Page 78 of Sweet Surrender

“So, what do you say?” Zane asked her. “Will you take these three Lawrence boys to have and to hold?”

“Yes,” she told him, trying her best not to start crying again and upset the boys.

The next thing she knew, he was on his feet, sliding the ring onto her finger, and then the four of them were all laughing and hugging each other.

“We have to go now,” Nick said suddenly.

“Yeah, it’s time for the kissing,” Cal added, giggling.

The boys chased each other down the steps and onto the playground beside the pavilion.

“I know you wanted to take things slowly,” Zane said gently when she turned back to him.

But she was already up on her toes, twining her arms around his neck.

When he bent and pressed his warm mouth to hers, the light of a thousand stars shimmered and burned between them, brighter than any diamond. And she knew that the boys were right—this love was forever.

26

BECCA

Becca crouched in the farmhouse kitchen on Christmas morning, with Nick and Cal by her side as the three of them gazed through the glass door of their grandmother’s oven at the gingerbread men inside.

“I think they’re done,” Nick declared.

“That’s because you like them better raw,” Cal said. “What do you think, Miss Hawthorne?”

“Let’s give them one more minute,” she said, straightening up and resetting the timer.

The boys stood up too, and almost immediately began playing with the magnets on their grandma’s refrigerator.

Maggie had fun things for children all over the house, but her collection of magnetic letters and funny words on the fridge was really special. The boys loved making silly sentences, or making the Charlie Brown and Muppet magnets act out stories.

Meanwhile, Becca took a moment to relax and enjoy the delicious smells of the cookies and soak in the sounds of the rest of the family laughing and chatting around the Christmas tree in the next room.

She loved Zane’s big, noisy family. But she also loved a little quiet time with the boys now and then.

“How’s it going?” Zane asked as he joined her, his voice deep and a little husky from working outside.

“Just fine,” she told him with a smile, still unable to believe they belonged to each other now. “In about thirty seconds, we’ll have nice warm gingerbread.”

“Well, there’s plenty of firewood now,” he told her. “Tripp and I cut up enough to last until New Year’s. Did you hear from your parents?”

“I sure did,” she told him. It had honestly been hard not to run outside and tell him the moment she got her mom’s call. “They can all come next weekend if that works for your family, and if a week and a half is enough notice to get the church.”

But instead of answering, he swept her up in his arms and spun her around.

“Zane,” she shrieked.

“Dad,”Nick yelled, laughing.

“You can’t just pick someone up if they don’t want to be picked up,” Cal said seriously, making Becca suspect that he’d been told that a few times himself.

“Oh, I was just surprised, Cal,” she reassured him as Zane placed her gently back on her feet. “But that’s really good advice. You’re a very thoughtful young man.”

Cal smiled with obvious pride. It hardly seemed possible, but she loved these boys more every day.

The timer went off and they all got to work getting the cookies very carefully out of the oven and setting the tray on the stovetop while Zane lifted down the cooling racks from the cabinet.

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