“Give me a minute.” His face is all kinds of serious.
“Okay.”
I watch him as he reaches for the tree. His hand moves between some branches and comes out holding a small black box.
Oh, shit.
Placing it on my knee, he looks up at me. I swear he’s nervous and a bit scared. “JoJo?”
“Yeah?” I can barely get the words out.
“I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I want to start doing that as soon as possible.” He slowly opens the box, revealing a diamond so big, I think I might pass out. “This was my grandmother’s ring; my dad gave it to my mom. She gave it to me to give to you.”
“Oh.” I feel tears sting my eyes. “She did?” That was so nice of her.
“I can buy you a new ring if you want.”
“No.” I shake my head. I love traditional things like this. “I love it. It’s just so big.”
Billy winks at me. “That’s what she said.”
Between tears, I crack up laughing. Slapping him on the chest, I admonish, “You had to say that at this moment?” But I laugh a little more. It was perfect.
“JoJo, marry me. Please?”
“Yes.” I wrap my arms around him. “Of course I’ll marry you. I love you so much, Billy Mathers.”
Billy wraps his arms around me and sighs in my ear. “I was scared you weren’t ready.”
“I’m ready. We’ll need to get married before the baby comes.”
His head jerks back in a look of shock if I’ve never seen before. “You’re pregnant?”
“I am. Not too far along. A little over a month.”
“JoJo.” He wraps me up once again.
When he sniffles, I pull him in tighter. “Merry Christmas, Billy.”
“This is the best Christmas.”
“Waybetter than last year.”
“No contest,” he whispers. “Except I metyoulast Christmas, so let’s call it a draw.”
* * *
Christmas morning,I wake up wrapped around Billy with one of his hands on my ass. He seems to like having his hand there and I definitely don’t mind. His body is so warm, I’m attracted to it like a magnet to metal. I feel his hand rub up and down my back. He’s awake. “Merry Christmas, Billy.”
“Merry Christmas, fiancée.”
Oh, that’s right. I look down at my left hand and just stare. The ring is stunning with a square cut diamond in the center and two more, smaller, rectangular diamonds on either side. It doesn’t need anything else. The ginormous diamond in the center is the showstopper, the star.
Apparently, it was no surprise he was going to propose. The first thing Rebecca and Faye did when they arrived was look at my hand. “You said yes?” asked Rebecca expectantly.
“Of course.” I wanted to roll my eyes at her question, but that would have been rude. I mean why would she think I’d turn down the hottest man in Chicago? Okay, let me clarify. Yes, he’s hot, but that’s not why I’m marrying him. I’m marrying him because he’s the best man I’ve ever known. Hands down. He checks all of the boxes. His level-ten hotness is merely a bonus.
After everyone congratulated us, we sat down to enjoy the food we’d all prepared.
