Page 21 of The Lawyer & the Christmas Tree Farmer

“You’re not you trying to do your whole ‘I go to the gym so I can carry all the bags at once’ flex again?” she teased as she walked through the kitchen and opened the door for him. He was, of course, with both his hands filled with bags. If they hadn’t been cloth bags, she’d have felt guilty for killing half the planet with his shopping. “What in the world… did you buy half the store?”

“Weather report said there’s an early snow storm coming in, and I wanted to make sure you were prepared,” Ethan replied. “And when you said you knew how to make pumpkin pie, Imighthave bought two or three extra cans.”

“So you’re a sucker for pumpkin pie?” Laura asked, and Ethan shrugged, giving his innocent look that was so adorableshe had to kiss his nose. “Come on, I already cleared off the dining room table, I figured you’d be hauling a bunch.”

“Thanks,” Ethan said. “You know, I saw a couple of the trees, they haven’t quite given up the fall leaves just yet. You want to maybe grab a picnic over the weekend?”

“You just like snuggling on a picnic blanket,” Laura said, and Ethan hummed. “Of course I do.”

Ethan set the bags on the table, and turned away. “Good. I’ve got a… ouch!”

Laura didn’t know what he tripped over, but Ethan fell, rolling as he hit the carpet. Worried, she rushed to his side. “Ethan! Are you?—”

“Will you marry me?”

Somehow, he’d gotten to a single knee, and in his hand was a small black box. Nestled in the center of the box was a beautiful ring, the ovular stone just very slightly greenish. Laura gawked, amazed.

“How long did you practice that fall?”

“The fall?” Ethan asked, and she nodded. “That didn’t take a lot, I had that down in a day or two out at the farm. Lots of pine needles, after all. Now getting the box out of my pocket… that took some practice.”

“I’m impressed.”

“Impressed enough to say yes?” Ethan asked, and Laura could see the worry in his eye.

Sure, they’d talked about it. It was a given, but now that the moment was here, the nerves were back inside him.

Except she had no nerves at all as she presented her hand to him. “Yes,” she said. “I love you, Ethan Carter. I love you, I want to marry you, and I want to have a long life of Christmas trees with you.”

“And a family?” Ethan asked, and Laura nodded, smiling.

“And a family,” she said, putting her arms around his neck as soon as he slipped the ring on her finger. “In fact, I heard that’s what the honeymoon’s for.”

“Is that so?”

“Uh-huh,” she promised him. “So I’m thinking… Christmas wedding?”

“You don’t want anything fancy?”

“I want you, the friends we’ve made this past year at the wedding. Bianca as my witness and that’s it,” she promised him. “We can get married at the tree farm if you want.”

“So definitely a Christmas wedding,” Ethan said, sweeping her up into his arms. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she said, kissing him.

It was the best feeling in the world.

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