A Cross-Country Christmas(68)
Epilogue
One Year Later
“I honestly thought we’d never make it.” Lauren had never been so happy to see Will’s parents’ house as she was at that exact moment. After a full seven days on the road, the two of them had a whole lot of new stories to tell his family around the dinner table.
They’d decided to take the road trip home again in honor of Pops, who’d passed away on New Year’s Day almost a year ago, surrounded by his family.
This time, Lauren didn’t complain. Not when Will told her he hadn’t made any reservations. Not when they made countless unexpected stops. Not even when she got locked in a gas station bathroom and Will didn’t come looking for her for a solid thirty-five minutes.
This, she had learned, was part of the adventure of life—and she didn’t want to miss a single minute of it.
Inside the coziness of the Sinclair home, they shared photos of their trip, photos of the set of the top-rated sitcom Lauren had decorated, and photos of Will’s team, now that he was the head coach.
In the center of the picture of the team was a beaming Jackson Pope.
Spencer and Helen had joined them, along with Noel, who was almost—almost—ready to take her first step. With any luck, it would happen while Lauren was home.
They gathered around the table for Paul’s famous lasagna and all at once, Lauren was overcome with emotion. Will took her hand under the table and squeezed it, then leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Well, now. The Christmas spirit suits you.”
She smiled. “Yeah, thanks for helping me find it again.”
“You know what time it is!” Kathy stood. “Time for dessert.” She disappeared into the kitchen, and when she reappeared, holding a tray, Lauren noticed that once again, all eyes were on her. “It’s not my birthday.”
She turned and found that Will had moved the chair away from the table and now knelt on the floor next to her.
She gasped. “Will?!”
“Lauren, last year when we were here, you told me I was worth taking a risk on. I hope you still feel that way because I’m about to ask you to take an even bigger risk. Only, you can rest assured, there’s nothing risky about it at all. I have no doubt in my mind that I’m going to love you for the rest of my life. You’re strong and smart and beautiful, and—”
“Oh my gosh, just ask her already!” Spencer said.
Will laughed, and Lauren’s eyes welled with tears.
“I wanted to do this surrounded by our family because I know how important they are to both of us—” he shot a look at Spencer— “But I’m kind of regretting that now.”
Lauren covered her mouth, laughing. “No, it’s perfect.”
He reached for a small blue velvet box on the tray his mom had set on the table. He opened it, and inside lay a beautiful platinum ring with a square diamond solitaire that glistened in the light overhead.
“Lauren Richmond.” He smiled sweetly at her. “Will you be—”
“YES!” She wrapped her arms around Will just in time for him to say a muffled, “—my wife?”
She pulled back, nodding and smiling as he slipped the ring on her finger.
Around them, Will’s sisters were already talking about wedding colors and flowers and locations, but the sound of their voices faded and it was just her and Will, caught in the glow that only something like true love could create.
He leaned in and kissed her, one hand cradling her face, the other still holding her newly adorned hand. When he pulled away, she smiled at him—her future husband—the man she’d loved, then loathed, then loved again.
“Merry Christmas, Will,” she said.
“Merry Christmas, future Mrs. Sinclair.” Then he pulled her up, took her face in his hands and kissed her like she hoped he’d kiss her every single day for the rest of their lives.
He’d given her the best Christmas gift anyone could have—a family, true love, and a reason to believe in miracles.
The End
A Note From the Author
Dear Reader,
After writing my first ever Christmas novella, A Match Made at Christmas, last year, I knew I would probably want to write a Christmas story every year from now until eternity. I LOVE Christmas, and dreaming up new holiday stories is one of my favorite things to do.
But with this book, it was something else too. I took my first ever intentional break from writing this past summer. I’d taken time off from writing before, but always because some other work project demanded it, and I always felt guilty that I wasn’t writing.
But this year, my creativity and motivation had taken a hit, and frankly, I was feeling burned out.
When summer ended, so did my self-imposed writing break, and I knew that in order to fall in love with writing again, I needed a story that was written for one reason—fun.
After the 18+ months we’d all had living in and navigating a pandemic, I just wanted to get lost in a sweet romance for a little while. And maybe that was me not facing reality, or maybe it was simply me coping, I don’t know. But either way, the end result is this book, which I’ve decided I really, really love. And I LOVED writing it.
Like some of you, I was once a young girl with an older brother who had a lot of dreamy friends, so it wasn’t too hard to imagine Lauren’s story, and creating a character that was her perfect match was pure joy.