I watched her face approach mine before our lips collided in a sweet little kiss. It wasn’t desperate and it wasn’t heated. It wasn’t rushed and it wasn’t begged for. It was natural and special and I could feel the respect and trust we had for one another dancing between the gaps when we came up for air.
“Wanna go see your father’s room?” I asked.
“I’d love to,” she said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN - KYRA
I got back into the room with Ethan and the guys were all gathered around my father. They all looked at me with wary looks and there was a spark in my father’s eye I couldn’t quite place. He was looking straight at Ethan, like there was something he was waiting for, but the moment passed before I could address it.
“So?” Chance asked. “What do you think?”
My eyes pulled from my father and danced around the room and I simply couldn’t believe my eyes. Garlands were strung up along the tops of the walls and beautiful white lights wrapped around the greenery. There was a small Christma
s tree in the corner with ornaments and those same white lights and there were even a few wrapped presents already underneath it. My father’s hospital bed had red and green ribbon wrapped around the edges, bringing the cold, dank bed to life.
And to top it all off, they’d wrapped my father’s bathroom door in wrapping paper and put a bow on it.
Like a massive Christmas gift.
“It’s absolutely beautiful,” I said. “I can’t believe you guys did this.”
“I’m a man of my word,” Chance said.
“Though we did all his legwork,” Blake said, grinning.
“Where’s everyone else?” I asked. “I mean, Harper and Owen aren’t here. Are they okay?”
“Well, they’ve got their own holiday surprises they’re still concocting,” Ethan said. “But I’m sure they’ll be here soon.”
“Actually, all of you should go home and get some rest.”
We all whirled around to look at the doctor who was now coming through the door.
“How you feeling, Mark?” he asked.
“Eh,” Mark said. “Tired.”
“That’s to be expected,” the doctor said.
“Daddy,” I said. “Why didn’t you tell me you were tired?”
But all he did was smile before he tried to wink at me.
“We want to run a few more tests with your father before we let him rest for Christmas,” the doctor said. “But they’ll take most of the afternoon. He won’t be in his room much at all until this evening and, by then, he’ll probably be fast asleep.”
“Then I’ll wait here for him to get back,” Kyra said. “We always spend Christmas Eve together. We each open one gift before we settle in for a Christmas movie.”
But instead of the doctor intervening this time, it was my father who reached out for my hand.
“Come here,” he said.
