Page 193 of The Holiday Clause

“Whether it’s your motive or not, the will is something that you’ll eventually have to address. This fixes things.”

His lips pressed into a firm line. “I’m marrying you because I fucking love you! I can’t remember a time when I didn’t love you. This month is usually the saddest month of the year for me, and it should be even sadder this year, considering everything my family’s going through, but it’s been... the opposite. I’m happier and more at peace than I’ve ever been, because I finally have you. You balance me in a way nothing else can. I want to marry you. Not because of any inheritance or any other superficial reason. I want to marry you because you make life worth living. When I’m by your side, I feel like I’m exactly where I need to be.”

He pulled her gloved hand to his chest and pressed his hand over her heart. “You’re my home, Wren. When I’m away, I feel sick because all I want to do is come back to you. Now that I have you, I never want to leave again.”

She looked stunned. Maybe even a little afraid. That was a lot to digest, especially coming from someone who avoided talking about his feelings like most people avoided plagues.

He needed a damn ring.

Tugging off his glove, he unlaced his boot and snapped the string. “Give me your hand.”

She held out a shaky hand, and he pulled off her glove, tying the tattered lace around her knuckle. “I love you,” he said matter-of-factly. “I don’t know how to stop, so this is me promising that I never will.” He kissed the bow tied around her knuckle.

Twin tears fell down her cheeks. The makeshift ring looked ridiculous, but it was the best he could do in a pinch.

“Are you going to say something?”

She grinned, and more tears fell. “Yes.”

“Yes, as in you plan to say something, or yes, as in you?—”

“I’ll marry you?—”

He scooped her up in his arms and hugged the breath out of her. Pressing his face into her neck as he swore, “I promise to be a good husband to you, Wren.”

“I know you will, Grey.”

His mouth found hers. She tasted of sweets and tears. She tasted familiar, like she was already his. His home. His future. His Wren.

When he pulled away, she wiped her tears and laughed, then threw her head back and yelled,“We’re getting married!”

Her voice echoed off the snow-laden pines, startling a pair of cardinals from their roost. The birds took flight in a flash of crimson. A perfect December picture his mind would never forget.

Maybe that bridge held magic after all. Not the hokey, fairy-tale variety the locals peddled to tourists, but something real and achingly human.

The rightness of that moment sank into his bones and he realized something. “You’re right!”

“About?”

He finally had a good memory for this time of year, one he’d hold onto forever. “It feels good to make new traditions. I want to come back to this place every year with you, on this exact day.”

She smiled. “It’s a date.”

He planned to grant her wishes every year, because making Wren happy somehow chased away all the fear and sadness. He loved her and he loved taking care of her. It was a privilege, one he’d honor for the rest of his life.

Closing his hand around hers, he ran his finger over the tied string and grinned. She was officially his.

CHAPTER 30

“With termites in your smile, you have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile, Mr. Grinch”

Pine,sap, and fresh snow invaded the house as the double front doors burst open. Heavy boots stomped across marble, leaving wet puddles as Greyson, Soren, and Logan wrestled their prize inside.

“You’re bending it!”

“Drop it down!”

“Not that way. The other way, dumbass.”