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22. Jillian

22

JILLIAN

O n Christmas morning, Jillian awoke early and slipped out of bed, making her way down the stairs as quietly as possible so as not to wake Josie.

The excitable girl had been up half the night, planning a dream wedding for Jillian that was so over the top that Jillian had to shake her head in amazement at the little girl’s ingenuity. But after such a late and eventful night, Josie was still sleeping hard with Moose curled up at her feet. And Jillian was still smiling as she thought about all of Josie’s big plans from the night before.

“This one is the best,” Josie had said finally, after scrawling another outrageous scenario in her notebook with a flourish.

“I love all these ideas,” Jillian told her right away. “I think they’re amazing.”

“But only because I came up with them, right?” Josie teased .

“Well, maybe that’s your own wedding you’ve been planning,” Jillian suggested.

“I do love fireworks and tigers,” Josie said thoughtfully. “But I don’t think I’ll get married. I have a lot of other plans.”

“If you find the right person, they might help you with those plans,” Jillian suggested.

“Maybe,” Josie said, frowning thoughtfully. “Is my dad going to help with your plans?”

“He’s making my biggest dream come true,” Jillian said, knowing it sounded cheesy, but not caring.

“You sound like a movie princess,” Josie said, rolling her eyes but still smiling.

“Sorry,” Jillian said.

“No, I like it,” Josie told her. “You should feel like a princess, because you are like one—beautiful and kind.”

“Thank you,” Jillian laughed. “I think you just see me through rose-colored glasses.”

Then she’d had to explain to Josie what that meant, which was followed by reading to her for a few minutes, as had become their routine.

When Josie finally fell asleep, Jillian stared at the cracked plaster ceiling in wonder for a long time, her thumb caressing the golden band around her finger and thinking of what she’d learned about its history.

After they came in from the proposal and received hugs and congratulations from Josie and Annabelle, Brad had told her that he’d wanted to propose right away. But with the ice storm coming, there was no time to get to the village. And he just couldn’t wait another minute. So his mom had loaned him a simple ring to use for tonight, but he would buy Jillian a bigger, fancier ring in the village tomorrow, or maybe even in the city, if she wanted.

“I don’t need a bigger one,” Jillian said, grabbing her hand protectively to her chest without realizing she was doing it. “I love this one. It’s perfect.”

“It was my mother’s,” Annabelle said softly, a fond smile tugging up the corners of her mouth.

“Oh,” Jillian said, feeling terrible. “Of course you can have it back.”

But when she moved to pull the ring from her finger, Annabelle had placed her hand over Jillian’s.

“No,” she said firmly, with tears glistening in her eyes. “You keep it. It’s just right for you to have an heirloom. You’ve been a treasured part of our family for such a long time.”

Then they were both crying and embracing, and Brad and Josie piled into the hug too, until the tears turned to happy laughter.

Annabelle stayed long enough to help them get their meal on the table, with all four of them working together, filling the kitchen with happy chatter. Then she hurried off to the big house.

“You’re sure you don’t all want to come stay at my place?” she asked as she headed out the door.

“We’ll make it over to you tomorrow, Ma,” Brad had said. “No amount of ice could keep us away on Christmas morning.”

But now, as Jillian gazed out the living room window, she wasn’t so sure that Brad had been right.

A layer of ice covered the porch railing, the snowy lawn, and the entire forest. The early morning sun reflected pink in the shimmering surfaces, reminding her of the sparkling diamond on her finger. The sight was so magical that it took her breath away, and made her itch to write again.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Brad asked softly from the kitchen.

“Oh,” she said, surprised to find him up.

“I couldn’t really sleep,” he admitted, giving her a lopsided grin that made her stomach do a little flip. “Thought I’d get up early and make coffee and biscuits.”

“That’s nice,” she told him. “I guess it will be a quiet Christmas here with all that ice.”

“I also put the chains on my tires,” he said. “Josie’s not missing out on Christmas with her cousins.”

“Is there anything you can’t do?” she asked him.

“Now that I’ve got you?” he asked. “Nope. There’s nothing I want to do that we can’t do together.”

She smiled at that answer, and grabbed the kettle to get it started.

“Speaking of which,” he said. “When does school start for you?”

“I can join in after the holidays,” she told him, smiling. “As soon as I’m ready.”

“I guess that will keep you pretty busy,” he said.

“I told them I wanted to be part-time,” she said, putting the kettle on the stove. “I figured I would be working, too.”

“And now you have a wedding to plan instead,” he said, quirking an eyebrow. “Sounds like you’ve got your work cut out for you, tracking down those trained tigers and elephants. ”

“You were listening in?” she asked him, a little scandalized.

“Not on purpose,” he told her. “But I was brushing my teeth, and Josie was pretty loud.”

The only second floor bath shared a wall with Josie’s room, and Josie had definitely gotten pretty passionate when she started coming up with animals to perform at the ceremony.

“I think we can skip all that stuff,” Jillian said with a smile.

“What kind of stuff do you want?” he asked.

“I never really thought about it,” she told him honestly. “But a nice little church wedding with family there sounds perfect to me.”

“So… the kind of thing that could be arranged quickly?” Brad asked.

She thought he was teasing, but when she glanced up at him, she could see how serious he was.

“Yes,” she said. “I don’t want anything complicated.”

“I think we should make it happen as soon as possible,” he said.

His eyes were on her lips again, and she felt like tiny bubbles were filling her up from her toes to the ends of her hair.

“ Dad, Jillian, ” a little voice yelled from the stairwell. “ It’s Christmas! Why didn’t you guys wake me up? ”

“Merry Christmas,” Brad murmured, stroking Jillian’s cheek lightly and then pulling away to meet his daughter at the foot of the stairs with Moose right by her side.

Yes , Jillian thought to herself breathlessly. We’d better get married as soon as we can .

“Merry Christmas,” Brad said to Josie, sweeping her up in his arms and spinning her around.

Moose capered around a bit, as if he knew what was happening.

“Are we going to Grandma’s?” Josie asked hopefully.

“We sure are,” Brad told her. “Should we bring a basket of biscuits? I was hoping you might help me fix them.”

“Yes,” she told him as he set her down.

But she ran to Jillian right away, hugging her fiercely and then lifting the hand that wore the engagement ring, as if to check on it.

“It’s really pretty,” Josie said reverently as they both gazed down at the sparkly little stone. “Does this mean you’ll be my mom?”

Jillian froze and her eyes went to Brad’s.

He nodded.

“Is that what you want?” she asked Josie softly.

Josie nodded, her lips pressed together firmly.

“Me too,” Jillian managed before the tears burning in her eyes began to slide down her cheeks.

Josie hugged her tight again, and Jillian thought her heart would burst with happiness.

An hour later, they were all piling out of the SUV and heading up the steps of the big house.

“Grandma,” Josie yelled from the front door, before spotting the cat. “Oh, hi, Chester.”

Chester stretched luxuriantly, and allowed himself to be patted by his nine-year-old admirer before taking a good look at Moose, deciding he wasn’t worth the trouble, and going promptly back to sleep.

“There they are,” Annabelle called out happily from the living room. “Just in time for presents.”

“ Yes, ” Josie said, hopping up.

“We’re going to drop these biscuits in the kitchen first,” Brad told her, handing her the big reusable shopping bag of presents. “You two go on with your cousins.”

Jillian followed him back, smiling at the sound of Josie and Moose greeting Zeke in the other room.

“Merry Christmas,” Brad’s dad, Alistair, said fondly, wrapping an arm around his son and then opening his other arm to beckon Jillian.

“Merry Christmas,” she said, going to him.

“I hear you have happy news for us,” he said.

“We do,” Brad told him.

“Well, your mother came home so excited, I thought she wouldn’t sleep a wink,” Alistair told them, releasing them from his hug. “I couldn’t be prouder of you son, or happier for the both of you, and for Josie too.”

Jillian smiled, afraid she was going to cry again.

“I also wanted to give you a heads-up that it seems like your cousin Tanner and Valentina just had a little disagreement,” he said quietly. “Or maybe Valentina and Baz? It’s hard to keep track. And there’s big news from Levi as well.”

“Wow,” Jillian said.

“I guess we shouldn’t make a big thing out of our engagement today,” Brad said, nodding. “Besides, Emma’s wedding is coming up next week, and we don’t want to steal her thunder.”

“Funny,” his dad said with a crooked smile. “Your brother said the same thing.”

“Do you want me to take the ring off, just for today?” Jillian offered. She really, really didn’t want to, but she wouldn’t hurt Brad’s cousin for the world. “Family is more important, and we know we’re engaged. We can let everyone else know later.”

“ Absolutely not ,” Brad said immediately.

“That’s very sweet of you, Jillian,” Alistair said. “But this young man has been wanting to put a ring on your finger since the day you met, so you’d better keep it on. Plus, his mother is awfully proud that you love her mother’s ring so much.”

Jillian smiled in relief, and Brad took her hand, worrying the ring with his thumb as if to be certain it was right where it belonged.

“The biscuits smell great,” his dad said. “Why don’t you two get out there and join Josie? I’ll be right there for presents.”

They did as they were told, snuggling up on the sofa to watch the kids sitting on the floor and opening presents until the whole room seemed to be a foot deep in crumpled wrapping paper and every child had a new hand-knitted sweater or scarf and a treasured new doll or toy.

Jillian smiled to see Josie hugging the books she had bought her to her chest. There was the first in the series she had spotted at the big bookstore, and also some age-appropriate books on dog ownership that Sarah had pointed out to Jillian when she visited the local shop to make her purchases.

One by one, the grownups exchanged gifts as Moose napped by the fire, clearly worn out from a busy morning. It was relaxed and fun, but Jillian couldn’t help but worry that she didn’t have anything for Brad. She normally just got him a nice treat, and she had already given him the peppermint bark she had ordered for him this year.

“What’s wrong, butterfly?” Brad asked her.

“Oh,” she said, smiling at the funny endearment. “I… I don’t have anything for you.”

“You already gave me the only thing I could ever want,” he told her, taking her hand. “This is my favorite Christmas ever.”

“And you already gave me mine too,” she said, smiling in relief.

“Not quite,” he told her. “Hang on. Mom, is Jillian’s present under there somewhere?”

Jillian watched worriedly as his mother smiled brightly and began digging under packages.

“You’re going to love it,” Josie whispered to her.

“No spoiling,” Brad teased his daughter, waggling his eyebrows, which only made her laugh.

Little Zeke laughed too, which made Jillian smile.

“Here you are,” Annabelle said, handing Brad a funny-looking package wrapped in poinsettia paper.

He passed it on to Jillian, the usual assuredness in his eyes replaced with a look of worry.

“I hope you like it,” he told her.

“It’s from you,” she said, suddenly feeling less nervous herself. “I know I’ll love it. Besides, this is already my favorite Christmas ever.”

He smiled down at her, his dark eyes filled with love.

She tore her eyes away before her chest filled with tingles and she had to fight the urge to kiss him.

“Open it carefully,” Josie suggested.

“Josie,” Brad said.

“What?” Josie asked. “I’m not spoiling it. I’m just saying.”

“I’m definitely opening it carefully,” Jillian said, trying not to laugh as she slid her finger under the tape to lift one side of the paper up.

Inside was a cardboard roll, the kind that might have a poster inside.

“Artwork,” she said to herself, uncapping one end.

“Kind of,” Josie whispered.

She quickly slid the paper from inside before Josie could get reprimanded again, and realized it wasn’t a poster. The paper was too thin.

Lifting her arm to unroll it, she saw that it was a blueprint of some kind.

“ Jillian’s writing room,” she read aloud. “Oh. Oh, wow.”

She gazed at it raptly, looking at a space that was much too large to be in the cottage where Brad lived now. It had skylights too.

“This is the attic room,” Brad told her. “We have to repair it anyway, and I was thinking it would make a really cool space for you to use for writing. If you like the idea, we can dormer the roof out and put in skylights and built-ins, and whatever else you want. ”

“Oh, Brad,” she murmured, her eyes drinking in the incredible space.

“And this is your other present,” he told her, pressing something into her hand.

She looked down to see a pretty red pen.

“If there’s anything you don’t like, or anything you want to add,” Brad said with a smile, “I want you to tell me . And mark it on the blueprint. Almost perfect isn’t good enough.”

She didn’t miss his double-meaning. Maybe if she had spoken up sooner about what was missing from her almost-perfect life, things would be different now. And the same went for Brad. She could hardly believe that life had been almost-but-not-really perfect for him too, all these years.

But things were pretty great now. And there was no reason to worry about the path not taken, because no matter how they got here, where they had wound up was all -perfect.

“Do you love it?” Josie asked, leaping up and scrambling onto Jillian’s lap like she used to when she was really little.

“I love it,” Jillian told her. “And I love you and your dad even more.”

“Forever?” Josie asked.

“Forever and ever,” Jillian promised her, pressing her lips to that beloved blonde head.

She wasn’t surprised when she felt Brad’s strong arms wrapping them both, holding them tightly, like he was sealing in their promise.

Forever and ever.

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