The thing about having both of our families in one house is that it’s loud. Louder than the time Maddie tried to teach my mom TikTok dances.
The music’s going, the ham’s getting sliced, my mom is absolutely bullying me into eating crackers and cheese “for the baby,” and Maddie is in the corner narrating the whole thing like she’s on a reality show.
“—and this, viewers, is the exact moment I found out my best friend is carrying my niece or nephew, and I didn’t even have any idea whatsoever?—”
“Madison,” Cole warns, but he’s smiling.
He keeps looking at me. Keeps checking on me. Keeps putting his hand on my back, my stomach, like he can’t not touch me now that he knows. And every time he looks, his eyes flick to that jacket hanging on the newel post.
Alright, big guy. I see you.
I’m sitting on the barstool, nibbling on a roll to appease the pregnancy police, when he suddenly straightens. There’s this shift in him.
“Hey,” he calls out over the room. No one hears him. He tries again, louder. “Hey! Everybody, just, can you give me a second?”
My mom stops mid-sentence, my dad leans on the counter, Marla’s hands fly to her mouth again because she can tell something else is coming.
Maddie squints. “Wait. What’s happening now? We already got a baby, what could possibly?—”
Cole walks over to the post, grabs his jacket, and pulls out a small black velvet box.
“Oh my God,” I whisper.
“OH MY GOD,” Maddie yells louder.
My parents both gasp. Marla tears up again. His dad smiles like he’s been waiting all day for this show.
Cole approaches and stands right in front of me, and even though we’re basically surrounded, it feels like it’s just us in our kitchen, on our ridge, in the house he built for me, for us.
He rests a hand on my knee. “I was gonna do this later,” he says, mouth tugging like I’ve caught him, “when it was just us. But since everyone already knows our other secret…” His eyes crinkle. “Might as well go two for two.”
My eyes burn. “Cole…”
He drops to one knee and Maddie screams once before slapping her hand over her own mouth. I can’t look away from him.
His big, rough hand pops open the box. Inside is the prettiest ring I’ve ever seen. He had to have picked it out months ago. He had to have been carrying this around, waiting for the right moment. And he picked our house, at Christmas, with our baby.
“Hailey Evelyn Simpson,” he says, voice low and shaky, “I have loved you with every ounce of my soul since that first timeyour lips touched mine. I loved you when you were just Maddie’s bratty best friend who kept calling me to help her fix her moving problems. I loved you when you showed up in Denver and turned my whole life on its head. I loved you in the front seat of my truck, in a crappy motel, in this house when it was just beams?—”
“Cole,” I whisper, laughing and crying, “you can’t mention the motel in front of my mom.”
Laughter ripples through the room.
He grins and doesn’t even look away. “I’ve watched you carve out a life here. I’ve watched you love my family and let my family love you. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me… and now you’re giving me the best thing I didn’t know if I’d ever get.” His hand slides over my stomach and I lose it, a fat tear rolling down. “So. I’d really like to make it official.”
He takes a breath. “Marry me, Hailey,” he says, steady and sure. “Spend your life with me and let me show you how you should be loved and worshipped forever.”
My heart feels too big for my chest. “Yes,” I say immediately, nodding so fast my bun wobbles. “Oh my God, yes.”
The room explodes and Maddie is full-on sobbing again.
He slips the ring on my finger, his hands shaking just slightly, and stands, pulling me off the stool and straight into his arms. He kisses me like he’s sealing something, like he’s claiming me in front of every person who ever mattered to us.
When he pulls back, he presses his forehead to mine, eyes dancing. “Merry Christmas, Mrs. Almost-Bristol.”
I laugh, breathless, wiping at my cheeks. “Merry Christmas, Daddy.”
That earns us a collective groan.
