After the Christmas Party(109)

“Your dad?” she asked, reeling at all he’d admitted, reeling that he’d said he loved her.

“He worked all the time, was always gone. That’s why Christmas is so special to my family. It was the one and only time of the year that my dad didn’t work. We had a day of him being with us, playing with us, with us being the center of his attention for an entire day. When the holiday was over, he was back at work and we rarely saw him until the following Christmas. I don’t mean to whine. I know I was blessed. He was a good man, provided a good living for his family.” Riley shrugged. “It’s just that it seemed he was only there as part of our family at Christmas.”

“Him working so hard allowed your mother to always be there for you kids, though.”

“You’re right,” Riley agreed. “I know that in my head.”

“But in your heart?”

“In my heart, I don’t want to be like him.”

“Which is?”

“A husband whose wife was lonely. A father whose children longed for his presence. A man I only have good memories of from Christmas.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, and meant it. “But at least you do have those memories. And now I understand why Christmas is so important to you, to your family.”

Riley nodded. “The first few Christmases after he’d died, my mother was devastated. My brother and sisters and I decided we were going to make sure to always be there for Christmas, to spend a good portion of the day with her, to bring her as much joy as possible.”

“I’d say you were a success. She couldn’t stop smiling and laughing today.”

“But the other woman I wanted to bring as much joy as possible to wasn’t smiling and laughing today. Not with me.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, hugged him tightly to her. “I’m sorry, Riley. I was confused, and last night…last night blew me away.”

“Last night blew both of us away.” He touched her cheek. “I’ve been doing all the chasing, Trinity, and you’ve been doing a lot of running.” He gestured to her gift. “You said you weren’t a glass slipper kind of girl, that you wanted pink hightops so you could run. When you need to run, run to me, Trinity.”

Her eyes misted and she put her palms against his face. “It may take me a while to get my head on straight at times, but I will always run to you. You’re my star.”

He stared down at her in question.

“The star that leads me where I need to be.”

He smiled. “I hope so.”

She took a deep breath, rested her forehead against his chin. “For however long you want me, I’m yours, Riley.”

“Then you’re going to be mine for ever.” He took her in his arms, kissed her. “Please, don’t ever shut me out again the way you did today. My youngest sister could tell I was in love with you. She commented on how much when we were talking today.”

That was what his sister had said?

“You told her that you’d made a mistake, that you regretted bringing me.”

“You heard that?” He hugged her. “Our timing was off. We needed today, just you and me figuring out what happened last night and making sure we didn’t do anything to mess up it happening again and again. But I couldn’t cancel Christmas with my family. I just shouldn’t have coerced you into going with me.”

“I understand. I wouldn’t have wanted you to have canceled. As a matter of fact, what I kept thinking was that I wanted what you had. That I wanted to be a part of that family, to experience the warmth and love of what Christmas should be.” She stood on tiptoe and pressed a kiss to his lips. “You are what Christmas and love should be.”

Riley kissed her long and hard. “My heart is yours, princess. I don’t have all the answers to our future, but I’m yours every day for the rest of my life.”

Her breath caught. “Really?”

“Really.” His eyes catching on something behind her, he swept her up off her feet, carried her over to the tree then sat her down. “There’s something I want to do.”

Seeing what his gaze had caught on, she knew what he was going to do. Her heart swelled.

He pulled a chair over and she automatically sat down. He dropped to one knee and picked up the other hightop.

“Thank you for this.” She spread out her arms towards the tree. “You make a great Santa.”

He shook his head. “Wrong guy.”

She arched a brow, not quite sure what he meant.

“I’m not going for Santa in your life.”

“What are you going for in my life?”