Epilogue
Ruth was focused on piping a bead around a cookie when a strong, masculine hand came into view. Mason stood next to her holding something—an exquisite chocolate rose with delicate, curling petals.
“Oh wow! Is that for me?” she asked, accepting it carefully.
“Of course. I wanted to get you something to celebrate our anniversary.”
“What? But that’s not for another three months.”
He pulled her into his embrace. “Not our wedding anniversary. One year ago today, we met again for the first time, remember?”
Ruth loved the gesture and her heart melted as always when she was close to him like this. But she couldn’t help but think this over. “No, it’s not. That was November sixteenth. Today is the eighteenth.”
He waved a hand impatiently. “Close enough. We met the night of the Lighting the square event, which is tonight.”
She laughed. “Gotcha. Is everything ready to go? Sorry, I haven’t been much help with this big order I have to finish.”
“No worries. Come out and look.”
Ruth paused to put the rose down carefully on the counter. She’d figure out how to display it later, but the last thing she should do was carry it around and risk melting it.
waited by the swinging door, his hand held out for hers. With their fingers threaded together, he led her out into the front of her shop and around the counter to the big eight-foot section covered in wrapping paper with a big bow on the other side.
“See? I had to use a lot of tape, so you might have to punch through it pretty hard. But we should be able to get through it together.”
Ruth laughed and hugged his arm. “You say that about everything.”
“And I’m always right.”
“Yep.” And she hoped that would continue to be the case since their lives were about to take an exciting new turn—one he knew nothing about. Yet.
“Okay,” he said, “We only have about fifteen minutes until the big reveal, so I’m going back around to my side. I’ll see you after the break-through.”
She smiled and hoped that no hint of her suprise would show in her eyes. “Okay.”
When he was gone, she turned to Crystal. “Do you have it ready?”
She grinned and pulled out the cookie. Ruth had made it the day before, and it had given her a mess of different emotions as she piped the words, “We’re having a baby!” in bold black letters across the white icing.
She touched her stomach which still only had the same gentle roundness as before. What would she look like when she got really big? After having Mason in her life for a year now, she had come a long way toward accepting her body but she knew pregnancy would likely bring back all the same struggles.
And how would she juggle being a mom and a baker? Mason had been right about her business growing. She’d even had her work featured in a few big blogs and a magazine. She’d had to hire two more people just to help her keep up—though that also allowed her to focus on the more creative orders that she loved so much. But how would she make it all work with a baby to take care of?
Still, she was excited to have a precious life growing inside her. She suspected Mason would be ecstatic because he’d been hinting for the last few months that he wanted to start trying for one. Little did he know that no trying had been necessary.
They’d advertised their big surprise reveal for six o’clock, thirty minutes before the light would go on around the square. A large crowd began to gather in the store, and she was sure a similar sized crowd was building on the other side of the wall.
“It’s time,” Crystal said. She pulled her phone out because it was her job to document the whole thing.
Ruth turned the cookie so that it faced outward and let it rest back against her apron.
Through the paper, she heard Mason call, “Ready?”
“Ready!”
“Okay. One…Two…Three!”
Mason had run through many banners during his basketball career, and he burst through this one with a triumphant smile on his face. All around them, the crowd cheered as they realized that the two stores had now become one.
“Why didn’t you help bust it down?” he asked. Then his eyes landed on the cookie and he stopped as abruptly as if he’d been clubbed over the head. “What? For real?”
Ruth laughed. “Do you think I’d joke about something like this?”
Mason swooped down on her then and pulled her up into a giant hug, cookie and all. Ruth felt it break to pieces but didn’t care. It had served its purpose and now all she wanted was to hold this man who had given her more love and support and happiness than she could ever possibly deserve. “Are you happy?” she asked.
“Yes, though I didn’t know till this moment how complete happiness could feel.”
After a minute, they moved slightly apart and laughed as the cookie fell to the ground, making a huge mess of crumbs and icing on the floor. Crystal was ready with a broom, however. Their customers congratulated them and exclaimed over how much they loved the having the wall opened between the stores.
When it was time for the lights to go on outside, Mason and Ruth went together, but she didn’t think any display would compare to the light she saw in his eyes as he contemplated being a father. He stood behind her with his arms around her, his hands resting lightly on her stomach as if he wanted to feel a connection with the baby. But when the lights were on and the crowd shuffled closer to the street to watch the parade, Ruth spun around and put her arms around his neck.
“I see you got the mistletoe hung back up,” she said.
“I sure did. And with the way I’m feeling now, I vote we never take it down.”
“Works for me. Maybe we can make it a tradition to kiss in front of Sugar Lips.”
He grinned and ran his thumb over her bottom lip. “Let’s get it going right now.”
As he kissed her there with passing crowds and twinkle lights and Christmas music from the parade all around them, all she could think was that her life had become wondrously, impossibly, sweet beyond compare.
***
If you enjoyed this book, you’ll love the first book in the Christmas in Willow Falls Series.
Book One: