“I can’t imagine my life without you in it. I don’t want to imagine it. I want to wake up next to you every morning. I want to make wine with you. I want to watch you become an aunt to a dozen more nieces and nephews and a mother to our children. I want to fight with you and make up with you and grow old with you.”
He paused and swallowed hard.
“I want to be the person you turn to when everything falls apart. The one you reach for when you’re scared. The one you celebrate with when things go right. I want to be your partner in every way. For the rest of my life. Will you marry me?”
“Yes.” My answer burst out of me. “Yes. Yes, absolutely yes.”
His smile transformed his whole face. Relief and joy and love all mixed together in an expression so beautiful it made my chest ache.
I held out my left hand when he removed the ring from the box. Snapper steadied my hand with his and slid the band onto my finger.
“It’s so beautiful,” I whispered, then fell to my knees and kissed him. It felt deeper this time. We were engaged. We were getting married. We were promising each other forever on Christmas morning while the sun rose and the world woke up around us.
His hands tangled in my hair. Mine gripped his shoulders. We kissed like we could communicate everything we felt through touch alone. Like words weren’t enough to hold the enormity of what we’d just promised each other.
When we broke apart, we were both breathing hard.
“Merry Christmas,” I whispered against his mouth.
“Best Christmas ever.” He wrapped his arms around me. “Though I have to say, this isn’t how I imagined proposing.”
“No?”
“I had a whole plan. Dinner at the Stonehouse. Candles. Music. Romance.” He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “This was much better.”
I laughed. “Your mom is going to lose her mind.”
“She’s going to cry tears of happiness all day long.”
“Your brothers are going to give you so much shit.”
“Worth it.” He leaned away enough to look at me. “You’re worth everything, Saff.”
Fresh tears spilled down my cheeks. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too, sweetheart.”
“We should probably go inside,” he said, standing then holding out his hand to help me up. “Before my family sees us out here and starts asking questions.”
“Too late for that.”
He followed my gaze to the window. Lucia was there, watching us with her hands pressed to her mouth. Even from this distance, I could see tears on her cheeks.
When we walked inside, Lucia rushed to meet us.“Mijo! Mija!”She pulled us both into a hug that squeezed the air from my lungs. “You’re engaged! Oh my God, you’re engaged!”
“Ma, we just?—”
“I know! I have eyes, Salazar.” She grabbed my left hand and studied the ring. “It’s beautiful. It’s perfect. You’re perfect together.” She hugged me again. “Welcome to the family,mija. Welcome home.”
“What’s going on?” Brix asked, coming around the corner. His eyes landed on my hand, and his face broke into a huge grin. “No way.”
“Yes way.” Snapper held me tight against his side. “Saffron said yes.”
Soon, the kitchen was crowded with the rest of his family. There were shouts of congratulations, hugs, and tears. Even Snapper’s nieces and nephews crowded around us, and Coco tugged on my sleeve. “Does this mean you’re getting married?”
“It does.”
She bounced on her toes. “Can I be a flower girl?”
