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Fixing me with a daredevil look, Josh tore into the paper and lifted the lid off of his gift, cooing, “Aw, sweetheart, you didn’t have to get me these!”
“Of course I did,” I retorted, thinking back to the way he’d mooned over them in the shop we’d been to a week ago. “You were practically enthralled with them and I figured they’d go nicely with the other stuff in your office.”
“Thank you,” he said, wrapping his arm around me in a sideways hug and pressing a kiss to my lips. When he pulled away and reached for my present, I noticed that his left leg was bouncing anxiously, an old habit that I’d tried to rid him of while treating his right knee.
Placing a gentle hand on his leg to calm it, I took the box from him and glanced up. Josh stared back at me as though he was preparing to memorize every detail of my reaction to whatever was in the box. I couldn’t wait any longer to see what it was so, like Josh, I messily unwrapped it and produced a small, black velvet box.
“Oh, Josh,” I breathed, marveling at the one gift that, at first glance, meant more than it let on. But before I could open it to see what was surely inside, Josh slipped it from my grasp and slowly knelt before me.
In the flickering firelight, his brown eyes were lightened to a spiced cinnamon color and his naturally stern features were softened. His nervous energy seemed to have vanished and was replaced with a focus that burned deeply into my soul as he gazed up at me.
“Amelia,” Josh began, gesticulating with the closed box in one hand and nothing in his other, “I never thought this day would come for me. After spending so many years living without love, I figured I was doomed to one-night stands until I got too old to take a girl to bed.”
He let me giggle and shared a knowing smirk before continuing, “If I hadn’t been trying to get rid of those demons on the slopes that day, I never would have met you. Red, you showed me that good things—great things—can come from the most unlikely places. And I hope you feel the same way about what I’m about to ask you.”
With the box propped in his palm, Josh opened it and revealed an engagement ring. Although my eyes had been glued to his, I tore them away to admire the ring he’d picked out for me; it was simple and stunning and perfect. Clasping both my hands over my mouth to keep from screaming for joy, I returned my attention to Josh after he cleared his throat—
“Sweetheart, I know this is a little soon, but I don’t want to waste any more time—we’ve already spent too much of it apart. Would you, the future mother of our child and the love of my life, marry me?”
Wordlessly, I nodded, holding out my left hand and waiting impatiently as Josh removed the ring from the box to slide onto my finger. It glittered in the orange-white glow of the room and I launched myself into Josh’s embrace.
“Calm down, pretty girl,” he laughed when I nearly knocked him off balance before settling on my own knees in front of him. “I’ll take it that’s a yes?”
Swiping the tears from my eyes with my left hand which now bore the infinite weight of Josh’s promise, I grinned. “Of course it is, Old Man!” And then I kissed him, moaning at the taste of hot cocoa on his breath and the warmth of his tongue as it slid along my bottom lip, asking for permission to tangle with mine.
I granted it, sliding my hands up to cup Josh’s jaw, and reveled in the intimate nature of the moment. Snow fell soundlessly outside, blanketing the world in a pristine chill, but in here, in each other’s arms, we lost ourselves in the heat of ardent love as the fireplace sparked percussively.
We were married two months later in February. It had been a scramble to get all the necessary things together but somehow we’d managed, with the help of our friends and family. Natalie had been a flurry of decorations and alterations and invitations, taking it upon herself to do all the busy work once I’d revealed to her that I was pregnant.
Though I could tell she wanted to warn me against having Josh’s baby after everything, my older sister had held her gripes and told me she just had to focus on the positive. Which meant obsessing over the unborn baby I was carrying by buying everything she thought would be useful for her new niece or nephew and throwing me a baby shower two weeks before the wedding.
Natalie had also helped me pick out my wedding dress, examining almost twenty different gowns to find the one with the best silhouette for my figure, which was slowly growing more curvaceous. And even though Josh had offered to get a wedding planner, Natalie had taken that job as well, telling him, “You’re not going to waste money on a task I can do for free with your and Ben’s help.”
All I’d done was laugh from the sidelines whenever Natalie scolded her husband and Josh over how a certain garland looked or the crispness of their starch-white button-ups for the tuxedos. It was relaxing to let someone else take over for once and when I saw it all put together on our wedding day, I had no regrets.
Benjamin walked me down the aisle, murmuring how beautiful I looked and how proud he was of me for getting through such a challenging time. “Your mom and dad would have loved to be here,” he whispered, and I softly agreed, feeling their presence in the sunlight streaming through the stained glass windows and the lush, sweet scent of the flowers.
He led me to Josh, who stood tall and dignified at the altar, like the prince I had been longing for. With a slight tremble in his hands, Josh raised the hem of my veil and it reminded me of waking up beside him in those early days at the mansion—
The white sheets would flutter, obscuring our faces for a moment or two until our eyes met in the clear, brimming dawn. His eyes would find mine, a delicately charged meeting of verdure and earth—our own little lush garden—and we would intertwine nakedly like Adam and Eve. The purity of his bleached sheets did nothing to shield our desire for each other and he would take me as carnally as I wanted.
Even now, the ivory dress cascading down my body in swathes of lace and chiffon and the intricate veil that had covered my face were merely traditional symbols. Josh knew me better than I knew myself, and I him, so when he lifted the flimsy fabric away there was nothing to reveal.
All he saw was the woman he loved and all I saw was the man I loved.
And that was better than any dream either of us could have had.
Epilogue
Amelia
“Areyoubeinggood,Lizzy?” Josh cooed at our newborn as she lay in my arms, fussing at the waning summer sun.
“She’s fine,” I assured him, glad that she was finally starting to show some sass to match her father and mother’s dispositions. “Lizzy’s just like you, Josh—always lets us know when she doesn’t like something.”
“We can’t help our high standards, Mama,” my husband teased back, letting his daughter squeeze his finger in her tiny fist. “Isn’t that right, babygirl?”
Elizabeth Mae Adams let out a squawk to signal her agreement, her cupid’s bow lips scrunching together in a pout. “Well now she’s just mimicking you, honey,” Josh further joked, like he was stating a fact, and it earned him a smack on the shoulder.
