Page 74 of Holly, Jolly, and Oh So Naughty

His jaw twitches, and my heart continues to race like a rabbit trapped within a cage.

“She hid it from me for the good of thefamily, in her words. She also told me that she tried to pay you and, Lily, I am so sorry you had to go through that alone.”

Hearing it come from James’s mouth is strange because that secret—that his mother offered me money for an abortion—has never been uttered out loud. I kept that hidden within me as the main fuel to never look for James or his family again. Hearing that he was completely in the dark stuns me.

Should I have tried harder to reach him? Could things have been different?

Tears sparkle in James’s eyes as he steps forward. “I love you, Lily,” he says softly. “I loved you seven years ago and I never stopped. I squashed it down because I was fighting to make other people happy, but I am done with that life. I am done pretending to be someone I’m not and hiding how I feel. I love you so much, Lily. Some days, it consumes me. I look at you and everything in the world is brighter, and it’s like I can finally see color for the first time. I think about you all the time, and I have ever since I first saw you in your bakery. I love you.”

My warring emotions surge upward, battling for dominance, but there’s a clear winner. My anger fades. I met his mother, and I can’t blame him for not taking action when he had no idea thatI was trying to reach him. And Amelia was right—James needed time to process and confront the truth. Which means he believed me enough to fly back to the city and hear it from the horse's mouth.

Pressure swells in my chest, and I try to speak, but all I do is gasp as a stray tear leaks down my cheek.

“So I’m here, Lily. For you. And Emma. I want to be a good man for you, Lily. I want to make you proud and make you feel happy and safe. I want to be a good father for Emma. If I had known all those years ago, I would have been here in a heartbeat, Iswearit.”

Emma’s hand suddenly grips mine, and when I glance at her, she stares up at me with glassy eyes. “My dad?” she asks with a croak.

My heart breaks apart at the look of pure hope on her face. Her view is innocent, and the stories I’ve told her about her absent father have never created any anger in her. She’s looking at me for answers.

“Oh, and…” James suddenly comes a lot closer and he holds out his hand to me. In his palm sits a pair of hand-crafted, wooden, carved ice skates. One has my name and the other has Emma’s name. “When we went ice skating, that was the day I realized that everything I had ever wanted in life was right here, with you and Emma. So these, if you accept them, are a symbol of our past and present coming together. And hopefully, our future.”

He chokes up slightly and his hand trembles, his fingertips turning pink from the cold.

“Mommy?” Emma asks again, and we lock eyes.

I can’t lie to her. I can’t do it, not now. “Yes,” I say, finally finding my voice. “Yes, he is your father.”

“Daddy!” Emma squeals and launches herself forward, tackling James’s leg with such force that he stumbles backward. Reflex has me reaching out for his hand to help him maintain his balance, and our hands close over the wooden trinkets.

“You took so long to come home!” Emma wails, and the dam breaks as she sobs against his leg. There’s a flash of confusion across James’s face as he crouches down to comfort her, then he pulls her in for a tight hug as tears fall down his own cheeks.

“I know,” he said hoarsely. “I know. I’m sorry. But no matter what, I’m here, okay? And I’ll always be here.”

A trembling sob escapes me, and I place one hand over my mouth, searching for the right thing to say. Maybe there isn’t a right thing to say. When James stands, he offers me the rose that is now slightly crumpled after being caught in the hug between him and Emma.

“So,” he whispers. “What do you say?”

“You left,” I croak. “You left and I had no idea if you were coming back. I thought you hated me, that I had made a mistake.”

“No,” James says. “I was the one who made the mistake. Blinded by my mother and her laws for too long. I love you, Lily, and if you accept me, I will spend every day for the rest of my life making up for it.”

My heart swells bigger and bigger, pressing against my ribcage and limiting my breaths from how overwhelmed I feel.

There is only one answer, but I have to make sure.

“If you’re here,” I say shakily, “then you have tobehere. You can’t leave just because things get hard. Do you understand? She knows now.” I glance down at Emma. “Which means you have to behere.”

“I’m here,” he says, and another tear escapes down his handsome face. “I only left to get answers. This is where I want to be, Lily. I love you. I want this. I want you and our family. But only if you want that too.”

I must be dreaming. Gigantic flakes of snow begin to drift slowly down around us, sharply kissing my cheeks where they land. Staring into James’s eyes, I’m even more convinced this is some kind of dream.

“Yes,” I say, and all my overwhelming emotions bubble forward as I sob. “Yes, I love you too. I do, I love you too!”

James sweeps me into his arms, and his lips crash against mine in a heated, biting kiss. Our tears mingle, and the taste of salt invades the kiss, but I don’t care. His arms are around me, our daughter is clinging to our legs, and my heart soars to be caught up in his hold.

Suddenly, soft cheers and clapping rise up from around me and we break apart with a laugh. On the other side of the street, several of the townsfolk have emerged from their stores and are cheering us on, led by Amelia who is dabbing at her own eyes.

“I had a little help to set this up,” James whispers in my ear, repeatedly kissing my cheek.

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