by Mary Manners
“I’m planning on helping with that. I’m going to smoke the turkey.”
“That’s a start.” Katy leaned her head against his shoulder. “I love smoked turkey.”
“Me, too.” Caleb sheltered her hand in his and slipped both into his pocket. “Do you see our shops from here, settled right in the center of the others, like a happily married couple nestled along an extended family?”
“I do.” Katy gathered the lap blanket and smoothed it along their legs. “And I think the lighted window displays look especially cheerful…festive.”
Indeed. White LED lights twinkled merrily along the display window edges and entrance doors, chasing one another like playful fireflies. A tall, lighted snowman Caleb and Billy had assembled along the front walkway that served the entrance of Katy’s boutique as well as Pickers and Spinners, greeted eager shoppers with a warm holiday smile.
“You know, I’ll bet our shops would be even better together; a blend of the old with the new…past mingled with the present, as well as a taste of the future.” Caleb pressed his lips to Katy’s temple, feathering a kiss that caused her to quake with tiny tremors which encouraged. With a sigh, he trailed her hairline to the sensitive spot behind one ear. He remembered well…some things hadn’t changed. “We could knock down a wall or two, dust off the past and make space for the future…together?”
“Like we are?” Katy whispered as she shivered slightly at his touch. Her breath curled at his jaw in delicate, white puffs. “Together…the two of us?”
“That’s what I’m thinking…it’s a plan.” Caleb stroked a strand of hair from her pinked cheek. “But, what are you thinking, sweetheart?”
“I’m thinking, I wonder when you’ll decide to kiss me…really kiss me.”
“Now is a good time…” He lowered his mouth to her lips, claimed them with a decade’s worth of emotion. All the time…all the waiting…was worth it in that single touch. The years melted away, and he lost himself in her once again.
When he finally sat back, he found her eyes were luminous with a flurry of tears that spilled over. He brushed them away with the pad of his thumb and murmured, “Can you ever forgive me, Katy, for hurting you?”
She smiled through the tears. “I already have.”
Epilogue
“Here’s another box,” Katy said as she set the carton of books on the floor beside the built-in bookshelves along one wall of the living room. Caleb had added them to the guest house as a Christmas gift for Mariah; he, like Katy, knew how much she loved to read. “Billy and Mariah are bringing along the last of it.”
“Mariah must have five-hundred books.” Caleb shook his head. “She’s always devoured books like flames devour kindling.”
“You can never have too many books, Caleb, and getting lost among the pages, resting these past several weeks, have allowed the drugs Dr. Pemberton prescribed to work their magic. Mariah’s just about through this latest flare-up, and the future is looking bright.”
“Yes, she is…it is. The whole remission is the makings of a miracle, for sure, and I suppose you’re right about the books.” He’d even purchased a few first editions of well-known classics for the shop. Construction—or perhaps he should call it destruction to be followed by construction, since the work required the removal of part of one wall and the entirety of another—would begin to merge his shop with Katy’s in the coming weeks of the new year. They’d worked out the details together, and he was looking forward to sharing the most unique business—the start of a great adventure—in Holly Haven with her.
But that wasn’t all he was looking forward to. He smoothed a hand over the right pocket of his jeans, and relaxed just a bit when he felt the orb of gold and diamond he’d placed there before walking over from the main house that morning.
“I hear the moving truck coming up the drive.” Katy turned toward the window, where, indeed, a moving van that carried the furniture he’d hand-picked from his inventory at Pickers and Spinners lumbered up the snow-laden driveway toward the main house. Its motor buzzed through the chill that hovered just below freezing. If the meteorologists predicted correctly, the New Year would be ushered in tonight with a fresh layer of snow.
But Caleb felt none of the chill; he was toasty-warm with Katy at his side. And he knew she favored the furniture he’d chosen for the main house, as well, since he’d carefully asked her opinion about each piece before adding it to the delivery list.
“Let’s take a break before we head out to meet the movers,” Caleb suggested as he set aside the carton he’d emptied and reached for her hand. “Come and sit with me for a minute.”
“OK.” Katy brushed lint from her jeans and settled onto the couch they’d brought over for Mariah and Billy from the main house.
The bedrooms were already settled, the kitchen fully stocked and sparkling with new tile and appliances he’d had installed.
“But just for a minute or two,” she added. “There’s so much to do.”
“Yes, there is. But, first things first.” Caleb slipped in beside her and turned to capture her gaze and hold tight. He kept his tone light, yet his words rang full of sincerity that came from the depths of his heart. “Kat, there’s something I need—want—to ask you.”
“Go ahead.” Her gaze held steady with his, her eyes alight with love for him. The feeling washed over him and resonated to his core, encouraging him to take the next step, to spill his very heart to her.
“We’ve been through a lot over the past decade, Kat, around bends and corners, by way of detours neither of us expected. But we’re home now for the long haul, both of us…together, and we’re not kids anymore—not by a long shot.” He smoothed a hand along her jawline, leaned in to kiss the slight swell along her forehead. “The life lessons have torn me up, turned me inside out and then put me back to rights again.”
“I can see that…the change in you, Caleb.” She lifted her hand, placed her palm against his beard-shadowed cheek and the warmth soothed. “It’s real and true beyond measure.”
“With Mariah and Billy moving in here, and with me settling in across the way, I’m thinking the main house is an awful lot of space for one person.”
“It is unusually big…four bedrooms, a huge kitchen just made for cooking Sunday after-church meals and batches of baking, a sprawling living room meant for family gatherings and holiday get-togethers. And then there’s that stretch of yard calling for a passel of kids to come run and play.” Katy nodded with a wistful sigh. “Uh huh…it’s a shame to let all that space go to waste.”
“I can smell your cookies baking in the oven, see me dusting sugar from your lips with a kiss.” He leaned in, captured a kiss to prove his point.
“I see it too, Caleb.”
“So, I was thinking we could fill the house together, Kat, and make memories here…our own memories.”
“A blend of the old and the new?”
“A perfect blend…a beautiful blend.” Caleb slipped to one knee, delved into his pocket and brought out the ring he’d been saving for nearly a decade, since his first antique pick when, like a long lost treasure, he came across it and could only think of Katy…for just this moment. “What do you think?”
Katy’s delighted gasp spoke her answer, and he slipped the ring onto her finger.
“I think you were right, Caleb,” she murmured as she wrapped her arms around him, leaning in close to press her cheek to his chest. “Completely and utterly on-target.”
“About what?” He wondered if she could feel the thrum of his heart and sense that the steady beat matched his resolve, his promise, to forever share his life with her.
“I want you to kiss me.” Katy’s words, like her love, warmed him to the core. “I want all of us, all of you…past, present and future…together forever.”
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