“Probably. And that sucks. It does. But I can’t manufacture feelings I don’t have just to spare her pain.” I lean my foreheadagainst hers, breathing her in. “I won’t lie to her. And I won’t lie to you.”
She’s quiet for a long moment, her hand coming up to rest against my chest, right over my heart. “Do you want her in your life? Still, I mean?”
The question I’ve been asking myself since her confession in the foyer.
“I don’t know,” I admit, and the honesty feels like relief. “Maybe with time and distance, we can rebuild some kind of friendship. But right now?” I pull her impossibly closer. “Right now, my focus is on you and Bella. On building our family, our life together. Everything else is secondary.”
“Daddy!” Bella appears at my knee like a summoned spirit, clutching her new unicorn doll. “Can Sparkle Princess sit with you and Mommy?”
“Of course, princess.” I reach down and pull her up between us. She settles in happily, immediately launching into an elaborate story about Sparkle Princess’s magical adventures.
Over Bella’s head, Desiree catches my eye. “Are we okay?”
“We’re perfect.”
Because we are. Margot’s confession doesn’t diminish what Desiree and I have. If anything, it makes it impossible to ignore how right this is, how complete I feel with her here.
Bella eventually gets bored with sitting still and runs off to show Isa her unicorn’s color-changing mane. The moment she’s gone, Desiree leans back into me with a sigh.
“Enrick?”
“Yeah, sweetness?”
“I’m glad I got stuck here with you.” Her voice is soft. “This has been the best Christmas I’ve ever had.”
My throat tightens. I press a kiss to her temple, breathing in her scent. “I love you, Desiree Reynolds. No regrets, no doubts, no looking back.”
“Just forward,” she whispers.
“Just forward.” I tilt her chin up, capturing her mouth in a kiss.
“First Mom and Mr. Mav, and now them?” Mycah’s voice carries from across the room, dripping with teenage disgust.
“Gross!” Penny chimes in, but she’s smiling.
From the kitchen, Malina’s voice carries: “Gina, baby, those lovebugs are at it again! Might need industrial strength pest control!”
We break apart laughing, and Desiree buries her face in my shoulder, her whole body shaking with it. I hold her through it, this woman who’s given me everything I didn’t know I needed.
Yeah. This is exactly where I’m supposed to be.
“Hey,” I murmur into her hair. “You know what this means, right?”
“What?”
“Next Christmas, we’re doing this at our own place.” I grin against her temple. “Wherever that ends up being. As long as it’s ours.”
She pulls back. “I like the sound of that.”
“Me too, sweetness.” I kiss her again because I can, because she’s mine and I’m hers and we have all the time in the world to figure out the rest. “Me too.”
Epilogue
“Mommy! Daddy! Look what I did!” Bella’s voice echoes through our lake house as she shows off the gingerbread mansion she constructed with minimal help.
“That’s incredible, B,” I say, impressed by her steady hand with the icing.
“It looks just like this house,” Enrick adds.
