After dinner, Blake assures my brother we can handle getting our tree to Rock and Hope’s house on our own.

I fling my arms around Marcel for a big hug. “Thank you so much for everything.”

He squeezes me back just as hard. “You bet, kid.”

Everyone ends up walking outside with us and thankfully, Alexa had fallen asleep again after dinner or she’d probably have a hissy fit when we leave all the lights behind.

“I can’t believe you guys did all that,” I say as we glide down the driveway. I’m still in awe of all the work my brother put into the decorations.

Murphy glances over. “He wanted to surprise you.”

“Well, he did.” I think over how much has changed in the last few months and my heart’s ready to burst. “I’m so happy he’s happy. He has his own place and just seems so…at peace. Charlotte’s good for him.”

“She is,” he agrees.

“I bet some of the guys think he’s moving too fast, but I’m glad he didn’t screw around. I hope they set a date soon.”

“You haven’t set a date yet.”

“That’s different,” I say, staring out the window.

“Hey.” Blake reaches over and rubs my leg. “What’re you thinking about?”

“Our wedding. Let’s get married next summer. After graduation.”

He glances over and raises an eyebrow. “Yeah? Are you sure you’re on schedule to finish next May?”

“Pretty sure.” I glance in the backseat and reach out to fix Alexa’s blanket. “She should be big enough to be part of our wedding.”

Blake catches my hand and pulls it to his mouth, kissing my open palm. “I like the sound of that,” he says softly.

It’s a short ride to the club’s property and we’re pulling in front of the clubhouse a few minutes later.

“I’m going to see if someone’s around to help us with the tree,” Blake says.

I clap my hand over my mouth. “Shoot. Everyone’s probably at the party.”

“Nah, someone’s always around.”

“Blake,” I call out before he shuts his door. “I want to come inside with you.”

Without answering, he unbuckles Alexa and picks her up. She fusses but settles once she’s in his arms. “What do you need?” he asks as he meets me on the other side of the truck.

“I still have some boxes stored in Hope’s closet upstairs. A few ornaments for the tree might be in there.”

He hesitates for a second before answering. “Okay.”

Inside, we run into Sparky and Stash on their way to the party at Crystal Ball. “We can help with that,” Sparky says, running to the closet to grab a pair of gloves.

Blake hands me a key for upstairs. “Go ahead. I’ll come meet you and carry over whatever you need when we’re done.”

“Thank you.”

Alexa’s fully awake now and I have to stop in the bathroom for a diaper change before heading upstairs. It’s oddly quiet. Not a biker or bunny in sight. Rock and Hope’s old room is stuffy when I enter, so I open a few windows, making a mental note to close them before I leave.

Now that she’s clean and had some snooze time, Alexa’s eager to explore the new space.

“You spent lots of time here when you were itty bitty,” I tell her. She giggle-gurgles and continues her investigation.

Keeping an eye on her while I pull down the boxes I want isn’t easy, but once I’m sitting on the floor, she makes her way back to me. Curious about what I’m up to.

Ignoring one box in particular, I pry open another that I think is most likely to contain the ornaments I’m after. I’ve bounced around to so many different places in the last few years, that I haven’t seen some of these things in a while. Some are unimportant papers from high school that I threw in the box, because I packed them in a hurry. I set those aside to toss in the trash later and Alexa grabs for them, flinging the pages in the air.

“Having fun making a mess?” I tease, scooping her up and settling her in my lap. “Look, Uncle Marcel made these when he was younger.” I hold one of the four ornaments up watching the sparkles shift and twirl from the movement. The glitter-filled globes are clear plastic, so thankfully they’re not in danger of breaking when Alexa bats at them with her little hands. They’re the product of an after-school “young entrepreneur” program Marcel was part of during his high school days. The class made and sold these ornaments, but Marcel said he saved the best ones for me and I’ve always kept them in a special place, hoping to have my own tree to put them on one day.

“Twee!” Alexa yells.

“Yup, we’re going to put these on our tree.”

The door opens, light from the hallway spilling into the room. “Find what you wanted?” Blake asks, leaving the door open.

I hold one of the ornaments out to him and he smiles. “I remember those.”

“Da, da, da,” Alexa screeches, reaching for Blake.

“Are you helping mommy or making a mess?” he asks, scooping her up and nodding at the papers.

Alexa glances down. “Mess.”

“Well, at least she’s honest,” I joke.

Blake eyes the boxes in front of me. “Are these all coming back with us tonight?”

“No. Just this one. We don’t have a lot of space right now. The others can wait until we move into our house.”

His gaze roams to the box I pushed to the side earlier.

“There’s nothing Christmas-y in that one,” I say, stopping Blake from asking about the most embarrassing one of all.

A guilty twist to his mouth gives me pause.

“What?” I ask.

“Nothing. Are you sure you don’t want it?”

“I do, but I can’t unpack it right now.” And not just because we don’t have our own place yet.

He’s still staring at me and I can’t take the scrutiny. I pick myself up from the floor and dust off my jeans. The box of ornaments goes on the shelf next to me so I don’t forget to take them with us. And I start returning the others to the closet.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

His gaze strays to the box again, then back to me.

The box that’s full of years of memories with Blake. Figurines he gave me for my birthdays, ticket stubs, seashells, postcards, notes, all of it rests inside that brown cardboard. Younger Heidi kept every precious memory she could hold onto.

It finally occurs to me that I stored that box here a while ago. Back when Murphy still lived a few doors down and I was headed all the way in Alaska.

“Did you look through my stuff?” I ask quietly.

He meets my eyes and doesn’t so much as flinch. “I missed you.”

Tears burn and threaten to fall, but I take a deep breath, willing them away. If he saw all of those things, he knows what a silly girl I was. But he should also know how much I’ve always loved him. “And?”

“I love you.”

I take a step closer and he holds out his free arm, pulling me against him. Alexa waves her arms and squeals, touching both of our faces with her fingers.

Blake leans down and brushes a soft, warm kiss against my lips.

“Come on. Let’s go see the tree.” He ruffles Alexa’s hair. “Want to put lights on the tree?”

“Twee!”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

“No!”

I burst out laughing.

After the boxes are put away. I grab the ornaments and take Blake’s free hand.

“It’s so quiet with everyone out,” I comment as we pass the closed doors to the brothers’ rooms.

“Doesn’t happen often.”

Big, fat snowflakes are slowly drifting to the ground as we step outside. Alexa swats and grabs for them, then finally tries to catch the flakes on her tongue. I’m so consumed with watching her, I almost don’t notice the path to Rock and Hope’s house is alive with lights.

Not the normal ground lights that mark the trail through the woods. No, this is the glow of white lights wrapped around tree trunks, creating a magical tunnel. Alexa ooos and ahhs, reaching up and then yanking her hand back as if she remembers my warning from earlier.

“Blake, this is beautiful. When did you?” I have no doubt he’s the one who lovingly wrapped strand after strand of tiny bulbs around each tree trunk.

“This morning.” He cracks a smile. “Your brother stole my idea. It’s not as much—”

“It’s perfect. So pretty. Thank you.”

He brushes the back of his hand over my cheek. “Anything to see you smile, beautiful.”