Page 22 of A Holiday Lift
I give her a wry smile. “Let’s try something new.”
“What are you up to Dean Pritchard?” She asks, tilting her head at me.
“You’ll see.”
We make our way down a few halls until we’re in the new section that has a large sculpture in the center.
“Chelle!” Holly yells and then rushes to her. “What the hell are you wearing a ball gown for?”
Chelle, who is wearing a burgundy dress, looks over at me and smiles. “Your dress is hanging in the other room.”
“My dress for what?” She takes a step back, looking between us.
I go to her and drop to one knee. “When I asked you to marry me, I had this elaborate plan to make it special. See, I planned to ask you while we were at what I planned to be our wedding.”
“What?”
“Marry me today, Holly. Marry me here, in the place that means so much to us. Marry me in front of our friends. Right now.” Tears fill her eyes as my mother, her mother, and Brian step out, all dressed in formal attire. “Marry me on Christmas Eve.”
She sniffles and then drops down to me. “You planned our wedding?”
“I know you didn’t want a big wedding, and Christmas means everything to us.”
“It does. And you mean everything to me, you sweet, wonderful, amazing man.”
“Chelle has a dress, all you have to do is agree.”
She looks around as tears fall. “But who is going to marry us?”
Then Charlie walks through the door. “Did someone need help getting hitched for Christmas? I happen to be ordained.”
Holly’s laughter erupts through her soft sob. “You . . . you . . . God, I can’t even speak. You did all this. For me?”
“I’d do anything for you.”
She launches forward, knocking me back to the ground as she holds me tight. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”
I smile up at her. “So, you’ll marry me today?”
“I’d marry you any day.”
11
Chelle is behind me, checking over my hair and makeup. “You look perfect.”
“Even after the tears?”
“Yes, even after crying. You truly look gorgeous. Ready for the dress?”
God, he even got a dress? This is insane. The amount of time and preparation he went through is crazy. “How did he pull this off?”
“It was supposed to be tomorrow at a place by the lake, but . . . we improvised.”
“He was that sure I would say yes.”
“Of course, he was. Dean loves you more than any man I’ve ever seen, and you love him just as much. Not a single one of us thought you would say no.”
I am so lucky. Everything about this, even though he planned it just a few hours ago to be here is perfect. Well, not that I’ve seen anything other than the people around us. As soon as I said yes, Chelle and the mothers took me into this room to get ready. My blonde hair is curled, falling down my back and my makeup looks like a professional did it, thanks to Chelle’s ridiculous hours spent on YouTube.
