by Style, Linda
Crista laughed from her gut. And then she was laughing and trying not to cry at the same time, and she didn’t know what was wrong with her. She finally managed to say, “I’d love to spend Christmas with you, Alex.” She couldn’t think of anything better than being with his family at Christmas.
“And the rest of your life? Can you think about that, too?”
Her heart swelled. “I’ll think about it.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
And when he kissed her again, she believed everything he’d said about love and the future and she knew she could never close her heart to love again.
EPILOGUE
“YOU GOTTA SIT HERE,” Sam told Crista, pointing out a seat on the couch. “And you sit here next to her, Daddy. Abuela can sit by the tree and help me with the presents because I don’t know how to read yet.”
They all did as they were told and Sam started taking the presents from under the enormous and elegantly decorated tree to her grandmother. Crista wasn’t quite sure of the Noche Buena protocol in the Del Rio household. Every family seemed to have their own version.
“And then what do we do?” Crista asked.
“Tonight we open our presents to each other,” Sam explained. “After I go to bed, Daddy goes to midnight mass, and he said maybe he’ll take you along if you want to go. When I get to be ten, he said I can go, too. Then—” She stopped to take a breath. “Then in the middle of the night Santa brings presents to kids who’ve been good all year and I get to open them in the morning!”
“And I’m sure you’ve been good,” Crista said.
“My daddy says I have, so Santa will probably bring me what I want.” Elena gave Sam a present and indicated that she take it to Crista.
“Thank you, sweetie. And what did you tell Santa you wanted?”
“A mommy named Crista.” The child beamed. “But Daddy says that’s not something Santa can bring. Only—”
“Okay, okay.” Alex interrupted deflecting the conversation. “Let’s get this show on the road. You’re dillydallying and it’ll be midnight before you get to bed.”
“What did you ask Santa for?” Sam handed Crista another present.
“I didn’t, because being here with my favorite people is the best present anyone could have.”
Sam’s grin was wide. “Then you’re really gonna like Daddy’s present.”
Crista glanced at Alex. She’d bought him an engraved pen set that held a framed picture of Alex and Sam that she’d taken at the beach. She hoped he hadn’t gotten her anything too expensive, even if he could afford it.
“This one’s for Diego. Why didn’t he come?” Sam asked. Another present went into Sam’s pile, and then another to Alex.
“He’s busy right now, working on something,” Crista lied. She wished Diego was here, too.
“But,” Alex said, “when he’s done with that job and he comes back, he’s going to work for me teaching art at the center.”
Crista jerked around to look at Alex. “Really? When did he agree to that?”
“We talked at Thanksgiving and he said he’d consider it. Before he went…away, he confirmed with me.”
“Oh, Alex.” Crista leaned over and hugged him. “I can’t tell you how much that means to me.” She’d come full circle in her views about staying in the community. She’d learned change was possible, and like Alex, she now realized that if she wanted to see that change, she had to be a part of the process.
Alex hugged her back. “There’s no need to thank me. He’s going to work hard and he’ll earn every penny he makes.”
Crista’s heart was so full of love, she thought she might burst.
“Can we give Crista her present now?”
“Sure,” Alex said and Sam quickly ran over and gave Crista a small elongated box.
“It’s from me and Daddy.”
Crista’s stomach fluttered. Her fingers picked at the bow and the tape holding the decorative paper in a million places.
“I wrapped it,” Sam said.
“And what a beautiful wrapping job you did. I almost don’t want to unwrap it.”
“Here, just do it like this.” Sam’s tiny fingers ripped the paper off in one quick movement.
Crista stared at the black velvet box and then slowly opened it. Inside was a silver chain and hanging on it, a St. Michael medal.
“He’s the angel to keep you safe when you go to work,” Sam said, bouncing up and down, so full of energy she couldn’t sit still.
“The patron saint of law enforcement.” Crista bit back the tears that threatened.
“Gotta find some way to keep you safe,” Alex joked.
Crista’s heart filled with joy. It wasn’t a joke to her. It meant that Alex had accepted her decision about staying on the Chicano Squad, even though it could be more dangerous than the job she’d been offered in Special Ops. It meant he loved her enough to respect what she wanted—not what he wanted or what he thought best for her.
“And Daddy has another present for you, too.” Sam picked up another box in Crista’s pile.
Alex frowned. “Samita, some things don’t include kids. And this is one of them. Crista will do that one later.”
Sam’s bottom lip protruded.
“I don’t mind, Alex. Really. But why doesn’t someone else open something.”
“I will,” Sam said and ripped into a box that held a doll of Dora the Explorer. “Thank you, Daddy,” Sam said and held the doll at arm’s length. “But I hope Santa brought me a Barbie doll.”
They all laughed and then Sam said to Crista, “Okay, now you hafta do the other present.”
Alex looked to the ceiling and rolled his eyes. “This was not how I had things planned.”
Sam waited expectantly as Crista slowly opened the tiny box, and lifting the top, Crista stared at a beautiful emerald-cut diamond ring. Joy bubbled up inside her. “As far as I’m concerned, it couldn’t have been planned any better.”
Alex removed the ring from the box, bent down on one knee and gazed into Crista’s eyes. His hands were shaky and his forehead was moist with perspiration. “I know I’m probably rushing you, and I know you want more time, so we can have a long engagement if you’d like, but I have to say this now. I would be honored if you’d marry me, Crista.”
“Us,” Sam chirped. “She’s gotta marry us.”
Crista gazed at the two people she loved most in the world. Even if she hadn’t been able to admit it in the beginning, she’d known all along that Alex was the one. And she wasn’t going to let her heart go unfulfilled another moment.
She kissed Alex and then pulled him and Sam into a group hug. “I’d be honored to marry both of you.”
ISBN: 978-1-4592-2893-1
THE WITNESS
Copyright © 2004 by Linda Fensand Style.
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