I dig into the bag for the two presents I bought for Lissy, and she wedges herself between Dwight and I, fidgeting impatiently.
She opens the first one, it’s a necklace, half a heart with a jagged cut down the centre. I reach around and take it out of the box for her.
“So, you know how you’re my best friend?” I ask, and she looks up to me with huge blue eyes and nods. “Well, this is a friendship necklace, you have one half,” I reach around my neck and pull my own into view, “and I have the other, and when they’re put together,” I put the two haves together to complete the heart that reads‘best friends’, “they make a full heart, so wherever we are, even if we’re miles apart, we’ll always have each other.”
She holds her hair out of the way while I secure the necklace around her neck. She gives me a wide smile and wraps her little arms around my neck. Seeing her eyes light up gives me the best feeling, to know that I’ve made her smile does something to me, a feeling of longing to feel this with my own child one day, but I force it back.
I pass her the second one and she tears open the paper to reveal a small pink notebook and matching pen. “Your Uncle Dwight told me you liked to write stories, so I bought you this to keep all of them in.”
“I love it, I’m gonna writesomany of my stories in it! Thanks Quinn! I have the bestest friend in the whole world.”
“You’re welcome.” I glance over at Dwight who’s watching us, he’s smiling, but there’s a hint of sadness in his eyes, as if seeing Lissy and I together is hurting him somehow, and my heart aches.
Lissy jumps off my lap and runs over to Tori, armed with her bear and her new book. “Look mommy!”
“And now for you,” Dwight says, handing me a large box. “Merry Christmas, Quinn.”
“Dwight… we said no presents.”
“I know, but I got you one anyway. Well, I didn’t really buy it as such… just open it.”
I can’t fight the smile on my face as I tear into it, I haven’t felt this excited about a present on Christmas morning since I was a little girl. I untie the bow and lift the lid, moving the tissue paper aside. It’s a photo album. I pull it from the box and flick through the pages, my heart stops when I see what’s inside. It’s a photo album containing pictures of me and my parents, the same ones Dwight and I looked at a couple of months ago.
My vision blurs from the tears forming in my eyes. “When did you…?”
“A couple of days ago I snuck the photos out while you were asleep and prayed that you wouldn’t go looking for them in the meantime. Do you like it?”
I'm speechless.
My eyes find his, just as a tear escapes and I nod. “Yes, so much. It's the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me. Thank you.” After moving the album and the box aside, I turn to Dwight and wrap my arms around him, burying my face in his neck as happy tears seep into the fabric of his shirt.
“You’re welcome.”
“I love you,” I whisper close to his ear. His body stills and I hear him inhale sharply. I pull back to look at his face and smile, showing him that I mean every word I said. Saying those words to him is as easy as breathing, and loving him feels like the most natural thing in the world.
“I love you too, Quinn,” he whispers back, and my heart swells in my chest, warmth spreading through my body. He dips in and presses his lips to mine, kissing me deeply. It’s only when he pulls away that we remember we’re in a room surrounded by his family, who are all watching us.
“Uncle Dwight kissed Quinn.Ew.” Lissy says, scrunching up her nose and the room erupts in laughter. I rest my head on Dwight’s shoulder and lace my fingers with his.
I can already tell that this is going to be the best Christmas ever.
Chapter 46
Dwight
Ilove you.
Those three little words echo in my head. I’ve known she loves me for a while now, since I overheard her talking to Lissy at Thanksgiving, but hearing her say those words to me, whispering them softly in my ear, everyone in that room faded away, leaving just Quinn and I. My heart damn near exploded.
When she looked up at me after opening the photo album I made for her, her teary eyes full of love, her smile lighting up her face, made me fall in love with her even more. I knew in that moment that I would do everything it took to make her look at me like that for the rest of our lives.
I realised then and there that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with this girl, and that I’d do everything it takes to keep her.
She is my redemption.
I refuse to make the same mistakes I made with Grace, ones that ultimately drove her away towards the end of our marriage, ones in which I doubted, and pushed, ones in which I didn’t realise something was wrong until it was too late.
I won’t fail Quinn.
