Captain Anderson had been planning his wedding for as long as Willow had been back in town. It would be a huge event for all the veterans in town. They were all invited, and the captain promised that it would be an enormous and fun occasion.
“Of course I want you to go with me,” Jensen said, his eyes twinkling in the firelight.
He honestly looked more handsome than ever. Sometimes it was hard to remember that she wasn’t a kid anymore, and that he had feelings for her too.
As the happy days passed, she was pleased to learnthat Jensen wasn’t exactly as she’d pictured him when she was a lovesick teen. He was so much better—patient and kind with a quiet but keen sense of humor that he didn’t share with everyone and that she had never expected.
“It’s not about the captain’s wedding though,” Jensen said.
“It’s not?” she echoed, wondering what it could be.
Before she knew what was happening, he was kneeling in the snow, holding up a little wooden box with something inside that sparkled almost as much as the tears in Willow’s eyes.
“I might have been too blind to see it before now,” he said, his deep voice rough with emotion. “But you’re the most incredible woman in the world. I love you with everything I have, and you melt me with every glance. Every time you read to Henry, or you let me hold your hand, I feel like I could conquer the world. I’ve got a crush on you Willow Wright, and I’m pretty sure it’s going to actually crush me if I don’t do something about it. Will you marry me, Willow?”
“Yes,” she said, laughing as her heart erupted in fireworks. “Yes, I will.”
He was on his feet in an instant, sliding the ring onto her finger and wrapping his arms around her.
When he bent to kiss her, she barely had time to take a breath.
Then his warm mouth was pressed to hers, feeding on her gently at first, before he wrapped a hand around her cheek as if to hold her still so he could kiss her with the hunger of a starving man.
She had pictured this kiss a thousand times over theyears, but the real thing surpassed all of her fantasies. She was pretty sure that she was just going to float away with happiness.
A whoop went up from his parents’ deck and Willow pulled back, her cheeks heating as she realized they had witnesses.
Jensen let her go, but kept hold of her hand.
“I hope you like the idea of a winter wedding,” he murmured to her as their friends and family began heading down the hill to congratulate them.
“As long as it’sthiswinter,” she agreed.
He pulled her close to wrap an arm around her, and they headed up the hill. They each held out their free arm to his mom, who was the first to greet them, with Henry on her hip and tears in her eyes. Henry went right to his daddy and stayed in his arms, reaching for Willow now and then, as if to be sure of her, while person after person came to congratulate them all.
Within a few minutes, Willow was overcome with all the well wishes and the warm hugs they received.
But it was cold, so before too long, only the younger generation was left seated around the fire. The parents and grandparents had headed back up to the house, leaving Jensen, Willow, and Henry standing on the hillside between, listening to the happy voices float down from the house and up from the logs around the fire.
“Are you okay?” Jensen asked, gazing down at her.
“More than okay,” she told him happily. “I feel like I could fly.”
“As long as you’re flying to me,” he whispered, pulling her close.
“Only to you,” she promised.
He kissed her again, but chastely with Henry between them.
“Me,” Henry said suddenly.
“Kiss you?” Willow asked him.
He nodded his little head up and down, and she leaned in to kiss his cheek.
Jensen kissed Henry’s other cheek at the same time, and the little boy was so tickled that he let out a peal of laughter that rang out in the frosty night.
It was such a happy sound that Willow couldn’t help smiling up at her fiancé like a fool.
