Page 62 of Teach Me to Laugh

I didn’t even have to think. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

Later in the room when everyone had said their goodnights, an early evening after the celebrations of Kaiden’s and Raina’s engagement, I was waiting on the loveseat for Amara to return from the bathroom where she was readying herself for bed. I had the gift I’d bought for her on the cushion next to me. My hands were twisting as I tried to calm the nerves inside.

I’d built her a small fire, knowing she loved falling asleep to the warmth. I didn’t mind staying awake to watch the embers burn low. I didn’t mind, because I liked giving her something that made her eyes happy. And I loved giving her something that made her lips curl.

The door opened and I heard the light flick off. A creak of the floor alerted me to her nearness and I twisted to glance back at her. She was in my t-shirt again, looking uncertain as she stopped by the couch.

“You’re not in bed?”

“Come sit?”

“Um,” she shifted, her fingers tugging on the hem of the shirt.

I pulled the blanket from the back of the couch, “You can cover your legs with this.” She didn’t have to tell me that was the problem. In my time with Amara, I’d come to know her well. Reading the woman wasn’t hard. After melting her wall of ice, she was like an open book.

“You’re not tired?” She asked, rounding the couch to drop to the cushion. It was when she was snuggled into the blanket, her legs tucked up on the couch, that she noticed the purple wrapped box with the purple satin ribbon. Her breath caught, an audible thing between us. “What’s this?”

“For you.” The words sounded on a breathless whisper. The woman did these things to me—stealing my air.

“For me?” Her eyes moved from the gift up to my face. They were filled with disbelieving question that had me vowing to be the man who, for the rest of her years, gave her gifts that were just for her. Just because.

“For you, Amara.”

“Oh, Beckett . . .” she shook her head. “I—um I . . .”

“Open it,” I lifted the box, placing it into her lap. I didn’t take my eyes off her face as her hands moved to thebow. Delicate fingers tugged on the satin, unraveling the ornate ribbon and dropping it to the blanket. Then she tore at the wrap around the box to uncover another purple box. This one had white swirly designs that emanated a delicate lace. Even the box had reminded me of Amara—but it was the gift inside that made me stop and walk into the shop.

My breath stilled in my lungs as I watched her slender fingers pull the lid from the box to reveal a shimmering snow globe. It was when she sucked in a deep breath, lifted watery eyes to mine, and whispered, “Beckett,” that I knew I’d fallen in love with Amara Bloom.

The snow globe was beautiful. Shining glass with a solid russet base and gold engraved letters that had my heart stopping in my chest, only to start again on a race that was so fast and so intense, it was nearly painful, stared up at me. Inside, white imitation snow swam through the liquid as I lifted the globe from the box. The snow swirled down around a ramshacklecabin that was surrounded by trees and mountains, but what I couldn’t stop seeing were the words that had been engraved.I promise you, one day.

My mind flashed back to when I’d told him about my dream of being in the mountains, secluded, and safe. And then my heart clenched on a beat in my chest.

“Beckett,”

“It says everything I wanted to say to you before you let me in, Amara. Before you let me see your smile, kiss you, hold you—this says everything I wanted to tell you, but didn’t feel like I could.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I want to be the man who gives you safe. You said you’d feel safe surrounded by mountains in a little cabin in the woods.” His eyes were so soft and so true; it took away my breath and seized my heart. “I want to be the man to give all that to you—and I promise, if you let me, I will. One day.”

How had I gone from the hurt woman who was so wounded and lost only months ago, to this woman who sat before a warm fire with a beautiful man she trusted, in such a short time? How could I be so lucky? And when the floor fell out from beneath me, how was I ever going to survive?

Beckett continued when I said nothing in reply, “The cabin looks broken, but it’s not. It represents you—and everything you think you are. You see yourself as broken, Amara, but you’re not. You’re perfect. You’ve been wounded and it shows, but even if you take yourself back down to the studs, you can always be rebuilt. You’ll always be strong.”

Right now, I wasn’t feeling very strong. Right now, my insides were quaking and my heart was—my heart was falling. Yes, you heard it. My heart was falling head over heels for Beckett Davis, and there was no stopping it. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to stop it.

Falling, when done right, and with the right person, was a beautiful thing.

So it was looking down into my globe of dreams and wishes for one day, that I whispered, “I really hope you always feel that way about me, Beckett.”

His warm hand slid beneath my thick hair to cup the back of my neck. When he tugged, forcing my eyes to meet his, I’d thought he was going to kiss me. He didn’t. Instead, he looked deep into my eyes and vowed. “I’ll always feel for you, Amara. But it won’t be the same way I feel now.” My heart squeezed. “Every day, I feel more for you. So I know that as the days pass, my feelings for you will only keep growing. They’ll keep getting stronger.”

I didn’t know if it was because of the snow globe, or his declaration, but he’d just obliterated any and all sense of reservation I’d been clutching, white knuckled, onto. It was as I threw caution to the wind, letting my heart soar for the first time since I’d caged it tight all those years ago, that I finally felt his lips on mine.

Christmas morning was filled with merry celebration, love, and a dash of crazy. We’d decided to do a Christmas exchange rather than giving gifts to everyone. So it was around a crackling fire,laughter, and coffee that we opened our presents. Maddy had drawn my name, and she bought me the most unattractive and yet adorably cozy lavender onsie. It had a big fluffy hood and fluffy booties at the feet. I loved it.

So it was on that, I lifted it high and declared, “It’s perfect.”

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