She hardly even realized his intent, but, before she knew it, Monica found herself holding that shimmering, red and green Christmas bag that was flooded by tissue paper of silver and gold. It was heavy, too.
Confused, and brought back to reality, she blinked a few times to clear her vision, and her head. “Ah? What?”
Jeremy stroked her cheek with his thumb. “Ah, that would be a Christmas present. From me. To you.”
Her heart sparkled, bursting with joy. He was simply off-the-charts adorable. No other way to put it. He watched her eagerly, peeking inside the bag like a kid as she removed the flood of soft, crinkly paper and set it aside.
Monica uncovered a heavy, dark colored box, hallmarked by the Waterford insignia. Her breath caught, and her gaze lifted to his in the span of time it took for her heart to beat. “Ah?”
“You’re becoming redundant.”
Monica clucked her tongue at his devilish comment and pulled the lid gently from the top of the box. After carefully peeling back a top layer of cushioning, she nearly burst into tears. From within she gently removed a cut-crystal candy dish chock full of jellybeans. Clear, plastic covering held the candy in place, as well as red curling ribbon.
“Jeremy, this is stunning!”
“I figured you might want a replacement.”
The ugliness of the whole confrontation with David Carter seemed so long ago. It had been washed away, cleansed by revised thinking, and a whole new lease on life. Monica speared Jeremy with a look, pushing back laughter, and a grin. “If you think I’m putting a piece of Waterford crystal, your first ever Christmas present to me, on my desk at school where anything could happen to it, you’re seriously mistaken. This gets a place of honor.”
“First off, I’m Irish, so, what else would I get you but Waterford? Furthermore, your desk at Sunny Horizons is a place of honor. It’s where we met, and it’s where your heart lives.”
“Not when I’m next to you,” she clarified, slowly swayed by his thought process. She settled the crystal piece on her lap, and pulled the ribbon free. Since the colorful candies were simply too good to resist, she peeled back the securing plastic so she could grab a few.
That’s when her diving fingertips came upon an item most definitely not made of sugar.
Monica froze, and her heart rate skyrocketed. “Ah?”
Jeremy, it seemed, could do nothing but laugh with delight at her continuing use of the word “Ah,” as well as her reaction to what she pulled from the bed of candies. Her hands trembled. Wide-eyed, for real this time, she stared into his face and fell in love all over again.
“Nothing delights me like catching you off-guard, Monica.” He spoke the words softly, with such tender affection her heart flew. He brushed his fingers against hers, taking custody of a breathtaking diamond solitaire set in a slim band of yellow gold. “But you have to answer a question before you get to keep it.”
Jeremy didn’t go down on one knee. He went down on both, settling into the space before her, looking up into her eyes while he held her hands gently in his. “Monica,” he whispered, for their ears, their hearts alone, “would you do me the indescribable honor of becoming my wife?”
She wanted to answer back with her usual display of sass and spark, but her tight throat, her overflowing heart and the love Jeremy showed, all combined to leave her perfectly undone.
She knelt next to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, snuggling into him like a perfectly matched puzzle piece clicking into place and finding home. “Will you do me the indescribable honor of becoming my husband as well?”
She leaned back, giving him a saucy grin through misty, tear-filled eyes. He tilted and wiggled the ring like a temptation. It caught the light and split it into millions of colorful pieces. “I think that could be arranged.”
“Ah, the sooner, the better, JB.”
“Ah, amen to that!”
With that, as their laughter filled the room, Jeremy slipped the ring into place on the third finger of her left hand. It was a perfect fit.
This was a day of celebrating births—the birth of new hope, the birth of a lifetime commitment made in love, and the birth of a Savior who would see them through it all—good times and bad. So, before leaving the privacy of the den and rejoining the family, they remained kneeling. In unspoken synchronicity, they cuddled together, offering up a prayer of thanks and joyful praise for all they had been given, and all that their lives would embrace.
It was a perfect, blessed moment of communion.
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Hearts Communion Page 18
