Page 115 of Christmas in Paradise

“We’ve hired Nick to play him,” Grandma leans close and whispers. “As a surprise for Charly. He’ll be here right after dinner.”

“Tonight?” I’m not talking about Santa anymore.

The idea of proposing to Hope right here, right now, tonight has me sweating bullets. “What if she says no?” I direct the question at Mom. “I don’t think she will, but is this too fast?”

My eyes dart across the room to Hope, who happens to be looking at me. Her mouth pulls into a soft smile that slows my racing pulse. Then a look of confusion crosses her face, and I realize Mom, Grandma, and Grandpa are all staring at her too.

We all turn away from her at the same time. Not at all suspicious.

“Okay, let’s do this,” I say to my co-conspirators. “But I need a box to put it in.” I squeeze the ring in my hand tighter. “And it needs to be wrapped with a bow. I don’t know where to get any of that.”

Grandma is already motioning for Evie to join us. “Evie and I can manage that part.”

“Okay, then, I guess that’s all there is to it. I just wait for Santa to show up, pull the box out of his bag, then pop the question? That’s the plan?” I scan all their faces. The whole thing sounds a little too easy for it to be the biggest moment of my life.

“You’re asking Hope to marry you?” Evie’s voice is too loud, and we all shush her.

I glance in Hope’s direction, but she’s busy helping Charly straighten her moose hat. Watching the two of them together, I’m sure I don’t want to wait any longer for us to be a family. Tonight is the perfect night to propose.

“Yep. I’m proposing tonight,” I tell Evie, and the grin that spreads across her face lifts my confidence that Hope will say yes.

That’s when everything fires into action. Evie and Grandma go to the kitchen to see what they can do with a take-out box, Grandpa and Mom corner Hope and Charly to keep Hope distracted while I run home for the one thing—besides the ring—I know I’m going to need.

I’m nervous all through dinner, but with excitement. There’s no fear. This is what I want, and Hope and I have been dancing around the wordsmarriageandfamilysince we started seeing each other. She was clear from the beginning that dating her meant doing it with the intention that we could be a family.

Still, I’m about to crawl out of my skin waiting for the jingle bells I know Nick will ring when he arrives. When I finally hear them, I break out in a cold sweat. I’m not afraid to ask Hope to marry me, I’m afraid I won’t be able to get the words out. I’ll make a fool of myself.

And I’ve got a half hour to get really nervous, because that’s how long it takes for Santa to pull out presents for everyone in the family, one at a time. He calls out a name, followed by a spot-on “Ho, ho, ho.” Then that person sits on Santa’s knee and tells him what they want for Christmas.

There’s no real sitting. We’re all adults here, except for Charly, and big ones at that. Bear, especially, would crush Nick if he actually sat on his knee. But we love every minute of it, because it reminds us of being kids again. Our grandparents used to hire Nick every year to do this.

With every package Nick takes from his red velvet bag, Charly yells, “Mine!” Every time he says someone else’s name, she crumples with disappointment, and I wish we’d made hers and Hope’s present first.

The third time she nearly loses it, I squat down and whisper, “Santa has something really special for you and your mama, but he needs you to wait until everyone else gets their presents. Will you be patient for him?”

Charly’s eyes grow wide behind her glasses, and she nods. “Is it Unkuhrad?”

“It could be,” I say, and her smile stretches across her whole face.

She holds my hand with one of hers and Hope’s with the other, bouncing up and down. I’m bouncing on the inside.

Finally, Nick peeks into his bag and says, “I’ve got two gifts left. One for Charly and one for Hope.” He pulls out a big red and pink wrapped box with a bow on top, then reaches into the bag again. This time, he pulls out a smaller, cardboard box. Not ring-sized. More like French-fries to-go size. But it’s got a beautiful bow and other stuff on top to decorate it.

Charly dashes to Nick, while Hope sends me a surprised look. “I wasn’t expecting anything.”

“You’ve been so patient, Charly.” Nick holds her on his lap, while patting his other knee for Hope to sit on. She’s small enough, she’s not going to break anything. “Would you like to open that gift right now?”

Charly doesn’t wait for him to finish the question before she’s tearing into the wrapping paper.

“And how about you, Hope?” Nick says. “Would you like to open your gift?”

“Oh, no. That’s okay.” She shakes her head. “I can—”

“Open it!” Evie yells.

Hope’s sends Evie a confused look. “O-kayyyy.”

She pulls the bow off the top, and that’s my cue. While she digs through the tissue paper inside, I put on my moose rack beanie that I retrieved from home and kneel down in front of her.

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