He took her hand in his other hand and put it over his chest, so that she could trace the letters of the only name he had known her by.
His chest was so warm, and the steady pounding of his heart under her hand was the most reassuring thing in the world.
If she had ever thought he couldn’t love a plain girl like her, she knew now she was wrong. The love in his eyes and the thunder of his heart wereundeniable.
“No more secrets,” he whispered to her. “And no more leaving.”
She nodded.
Cash leaned in to kiss her and she could feel his heartbeat crashing under her hand, telling her that he was hers and she was his.
Forever.
27
BELLA
On Christmas day, Bella sat at the big wooden table at the Lawrence farmhouse while Cody relaxed on the floor with Carl half across his lap, panting.
She wasn’t sure which one of them was more exhausted after such a big morning of exploring the farm. Bella had watched out the window as the Lawrence kids ran all over the farm with Carl always at their heels, streaking between the trees, stopping to look at the cows, or catching the scent of some animal or another that had wandered the farm in the night. By the time they came back inside, the humans pink-cheeked and Carl with his tongue lolling out of his mouth, they had all been ready for a big breakfast.
The kids downed the baked French toast Dulcie and Delphine had prepared for the morning meal in record time. And Maggie quietly fixed two scrambled eggs for Carl, which he practically swallowed down whole.
At this point, Bella figured the big dog had the rightidea to take a nap. It was a Christmas miracle that any of the children were still awake. She looked around, recognizing that it was far from the only miracle in her life today.
It was hard to measure how much their world had changed over the last month, and almost impossible to believe that they were here as family, and that they might just be spending all their Christmases and Sunday dinners here from now on.
From the happy sounds of the other kids playing with their toys drifting in from the living room, to the rich scent of the steaming mugs of coffee, to the rustle of wrapping paper and murmurs of thanks as the adults unwrapped their gifts here at the kitchen table, the whole thing felt as over-the-top as some holiday rom-com. But it also felt unmistakably likehome.
More is more,she could hear Harper whisper happily in her mind.
“Noway,” Allie laughed, holding up a hand-knitted sweater and a heart-shaped brooch.
The sweater had the wordsSingleandTakenemblazoned on the chest, each with a blank check box next to it.
“See,” Charlotte said, laughing. “You can just move the heart when you fall in love. It’s your turn next year. I can feel it.”
“I’ll probably never fall in love,” Allie said, her smile fading just the tiniest bit. “I’m too busy with teaching.”
“You might be surprised,” Zane’s wife, Becca, said from across the table. “When the time is right, sometimes it justhappens.”
Becca ought to know, she was a second-grade teacher herself, and had fallen in love with Zane while teaching his boys.
“Good point,” Allie mused playfully. “What handsome single dad in town has kids going into kindergarten next year?”
“No one ever says it’s going to be me next,”Tripp grumbled quietly.
Bella only heard him because Cash had excused himself from the table a moment ago, leaving a vacant chair between Bella and Tripp.
“Do you want it to be you?” she asked him, a little surprised.
Tripp Lawrence was sort of notorious for not wanting to be tied down. He liked to go out and have fun, and the women in town had all but given up on landing him in a serious relationship.
Tripp shrugged and then smiled at her, and the friendly smile morphed into something flirtier before he winked at her.
Bella stared at him, stunned.
“Leave her alone,” Cash said suddenly, sitting down between them. “Don’t you cause enough mischief with all the other girls in Sugarville Grove?”
