Page 84 of Love Me Again

“She told me last night. I’m over the fucking moon. I can’t wait to marry her.” Sam gushes while looking over at her. “I asked her to marry me, and she yes.” Josh and I gape at him, and he chuckles.

“Sam, congrats man. I’m so thrilled for you both.” I grin, and we hug. “I’m going to be an uncle.” I chirp excitedly.

“Sam, I’m thrilled for you, man. Jo is a hell of a girl.” Josh congratulates him, smiling at Aimee when she blows him a kiss, and Sam nods, glancing over at Jo.

“They all are.” I sigh, watching my beautiful wife. “We’re the luckiest men on the fucking planet to land such amazing women.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Sam declares, and we all clink our eggnogs.

“I’m going to remind you boys of this day when you’re twenty-five years into marriage, with your receding hairlines while you grumble about why you ever got married.” My Dad pipes up behind me with a chuckle making us all laugh.

* * *

An hour later,we were all sat around the dinner table, and my Dad was about to carve the turkey. As the eldest Shayla requested, he does the honours. “Before I carve the turkey and we start enjoying the delicious food set out before us, I just want to say a big thank you to Shayla.” My Dad says, turning his gaze to her. Shayla looks at him, taken aback, a blush forming on her cheeks already.

“Believe it or not, our Christmas was always very traditional. It was always Elaine, Cole, and myself enjoying a meal prepared by our chefs. Until you came into our lives, it never dawned on us how grey and stale our lives had become. You brought colour into our lives, and you reminded us of the importance and power of love. It was a rocky start for many reasons, but my wife and I want to thank you for filling our hearts and our lives with so much love.” I look at Shayla, and she smiles tearfully at my Dad. I press a kiss to her temple, and she closes her eyes.

“And Sara, thank you for raising such a wonderful daughter and agreeing to share her with us.” Sara smiles, nodding gratefully while wiping away tears that had rolled down her cheeks.

“Thank you, that means everything to me.” Sara cries, placing her hand on her chest and looking at Shayla, who smiles tenderly at her.

“Why am I crying on Christmas Day?” Aimee grumbles, sobbing, making everyone laugh. “Mr H, you’re killing me! We’re supposed to be eating, drinking, and making merry! Gosh!”

My Dad laughs. “Fair enough. Merry Christmas, everyone.” He says, holding up his glass of mulled wine, and we all follow, holding up our glasses. “Let’s eat.” While he carves the turkey, and everyone starts chatting among themselves, I turn to Shayla, who looks at me.

“Thank you for choosing to love me,” I tell her, and she smiles.

“Thank you for loving me back.” I kiss her softly and jump back when a brussels sprout hits my head. I scowl and see Josh and Aimee giggling. I glare at them playfully and throw it back at them. Shayla laughs, shaking her head, and we join the rest enjoying our Christmas dinner.

Our home was full of laughter, love, and joy. It’s all I could ever wish for—well, a couple more kids, of course, but that will come.

After dinner, we opened gifts. I hand Shayla hers, and she opens it with a smile and looks at me and then back at the bracelet. “Oh baby, I love it.” She kisses me, and I help her put the bracelet on her wrist.

She hands me my gift, and I open it and pull out the Platinum Versace dog tag. She turns it over, and I see that it's engraved with a family tree starting with Shayla and my name at the top, then there was a branch with Alaia’s name and a couple of empty ones. At the very bottom, it had the words ‘Ever ours’ engraved. “You can add the names as our family grows.”

I stare at her in awe, and she smiles adoringly at me. “How did I get so lucky to find you.” I sigh, pulling her to me and kissing her. “Thank you, baby. I’ll be wearing this for the rest of my life.” And I did.

She grins, “Merry Christmas, baby.”

“Merry Christmas, Sweetheart,”

---