Page 17 of Run, Run Mistletoe
Laughing, I roll my eyes. My heart feels lighter than it has all week and it’s him.
It’s always been him.
“Frank, why did you pay for that car?”
“I didn’t. I put down some money so you could afford it. And I’d do it all over again. You needed a safe vehicle. I need you safe. I love you and Velvet. This last week has been an absolute nightmare and I can’t believe how much I missed you. Can’t believe how much you already mean to me. You and your daughter are my whole world. I want to spoil you and take care of you. I want to make your lives easier. Happier.”
“I don’t need you to buy me things.”
“I know you don’t need that. But I want to do it. It makes me happy to take care of you. Makes me feel like I’m worthy of you. Not like your ex.”
“You’re nothing like my ex. Donny was a user from the beginning. He had no idea how to take care of anyone but himself. And he was actually kinda sketchy on that too.”
“I’m a full-grown man. I worked a hard job taking care of business for a lot of years. I never thought I’d find anybody that would make me want to have a family. But you do. You have from the first minute I saw you.”
He waves his hand around the farm. “You want this place to be successful? I can help. I’d love to help you. That’s all I was trying to do with the car. Help. Because Ineedto help you. And Velvet. It’s a compulsion and I’m not gonna be able to stop. I hope that you can live with that.”
My heart skips in my chest at the warm look in his dark eyes. His hands reach out to hold mine and they’re warm and safe. I can even feel a callous here and there.
The hands of a man that works and doesn’t shy away from it. A man that really wants to be my partner.
Wants to make my farm successful. Wants to take care of me and Velvet.
“You’re sure about this? Because if you don’t want to be serious, you need to leave. I’m not about to expose my daughter to another man that just wants to leave.”
I’m never leaving you, Misty. You’re it for me. You and Velvet are my heart and soul. It took me a minute to figure it out but when I did…I didn’t mean to mess it up.” He chokes and closes his eyes, his hands tightening on mine. “I have missed both of you so much. It’s been torture.”
I move into his arms and feel them wrap around me, warm and safe. Just like it always is with him.
“I missed you too,” I whimper. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Misty. You and Velvet. You’re mine. You were always meant to be mine.”
“It doesn’t bother you that she’s not your blood?”
He shakes his head wildly. “No. Never. She’s mine. As soon as I met her, that was it for me. I want to adopt her when we get married. Want to raise her as my own. And if we never have any other children it will not matter at all to me. Because she’s just as much mine as she is yours. I want to raise her and when she gets old enough, I want to meet the idiots that think they’ll have the right to date her so I can disabuse them of that right off the bat. Because I guarantee none of them will be good enough for her. Just like I’m not good enough for you. But I don’t care. I’ll spend my whole life trying to be. And I hope that that’s good enough.”
Tears sting my eyes. This beautiful, sweet man is promising me the moon, the stars and everything in between.
“I don’t know if I deserve you either. But I think that we deserve each other.”
“Are you sure?” His dark eyes search mine and my soul feels like it’s on wings, flying so high in the clouds that it’s looking down on me and smiling.
“I’m sure.”
“Then how do you feel about a Christmas wedding?”
Giggling, I lean into his chest, hearing his heart beat under my ear. I don’t think so. I need things. Like a dress and all that stuff.”
“I guarantee I can get all that together in less than two weeks.”
“Not gonna happen, old man.”
He leans down and kisses me lightly, his warm lips clinging to mine. He arches a dark brow. “We’ll see, Mrs. Monroe. We’ll see.”
Giggling again, I lead him to the house, smirking when he trips over Val who’s still trying to grab his shoes.
“That thing is a menace.”
