In the morning, he graciously left her to wake up alone and in peace. She was thankful he’d allowed her to gather her thoughts and try to process what last night had meant.

They obviously still wanted each other. That hadn’t changed. If anything, she wanted him more now. Just knowing everything about what he’d said, why he’d left - it had rung true. Connor was many things, but he wasn’t manipulative and he was brutally honest. And she knew that everything he’d been feeling had poured out of him last night.

She showered, then threw on a pair of jeans and a forest green cashmere sweater. After getting Ivy ready as well, they left for the Santa Claus Parade.

Once at the gathering, she looked around for Connor but couldn’t see him anywhere. Surprisingly though, there were a lot of TV people milling about.

“Mama, look!” Ivy’s little voice rang out.

She followed her finger until she located Connor. He was being interviewed by one of the cameramen. He wore a dark jacket, and Neve’s heart skipped a beat at the sight of him. Despite the chill in the winter air, she felt her cheeks reddening as she recalled how they had made love mere hours earlier.

The camera swung towards her, and then down at Ivy in her pink snowsuit and the white mittens she had donned for the occasion. “Mama, Mama, look – it’s pointing at me!” Ivy said, jumping up and grabbing her hand.

“I see that,” Neve laughed, shaking her head at Connor and his antics. He knew just where to hit them – her with his confessions last night and dangerously sexy mouth, and Ivy with a TV Connor.

Ivy started to pull them towards the camera. Neve held back a bit, letting her pull but much slower than Ivy wanted. “Sweetheart, I don’t think we should…”

She trailed off as she realized that Connor was pointing to them and motioning towards Ivy to have her come closer. As she grew closer, she realized that there was an entire tattoo studio set up in front of him, like a mini TV set. The parade goers were still milling about, but most of the town was watching as he set up his equipment under the heated makeshift roof.

She paused before walking in front of the camera, but Ivy didn’t have the same reservation. Instead, she walked directly up to him, giving a cheeky smile to the camera that had Live written on the side.

Oh no, she thought, knowing her daughter was going to be instantly famous and wondering how Connor would explain her.

She didn’t have to wait long. Connor was already in the middle of a speech to the camera and grabbed Ivy and swung her up high. She heard him say, obviously mic’d, “…and this is my daughter, Ivy. I don’t think most of you know that I have a daughter, seeing as how I like to keep my personal life, well, personal, but there you have it. I love my daughter more than life itself, and truth be told, she’s a bit of an artist herself. I will certainly be collaborating with her on some work in the future.”

Neve bit back a grin, her heart overflowing as America watched the big, tattooed man admitting he was going to work with his tiny daughter on some tattoo projects.

“And if you at home are wondering what we’re doing, we’re preparing a tattoo station. However, we need someone to tattoo. Do I have any volunteers?”

Neve laughed out loud as almost the entire audience raised their hands, even some of the older and more reserved people that lived in town, including Earl, the eighty-something year old postman.

Connor seemed to share the same humor, but as his eyes looked over the crowd, they landed only on her. “I think I’ve found my canvas.”

She gasped as the camera swung over to her. Connor hopped down off the set and walked up next to her. Without giving her a chance to shy away, he grabbed her hand. Ignoring the rolling cameras, he got down on one knee. He clicked off something on his hip, his microphone she realized.

Then, in a low voice only she could hear, he told her, “I know I said I would wait. And that I wouldn’t push. But I woke up this morning realizing that I would never forgive myself if I didn’t at least ask. And, since I don’t do anything by half measures, why not make a grand gesture and have the rest of the world watch as I do it?” He chuckled, making fun of himself and giving her that familiar, heart-stopping grin that she loved.

She loved. She loved. Instantly, she realized that she still loved him. Even more than when they’d been teens, because she loved a whole other part of him – their daughter. The love had grown until she felt almost suffocated by it, wanting to tell him, but knowing that she needed to hear it from him first.

He didn’t make her wait long, admitting, “I’m in love with you, Neve. I always have been. But I want to make it known. And I want it to be forever. I want to know that you’re in love with me, and that our perfect family is ready to be united forever. So, if you’ll accept, I want to add Ivy’s initials to our tree, and I want to tattoo a wedding band around my finger. I want it to be ingrained forever that I love you both so much that I want it to be on my body. I never want to take it off.”

After that, there was complete silence. The bands had stopped playing their Christmas music and the crowd was silent. Connor was also silent, staring at Neve with an intensity that made her feel weak in the knees. She spared one moment to look up at Ivy, who was beaming and nodding emphatically. With a tear-filled laugh, she nodded. “Yes, I love you. I’ll marry you.”

The crowd roared, but she had eyes only for Connor. He whispered into her ear, “I will never leave you again, Neve. I swear it.”

She sniffed, nodding that she’d heard into his neck. She knew he wouldn’t. Because she knew him. She always had. But now she trusted him as well.

“Love you.”

“Love you too, babe,” he answered in his silkily smooth baritone voice. They shared a kiss onscreen, something she’d never thought she’d have been able to do without flushing.

Then, she walked with him over to the set. She saw a man standing there with a tattoo gun in his hand and she looked at Connor curiously. Then it hit her. Obviously, he couldn’t tattoo himself. She put her hand down on the table. “I want one too.”

His eyes grew dark and heated. “Are you sure? It’s forever.”

“I’m sure,” she nodded, and he laughed, pulling her up against him with another kiss.

After the tattoos were completed, she put their hands together, looking down on them and on her other hand, which was holding Ivy’s. The perfect family. Forever.

“Merry Christmas, babe.”