Aiden
Cristiano’s farmhouse smells like rosemary and pine and something sweet cooking in the kitchen—probably the cinnamon-bourbon Christmas pudding Katya swore she wasn’t going to make this year because ‘it’s a whole day ordeal’, but then caved when Mia begged for it.
It’s Anya’s recipe after all, and this is their first Christmas without her.
It’s incredible how much a year has changed everything—and that this Christmas we’re with our friends who are family and not family who were, in fact, adversaries. We’re all choosing to be here with each other rather than beingforcedto spend the holidays together.
Mia is hanging the last few ornaments on the tree. I can’t stop watching her. She belongs in every version of my future, and now, finally, she’s letting me hope for it again.
Cristiano is feeding logs into the stone hearth fireplace.
I just finished setting up the table in the dining room.
Huxley is wearing a Santa hat, playing DJ, and we’re being subjected to French yule songs.
It’s the kind of night that feels like it lives in snow globes and postcards.
Katya is flitting around the kitchen, putting on the finishing touches. Her apron reads:Don’t Make Me Flip My Grinch Switch.
She’s healing, and I only occasionally see sadness claim her. She misses her mother, as does Mia, but they’re keeping her good memories alive by doing things like making her favorite Christmas pudding.
I slip away for a moment to double-check that the small velvet box is exactly where I left it in the bedroom we’re sharing. I put the velvet box in a large gold gift bag. It’s glittery and perfect. Like the moment I’m hoping for.
I sneak it under the tree when Mia is otherwise occupied.
After dinner, which is raucous, Katya dims the lights and announces, “It’s gift time.” Then she turns to her friend. “You go first.”
My chest constricts. I watch Mia scanning under the tree, her eyes searching. “Where’s mine?” she murmurs as she pulls out the gift bag. She pulls out all the tissue paper and then spots the small box. “Is this…?”
She looks at me, and my heart’s a drumbeat in my throat.
I nod.
Everyone’s quiet now. Cristiano is holding Katya’s hand. Hux has stopped mid-sip.
Mia opens the box.
It’s a new ring. It’s a simple ring. Like us. A diamond on a platinum band. It’s not for show. It’s for love.
I get down on one knee and I look up at the woman who has broken me and remade me by choosing me again.
“Mia, I love you,” I say. “And I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Marry me.”
Her hands fly to her mouth. Tears brim in her eyes, but her smile is radiant. “Yes,” she whispers. Then again, louder. “Yes!”
The room erupts.
Cristiano claps. Katya wipes away her tears. Huxley lifts his glass and shouts, “About fucking time!”
It certainly is.
I slide the ring on her finger, and she looks at it in awe.
She pulls me up and kisses me.
“I love it,” she murmurs.
“I loveyou.”
