Page 17 of One Hellion of a Christmas

Poppy lifted a shoulder. “The seller had no idea she was holding on to something special. But I agree. Three hundred dollars wasn’t nearly enough for something this precious. I made sure she was compensated.”

Heart pounding, I took the box from his hands, suddenly nervous. I was more anxious over her reaction to the shoes than I’d been about her saying yes to changing her last name.

Grabbing my shoulder, Poppy gave it a firm squeeze. “Hard part’s over, kids. You three got that girl to fall in love with you. All you have to do now is keep her heart safe. And these shoes? That’s something you realized on your own that she needed. Even if you did need a little help getting hold of them.” He tipped his chin down, meeting my gaze head on and causing me to choke back the emotions trying to rip free of my throat. “It’s okay to ask for help, Jamie. That’s what family does.”

Swallowing with difficulty, I nodded, blinking against the burn of tears. Sparks and Ky bumped my arms in encouragement, but they were having trouble holding on to control of their own emotions. “We got this.”

“Damn right, you do.” Poppy gave my shoulder another squeeze.

Sucking in a steadying breath, I turned. My eyes went straight to Hayat. Amala had gotten tired of singing, and now she had a book in her hand that Hayat was reading to her. A few of the other kids had moved in closer, listening to the story.

Thankful for the distraction, I sat beside her, keeping the box out of sight for a moment. Sparks and Ky dropped down on the other side of her, their attention glued to her face as she used different tones of voice for each character in the Christmas-themed book Amala favored.

“Who wants dessert?” one of the moms called from the kitchen.

“Me!” Amala and Hayat cheered at the same time.

Amala jumped to her feet. “Hurry, bestie! I want cake.”

“I’m trying, Mini. But my legs are too long. Run and tell Glamma to save me a slice.” Dark red pigtails were the last thing I saw before Hayat slowly unfolded her legs, trying to stretch out the soreness in them.

“Crap,” she groaned as soon as Amala was out of sight. “I need two Tylenol and a massage. Everything hurts.”

I grasped one socked foot, pressing into her arch. Moaning, she dropped her head to Ky’s shoulder. “That’s better than any cake. Don’t stop, Jamie.”

I massaged her calf, her heel, and then her toes, a happy hum from her my reward. Keeping her distracted with one hand, I quickly extracted a shoe from the box and slipped it onto her foot.

Her head popped up from Ky’s shoulder. “What are you—” She broke off, a strangled sound leaving her mouth. It had taken me a while to see the difference between the shoes she’d worn earlier in the day and the ones from the box, but obviously, Hayat had noticed immediately.

I finished tying her shoe then grabbed her other foot. Keeping my eyes on what I was doing, I could feel her gaze onme. Her silence seemed to grow louder and louder until I had the second bow perfect. Only then did I chance looking at her.

Tears glittered in her eyes, her chin trembling. Fuck, had I gotten it wrong? “Where did you get these?” she whispered.

“Had some help.”

Her lashes lowered, and I pushed down my nervousness. More tears spilled over her cheeks too fast for me to wipe them away. “Jamie.”

“I’m sorry your other pair was ruined. That you lost so many memories. I—we—can’t fix them, but I want… We want…” Fuck. Struggling to find the right word, I stroked my hand up her leg and then covered her flat stomach. “The five of us can make a lifetime of memories, Hellion.”

With a cry, she scrambled to move so she was in my lap, dropping kisses all over my face. “This is a hundred times better than any ring. You know that, right? I’m sorry I messed up your proposal. But I swear, if you guys had planned this all along, I would have said yes even faster than I did in the hospital.”

I shuddered. “Let’s forget about that, okay? We can tell the baby this is how their daddies asked Mommy to be their forever.”

“Agreed,” Ky grumbled, coming up behind her while Sparks took my left. “That proposal totally didn’t count.”

She lifted her head. “Technically, this isn’t a proposal either. No one asked me anything. So…”

Sparks tipped her chin up, his face damp with tears, his mouth set in a serious line. “Hey, Hellion, do you want to be our forever?”

“So much, yes.”

epilogue

HAYAT

Uncurlingfrom the back of the car, I stretched out my legs and arms as the cool winter air filled my lungs. Closing my eyes, I smiled as the scents I associated with Creswell Springs and Christmas flooded over me.

Ky brushed a kiss on my lips before walking to the back of our SUV to start the long process of unloading.

---