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She clutched the brochure to her chest. “Do you know the best thing about all this?”
“Getting to spend the rest of your life with a hot, sexy professor who is great at wrapping presents and never breaks things?”
She rolled her eyes. “That, but also staying in our home. Honeysuckle Cottage feels like family. Does that sound stupid?”
“It sounds like something only a woman would say. Ouch.” He ducked as she smacked him over the head with the brochure. “I was teasing you. Of course the house is family. The reason I know that is because it drains our bank account and causes us stress, just like our kids.”
Deciding that she couldn’t argue with that, she flipped through the brochure. “This is a great idea. I love it.”
“And there’s this.” He pulled a small slim box from under his pillow. It was beautifully wrapped, with an elaborately tied silver bow that gleamed in the light.
“No way did you wrap this.”
“What gave it away?”
“Where do you want me to start? The edges are straight. There’s ribbon.”
“You’re right, I didn’t wrap it.”
It looked like jewelry, but Nick had never bought her jewelry apart from her engagement and wedding rings. Their gifts to each other were invariably practical. A new coat. Hiking boots.
She removed the bow, slid her finger under the wrapping and stared at the narrow box. “This can’t be a washing machine.”
“It’s something to do with gardening.”
Intrigued, she flipped open the box. Nestled on a bed of midnight-blue velvet was a delicate pendant shaped like a pine cone. “Oh Nick. It’s beautiful. I love it! And I love that you thought of it, and chose it—wait—are those—diamonds?”
“Yes. Most expensive pine cone ever to fall off a tree. I thought it would remind us both of this place.” He removed it from the box and fastened it around her neck. “I thought you could wear it for gardening.”
“You think I should wear diamonds for gardening?” She took his face in her hands and kissed him. “Thank you.”
“There’s one more gift.”
She pushed the empty wrapping aside and picked up the envelope. “Don’t tell me—we’re going dogsledding again.”
“No, but we probably should.” He watched as she opened the envelope and scanned the letter inside.
“A resignation letter?”
“A draft resignation letter. You might want to personalize it.”
She sucked in a breath. Holding the letter in her hand made it seem scarily real. “I’ve been thinking about this a lot.”
“If you’re going to tell me you can’t resign without a job to go to, then I’m not listening. You hate what you do, Mags. Consider it good parenting to resign, because our Katie also hates what she does and you will be leading by example.”
Maggie felt something tug deep inside her. Sh
e hated the fact that Katie had kept secrets from them, protected them, but how could she judge when she’d done the same? It was funny what you were prepared to do for love. “That wasn’t what I was going to say.”
“Then what?”
“It was something Catherine said, about how no one would employ her so she decided to employ herself. If I did the training, maybe I could work for myself? I know I’m a hard worker. I know I’m good with plants, and have an eye for design. I don’t have to sell myself to myself, if that makes sense.”
“It makes perfect sense.” He leaned back against the pillows, looking smug. “So now I’m married to a power woman. That is such a turn-on. Tell me honestly, was it the planner that did it? Much as I’d like to stay here all day, we probably should get dressed before company arrives.”
“The girls’ gifts are already under the tree. My gift to you, too.” She’d thought about it, worried about it, and come to the conclusion that it was the perfect gift for their new life. She hoped she wasn’t wrong about that.
“Can I open it in front of them? Is it a sex toy?”
