Page 78 of Yuletide Hero

“Try not to think about it.” Brian kissed the top of her head.

“I can't stop.”

“I know, me either, but today is Christmas Eve. Jay Turner is dead, Maria Turner is in prison, Kinsley is back at the group home, and we’re both alive. Everything worked out okay. It’s just going to take time for us to process it all, for us to work our way through it. But we’ll be okay, know why?”

“Why?”

“Because we have each other. Every time I picture you tied to that bed, I just look at you, and I see that you’re okay, and eventually that’ll sink in. Every time you get scared and can't stop thinking about it, you just look at me, and you know what, I’ll be here. I'm not going anywhere, not now, not ever. I got a little taste of what my life would be like without you, and I hated it. From here on out, it’s you and me, together, always. I don’t want to live without you. Any time you’re struggling you just remember that.”

Hayley smiled at him and snuggled closer, tucking her head onto Brian’s shoulder. “Okay. Thank you.”

“Don’t ever thank me for loving you. I should be thanking you for not giving up on me. It took me a while to get to the same place you were in, and if you’d given up and moved on then we wouldn’t be together right now.”

“I could never have given up on you,” she said, taking Brian’s hands and entwining their fingers. “I love you.”

“And I love you. Which is why I think we should ask Brady to drive us home. We can sit in bed, watch Christmas movies, drink hot chocolate, eat some of Savannah Crane’s Christmas cookies, and you can get the sleep you need.”

As lovely as that sounded, there would be time to do it later. Right now, this was where she wanted to be. She and Brian might have had a bad twenty-four hours, but Samara Patrick had had a horrendous year, and she needed this. “This is Samara’s chance to have what we have, our families and all our friends are here, this is something I want to do. Something I need to do.” Hayley needed something to do to take her out of her head for a while, and this was the perfect thing.

“All right,” Brian conceded. “I guess we can find something non-strenuous to do.”

“Thanks for understanding.”

Hand in hand, they climbed out of the back of Brady’s car and headed into Samara Patrick’s house. The place and the yard were buzzing as fifty-odd people worked to turn the house into a winter wonderland before Samara came home with Michael. Hayley hoped it was enough to help the couple reunite. Despite the rocky road they’d had, Hayley knew they were great together and could find a way to move forward and be happy.

“Two more worker bees,” Brian said to Samara’s brother Fin as they stepped inside. “Where do you need us?”

“Since you two look like you could fall over any second, why don’t you go unpack the boxes with the Christmas tree decorations and lay them out on the table,” Fin told them.

Heading into the living room, she and Brian sat side by side on the couch and began to unwrap decorations. There were four big boxes of them. Hayley wasn't sure where they all came from, she knew that Samara didn't celebrate Christmas—or at least she hadn't before—but maybe after seeing this magical wonderland her house was turning into she would change her mind.

“Oh, look at this adorable little Santa and Mrs. Claus,” she said as she opened the first box and picked up one of the decorations sitting on top, unwrapping the tissue paper it was wrapped in. “They’re kissing. How cute is that?”

“It’s pretty cute,” Brian agreed.

“And a reindeer, look it lights up,” she said as she opened the next one and pressed the little button on its stomach that made its little nose glow red.

“Also cute.”

“Aww, this angel has little feathers for wings.” Hayley unwrapped the next decoration.

“Are you going to get excited about every single decoration you unwrap?” Brian asked, amused.

“Probably.” Hayley grinned. “This is the third tree I've decorated this year. The one in my house, then the one in the safehouse, and now this one.”

“Maybe next year we’ll be decorating a tree of our own. Together,” Brian said.

Those nervous butterflies she was getting used to started fluttering in her stomach. “You mean a tree that’s both of ours?”

“Yes.”

“Because it’s in a house that we live in together?”

“Yes.”

“Are you asking me to move in with you?” Brian had talked about it in the car on the way to Jay’s house, but they’d been interrupted before he could outright ask her.

A corner of Brian’s mouth quirked up in a half smile. “I obviously need to work on making myself clearer, but yes, that’s what I'm asking.”

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