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I spluttered a laugh through my tears as my father closed the distance between them. He knelt by her bed and took my mom’s hand in his.

"I guess you’ll be needing this then,” he said as he pulled a small black velvet box from his pocket. He opened it to show her the largest, most beautiful diamond ring I’d ever seen.

My mom gasped, and her eyes grew glassy as Matthew placed the ring on her finger. He leaned over her bed to kiss her gently, and she lifted her hands to his face to pull him closer. She was smiling so brightly when he stepped away, and my heart felt like it was about to explode.

“Wow.” My mom was breathless. “Matt, I’m going to break my finger lugging this thing around with me every day,” she joked.

“It’s been wearing a hole in the pockets of my suits since Halloween,” he said.

“You bought this at Halloween?”

“Candice, I should have asked you to marry me all those years ago. As soon as I saw you, I knew I couldn’t afford to lose you again.”

My mom was speechless as she turned to me. We smiled at each other through the tears that were still gathering in her eyes and still streaming from mine. She was awake; she was okay. And I’d never been happier in my life.

CHAPTERTHIRTY-FIVE

My mom and I stayed in hospital for the next few days, which meant we were there for Christmas. I thought it would be depressing to be in the hospital over the holiday, but Noah and my dad did everything they could to make it special.

Noah somehow convinced the hospital staff to let us have a tree in our room. Though, of course, Noah didn’t take half measures, and when I woke on Christmas morning, there was an enormous tree in the corner of our room that was so tall the tip was bent where it hit the ceiling.

He also covered the ceiling with fairy lights and hung tinsel throughout the room. The place looked like a rival to Santa’s workshop with all the Christmas decorations. I told Noah he was going overboard, but he insisted it was worth it. And, I had to admit, it did make it a little easier to spend the holidays in a hospital bed when your room wasn’t quite so sterile.

Matthew was always in our room, and I loved to see the way he doted on my mom, like he’d been waiting for his chance to do so for years. He was constantly sitting next to her bed, holding her hand as they discussed their engagement or simply gazed at each other. I didn’t think I’d ever seen my mom so happy. It was the best Christmas present I could have asked for.

My father also organized an incredible Christmas lunch for us, but neither my mom nor I had the biggest of appetites, and Noah ended up eating most of it. It was the most surreal Christmas I’d ever experienced, sitting around a hospital room, eating our turkey on our laps. But all my previous Christmases had been a little lonely in comparison with it being just my mom and me. For the first time, I realized what it felt like to spend Christmas with your family.

The morning after Christmas, I was feeling much better, and my doctor said I could be discharged from the hospital. My mom was still on the mend though, so she needed to stay a little longer.

It was hard to leave her behind. And harder still to leave the hospital and know I wouldn’t be going home. That I would never sleep in my own bed again. Matthew had rented a place in Rapid Bay, so I was going to be staying with him. The house wasn’t far from the café, and I wasn’t all that surprised when we pulled up outside one of the ridiculous mansions that lined the foreshore.

I’d always admired these homes growing up. They were only a few streets away from the café, and yet they felt like they belonged in a different world. I’d always wondered how two places so close to each other could be so different, and I never dreamed I’d cross the invisible line that ran through our town and enter one of these homes as though I belonged there.

It was so strange to wake up to an uninterrupted view of the ocean each morning rather than the overpowering smell of bacon and coffee wafting from the café downstairs. To look out over the beach I’d grown up playing on from the balcony of my bedroom rather than pulling on my apron to start my shift serving customers and cleaning tables. Rapid Bay was still my home, but staying in this luxurious mansion made me feel a little like a stranger here.

Still, the thing I was struggling with most was being apart from my mom. She was recovering well though, and Matthew and I spent every minute we had over the next few days visiting with her. Norma was there as much as she could be too, and the nurses often had to remove us all from my mom’s bedside each night.

Mom had asked several times about the state of the café after the fire, but I’d avoided her questions every time. I wanted her to concentrate on getting better, and I knew the news would shatter her. The café had been totally destroyed by the fire, and despite what Matthew had said, our apartment wasn’t much better. The firemen had managed to salvage a few things from the wreckage, but most of our possessions were gone.

I had thought Noah might return to New York now he knew I was safe, but he remained in Rapid Bay. He didn’t even see me that much because I spent so much time at the hospital, but he was always at Matthew’s when I came home at night. And he got up at the same time as me every morning and insisted on making me breakfast. He even brought me lunch in the hospital. I got the feeling he wasn’t sure what to do with himself, so he’d decided to make sure I was eating enough.

It was New Year’s Eve when Mom was finally released from hospital, and I went with Matthew to pick her up so we could bring her back to his place.

My mom’s mouth dropped open when we pulled up at the house. “This must be costing you a fortune to rent, Matt,” she said as he helped her from his car. Her voice was still slightly husky, and she gripped his arm tightly, still needing assistance to walk.

“Uh, about that…” His expression turned meek. “I might have bought it.”

“You what?” my mom and I gasped.

“I signed the papers yesterday,” he replied. “It was a good investment, and I’ll sleep a lot easier knowing you have a comfortable place to stay while you recuperate. The place is yours, Candice.”

My mom’s eyes widened as she glanced at the house again. “What do you mean it’s mine?”

He let out a soft laugh. “Think of it as an early wedding gift.”

My mom lightly slapped him on the arm. “You bought me a house?Thishouse?”

“If it makes you feel better, I did practice some self-restraint and decided not to purchase the hospital you were in while you were sick.”