“Why are you still here?” I ask him.
“I love you,” he tells me.
It’s the first time he’s said it and perhaps it’s too soon, but those words soften something inside me. Those words touch my soul in the same way Thomas’s Your My Miracle did.
“Why? This isn’t…”
“The way you are right now,” he tells me gently as he cups my face, “isn’t the way you will be tomorrow. Every day is different. Some days are good, others are bad. Right now, you’ve had the monopoly on bad days but I know that at some point that will change.”
I scoff slightly, struggling to believe him.
“I want to be by your side on the good days and the bad days. I want to be the person who cherishes your smiles and counts your tears.”
He cups my face between his hands.
“The first day I saw you, I loved you. Every ridiculous lie you’ve told me… Every sad moment you’ve let me comfort you… I love it all.”
I smile at him. It’s not a happy smile. It doesn’t compare to the smile he offers me in response, the bone-deep smile that seems to ooze happiness.
He kisses me on the nose before saying, “Sweetpea, I’m going to lend you some of my happiness until you feel better. You can have as much of t as you need.”
Then his lips touch mine.
I don’t respond the way I should, the way I want to. It takes longer than it should for my body to reach to him but eventually my tongue meets his and I find a small slither of the happiness he is offering me.
Tears begin to fall down my cheek as I kiss him. Finally, I feel something. It’s a muddle of happiness and bone aching sadness, but it’s something.
Tristan has me in the crook of his arm, my favourite place to be and Thomas is walking on my other side, holding tightly to my hand.
Thomas and Tristan are a pair of comedians tonight. Everything is a joke and they’ve even made me laugh once or twice.
As we walk between houses, they keep singing the songs with messed up lyrics in an attempt to entertain me.
On the first day of Christmas,
My drive through gave to me:
A big bacon classic with cheese
On the second day of Christmas,
My drive through gave to me:
Two happy meals,
And a big bacon classic with cheese.
They are working so hard to keep my smile in place and I love them even more for it. Without them, I don’t know where I’d be right now.
Actually, that’s not true, I’d be a half-starved mess lying in my bed, dirty and unkempt and completely devoid of feeling.
Thomas gives me a massive smile.
“I love you, Big Sister Ella.”
“I love you too, Little Brother Thomas.”
I’m so lucky to have such an amazing little brother. I take a second to make a promise to myself. I promise that I won’t let him down.
A glance at the sky reminds me that I promised my mum that I’d tell him she loves him every single day.
I’m disappointed to realise that I’ve already broken my word.
“Mummy loves you too, Thomas.”
“I know.”
He grins happily at me.
“You do?” I can’t help but return his smile.
“Tristan has been telling me every day.”
His words surprise me.
Words abandon me though as I gape up at Tristan, catching sight of him in the light from one of the street lamps above our heads.
“You made a promise but I knew you couldn’t keep it,” he looks down at me with a shy smile, “so I kept it for you.”
His words overwhelm me and I reach up to kiss him.
“Thank you,” I whisper against his lips.
I snuggle into the warmth of his chest. He kisses me on the head before picking Thomas up, so he can join us in our embrace.
We stand there in the middle of a starlit street and I thank God or Santa or perhaps the angel on top of our Christmas tree because I think Tristan Riggens might be my Christmas Miracle.
Epilogue
Christmas One Year Later
“Wake up, Ella!” Thomas shouts as he bangs open my bedroom door and barrels into the room.
“Thomas,” Tristan chastises him from where he’s stood directly behind him, “you’re supposed to wake people gently.”
Thomas doesn’t apologise as he jumps on the bed.
“You have to come downstairs now, Ella. We have the best surprise planned.”
I smile at my little brother as he bounces up and down with pure, unadulterated excitement.
“Okay. Let’s go.”
Tristan offers me my dressing gown, holding it up for me to put my arms in and tying it for me as he plants a kiss on my lips.
“Merry Christmas, Sweetpea.”
His voice is still husky from sleep and I love it. It’s one of my favourite sounds; next to the sound of him shouting my name as he comes, it’s a good second.
“Merry Christmas to you too.”
Not once in the last year have I given him a pet name. He calls me Sweetpea all the time but there’s not a word that could possibly describe everything I feel for this man.
My two favourite boys drag me from my room, one holding each hand. Before I know it, I’m sat on the sofa in the living room. Thomas is demanding we open presents before breakfast but Tristan refuses to open anything before his morning coffee.
Once Tristan and I both have a coffee mug in hand, Thomas is stood in front of us, rolling on the balls of his feet.
“Ready?”
I nod my head.
“What are you going to open first, Thomas?” I ask.
“I’m not. It’s your turn first.”
I’m taken aback.
“But you always go first.”
“Not this year.”
His eyes dart between me and Tristan, causing me to look at the man sat beside me. His eyes are focused solely on me and the look he’s giving me is both panty dropping hot and heart-stoppingly sweet.
“Ella Winthrope,” he says, “I think I’ve loved you since the first day I saw you before you even said two words to me. You were vivid and spirited, and a down right fibber. Every day, I fell more and more in love with you until I was so lost in you, I didn’t know where you began or I ended. Thomas and I have decided that I should marry you.”
“You don’t get a choice,” Thomas chimes in. “I already gave my permission.”
A quick look his way tells me he’s incredibly proud to have been asked.
I giggle slightly before looking back at Tristan.
“What do you say?” Tristan asks as he offers me a princess cut diamond ring – it’s the same ring my daddy gave my mum. It’s the ring I dreamt about as a little girl, the ring that was a symbol of the love that my parents shared, a love so great I could only hope to emulate it in the future.
“Yes,” I breathe the word out before launching myself into Tristan’s arms. “I love you.”
If I could match my parents’ love with anyone, it was bound to be with Tristan Riggens, my Christmas Miracle.
Need something else to read? Have you read Inescapable Fate, Tristan’s best friend Walker’s story?
Hanleigh’s Books
The British Contemporary Romance Saga
The Rules Series
Broken Rules
Enforced Rules
Revised Rules
A Secret Melody
The History Series
Repeating History
Deleting History
Forging History
A History In Paris
The Intimacy Series
Damaged Intimacy
Entangled Intimacy
Forceful Intimacy
Call Me Doctor
The Fate Series
A Bleak December
Inescapable Fate
Inexplicable Fate
Irreversible Fate
Lust & Lyrics Conte
mporary Romance Saga
His, His Or His?
Kumari’s Kitsune – A Reverse Harem
Cursed By The Crown
A Bleak December: Hanleigh's London (The Fate Series Book 4) Page 7
