“Hey, Dad, do you know where the— Oh.” Alice giggled and backed rapidly out the kitchen door again. “Never mind.”
She closed the door with a thud.
Seth grimaced. “She’s going to take full credit for this, you know. We’ll never hear the end of it.”
“That’s okay,” Meagan assured him, tugging him back down to her. “I’d rather give Alice the credit than Waldo.”
His laughter was smothered in their happy kiss.
Epilogue
Outside the windows of Seth’s cozy den, a bitterly cold wind whipped through the bare branches of the surrounding trees. Early darkness had settled, plunging the neighborhood into deep shadows brightened by the white and multicolored Christmas lights decorating almost every house on the street.
Inside the den, a jumble of opened boxes and discarded paper and ribbon littered the floor beneath the gaily decorated tree in one corner. Snuggled next to Seth on the couch, Meagan surveyed the mess lazily. She’d get around to picking up in a little while, she thought contentedly.
It was late on Christmas day and the holidays had passed in a blur of frantic activity. Parties and school activities for Alice. Work and social obligations for Seth and Meagan. Family holiday gatherings. A brief visit from Seth’s father, a trip to Heber Springs so Alice could spend some time with her mother’s family, and Christmas Day luncheon with Meagan’s mother and siblings.
Her grandmother had passed away in early November. Seth and Alice had been there for Meagan, comforting her in her sadness. Meagan’s mom was getting past the worst of her own grief now so that she’d been able to enjoy Christmas with her family.
This was the first chance in several days that Meagan and Seth had been able to simply relax and be still, nothing pressing on them to do at the moment. During the past four months, they had learned to mesh their schedules for the most part to include time with each other and with Alice—though they had all gotten used to having the occasional plan disrupted by the buzz of a cell phone, either Meagan’s or Seth’s. As they had expected, it hadn’t been easy. There had been some stress, a few arguments, plenty of compromises. But it had so been worth it all, Meagan thought with a smile, nuzzling her cheek against Seth’s shoulder.
Alice had just bundled up and gone outside into the backyard with its strongly reinforced fencing. She’d said she was going to feed her dog and then see how he looked in the fancy new leather-and-brass-stud collar Meagan had bought the dog impulsively for Christmas. Alice had been delighted with the gesture, and said she was sure Waldo would love it. She’d just left the room when Seth spoke.
“Feels good just to sit still for a few minutes, doesn’t it?” he asked, unwittingly echoing her thoughts.
Meagan released a happy sigh. “It does. But I should be heading home soon before that predicted sleet starts falling later.”
“Stay here tonight.”
She gave him a chiding look. “We’ve talked about this.”
Convinced it set a bad example for Alice, Meagan had refused to sleep over with Seth when Alice was at home. He spent nights at her place during Alice’s weekend visits with her grandparents or sleepovers with friends and he and Meagan had “date night” once a week when their schedules allowed, after which Seth returned home at a respectable hour.
Meagan doubted that Alice was entirely naive about the extent of her father’s relationship with Meagan, but she still thought it best to be discreet. Seth agreed, reluctantly, which made it rather a surprise that he’d suggested she stay tonight.
“You can bunk in the guest room and we’ll all have breakfast together tomorrow,” he said.
“Oh. I suppose I could do that. Since the weather’s so nasty.” It wasn’t something she’d done before, both because she lived so close and because she wasn’t entirely sure she trusted either Seth or herself not to sneak down the hall in the middle of the night.
“There’s still one more gift I want to give you,” Seth said, twisting on the couch to face her more fully.
She lifted her eyebrows. “You’ve already given me several nice gifts.”
Nodding, he reached into his pocket. “This one’s a little different.”
Her heart thudded in her chest when he drew out a small velvet box. Holding her gaze with his, he opened it to reveal the glittering ring inside. “I don’t like watching you go to your house across the street every night. I think it would be a lot easier for all of us if we combine our households into one.”
She swallowed hard. “You’re asking me to marry you because it makes it easier to arrange our schedules?” she asked, amused by the tack he had taken.
“I’m asking you to marry me because I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” he replied evenly. “Easier scheduling is simply a side benefit.”
They hadn’t rushed into this, she thought, lowering her misty gaze to the beautiful ring he had chosen for her. They had taken every precaution to protect Alice and themselves from disappointment. There were still details they had to work out between them, still complications that could arise—but there came a point when they simply had to take a chance. To trust that the love they shared would be strong enough to smooth the inevitable difficulties.
Drawing a deep breath, she took that leap of faith. “I love you, too, Seth. And yes, I will marry you.”
His face lightened with one of his beautiful smiles—surely he hadn’t been in any doubt of what her answer would be? He drew her into his arms for a kiss of celebration.
Neither of them heard the excited giggle from the open doorway to the room. Peeking around the corner at the couple entwined on the couch, Alice pumped her fist and then gazed down smugly at the yellow dog grinning back up at her. His new collar gleamed smartly around his neck.