EPILOGUE

Trevor

The knock sounded on my bedroom door. “Come on in.” I was expecting my sister, and she didn’t disappoint. Her expression went astonished when she came in and saw everything that was lying about in my childhood bedroom.

“Holy shit, Trevor. What is all this?”

I smiled, looking around the bed covered in items, boxes, tissue, wrapping paper, and bows. And I could swear I had tape and scissors around here, too. “Christmas gifts for Emma.”

She met my gaze. “How many are there?”

Yeah, so I’d had an idea of what to get her for our first Christmas together. “Twenty-seven of them. One for every year she didn’t have a present under the tree.” It was a far cry from making up for her rough childhood, but I sure as hell wanted to give her the best holiday of her life.

The last few months with her had been every fantasy come true. We’d developed a good balance between working together in the new real estate venture and our personal lives. Since we’d started living together almost six months ago, we’d only grown closer.

Avery’s eyes welled up with tears. “That’s so sweet. I take it you need help wrapping them.”

“I’d be forever grateful.” It had taken me fifteen minutes to do only one. And the result wasn’t very pretty if I was being honest.

I’d driven to my childhood home two days ago and had been going through each of the packages, most of which I’d ordered online. There was one last important item I needed to get from my father.

Two hours later, we were finally done with wrapping. My sister sat back and surveyed the packages which, thanks to her, looked like they’d been professionally done, with ribbons and bows and sparkly shit that she’d gone to her room to get. In all, the effect was dazzling.

“You aren’t planning to have her open these gifts in front of everyone tomorrow, are you?”

I had. Emma was flying into Houston tonight, and we were spending Christmas Eve and Day at my house. Avery had decorated the place all up the way my mom would’ve if she’d been alive.

“What’s wrong with having her open the presents?”

She frowned. “I just think she might be emotional over it.”

Shit. She was right. “I wanted to have everything under the tree.” I’d pictured her waking up to that.

She laughed. “How sound of a sleeper is she?”

Thankfully, Emma slept heavily unless Rufus chose to lick her face. “Very. And I like where you’re going with this.”

That night, I picked Emma up at the airport. When she walked out to baggage claim, I thought she had to be the most beautiful woman I’d ever met, wearing her skinny jeans, knee-high leather boots, and cream-colored sweater. But it wasn’t until she fixed her smile on me that my world tilted. From the moment I’d first met her, I’d known she was it for me.

She didn’t hesitate in putting her arms around me. It might have only been a couple of days since we’d seen one another, but we’d definitely missed each other.

“Hi, cowboy.”

“Hi, yourself, sugar.”

“It felt strange in the house all by myself the last couple of nights.”

For the last few months, we’d been living together in a rental house. I intended to propose a few months from now, on the anniversary of our meeting at the gym. After she hopefully accepted, we could start to build a house.

We both liked the Dallas area as it was close enough to my father’s home and allowed us to work with Simon on our new real estate investment company. Yep, Simon and I were officially partners, and Emma was the glue that kept us organized. Our first commercial building had broken ground just last month.

As for my father, he’d been elected Mayor of Houston and had brought in a new CEO for Newhall Oil and Gas. The guy was doing a great job, and best of all, I no longer felt guilty about not taking over the family business.

“Rufus whined all night as if to say, where the hell is she?”

She kissed my lips in a display of affection I never took for granted since she had never given them to anyone before me. “Aww. Good thing I’m here for Rufus, then.”

I laughed. “He is rather gone for you.”

***

Emma

While I did adore Rufus, I was completely gone for the man in front of me. Head over heels in love with Trevor.

Over the last few months, we’d settled into a routine in Dallas. I never thought I’d see the day I’d proudly call myself a Texan, but now I certainly did. A Texan, however, without any opinions about American football teams, politics, or who said words like ‘y’all’ or ‘yonder.’ I had adopted a few ‘bless her heart’s, however, because sarcasm was something I could definitely get behind.

I’d been nervous about the upcoming holidays, but after spending the American Thanksgiving with Peyton’s family, I was less anxious about what Christmas would hold. For the first time ever, I’d even shopped for gifts.

Walking into Trevor’s childhood home, though, I felt gobsmacked with the way Christmas seemed to have thrown up on every surface. Every bannister was adorned with greenery, the massive fireplace boasted stockings and Santas. But the centerpiece was the largest Christmas tree I’d ever seen. Towering up to the ceiling, it had to be sixteen feet tall. I walked up to touch a branch, breathing in the fresh scent of pine.

“It’s real. My sister dragged me out two days ago to pick it out, but thankfully, they delivered it.”

“It’s magical.” Like out of a childhood dream, it was beautifully decorated with white twinkling lights and silver ribbon.

“Come on.” He took my hand, leading me out back to the pool. There were at least a dozen other trees all around it, lit up with colored lights.

“Wow.”

“It’s been ten years since all of these decorations have been out. I’d forgotten how much I love it. How nostalgic it makes me to have all of my mom’s things out for the holidays.”

I hugged him tight, knowing how much he missed his mum. “Where are we staying?”

“Pool house. It not only brings back memories, but we can also be as loud as we want. Plus, as previously discussed regarding pooparoomba, Rufus is banned from the main house.”

I giggled with the reference to that particular story. Truth be told, I was happy to be private in the pool house with him.

We had Christmas Eve dinner that night with Trevor’s father, Avery, and her new boyfriend, someone I really liked. Frankly, it was nice to have someone even newer than I was at the table. It took some of the pressure off the family dinner. Afterwards, we went to the theatre room and watched a movie and then retired for the night. Not that we did much sleeping. After all, I’d brought my Mrs. Claus lingerie to show Trevor.

Waking up in the early morning, I stretched in the bed. When I rolled over to reach for Trevor, I found his side of the bed cold. Huh. Opening up my eyes, I glanced around the bedroom but didn’t see him. Maybe he was out walking Rufus. Donning my robe, I puttered out to the living room. I was happy we had our privacy but didn’t want to take a chance by walking around naked.

A beautifully decorated Christmas tree stood in the corner of the room, with dozens of gorgeously wrapped gifts beneath it. This definitely hadn’t been here last night.

Trevor walked in from outside with Rufus and looked surprised to see me up.

“Merry Christmas, Em.”

I smiled, crossing over to hug him. “Merry Christmas. What is all this?”

“Our first Christmas together.”

“In here, not the main house?”

He shrugged out of his jacket. “I figured we’d do our gift exchange here before everyone is up.”

“But all the gifts under the tree aren’t just for us, right?” I’d only bought two for Trevor, and they were still in my suitcase.

“They’re for you. Twenty-seven of them, to be exact. One for every Christmas you missed.”

I couldn’t speak for a moment, overwhelmed with emotion.

“Sugar, say something.” His stare was fixed on me, watching for my reaction.

“I just—Nobody has ever—I never had—” I couldn’t complete a sentence. And then, much to my dismay, and probably to Trevor’s, I burst into tears. I let him hold me while I sobbed quietly into his chest.

Sometimes I still struggled with allowing myself to be loved. But over time, I’d started to believe I deserved it. And when self-doubt crept in, Trevor understood and never wavered in his love for me.

Finally, after I let out the last of the tears, he led me over to the sofa where he put me on his lap. “I’m sorry. I had thought—”

I pulled back, holding a finger to his lips. “Please don’t apologize. It’s the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me. I was overwhelmed by it, but I’m happy.”

He lifted a brow. “Are you sure?”

Oh, God, I felt awful for ruining his beautiful surprise. “Yes. Positive. Those were, er, sobs of happiness.”

His laughter rumbled up from his chest, causing me to join in until we were both smiling. Gentle thumbs caressed under my eyes, wiping my tears, which now included those of actual joy. “Sobs of happiness it is, then. You want to start opening gifts?”

I had a moment of panic because I’d only gotten him two gifts, one of which was a picture of the two of us with Rufus. But I recognized that Trevor wasn’t looking for reciprocation. He was looking to make up for the things I’d never had. Little did he know how much he did that on a daily basis. I now absolutely looked forward to my future with this man.

“Yes. Definitely. But first I want to make sure you know how much I love you. How you’ve changed my life and how much I appreciate you.” Although I couldn’t say the words as naturally as they came to other people, I absolutely meant them with all of my heart.

He stroked my face. “I love you, too, sugar.”

An hour later, I’d opened up twenty-six gifts. Each one was well thought out. A trip to New York along with a certificate to my favorite spa there for a future weekend. My very own motorbike helmet for our rides on his Harley. My favorite scented bubble bath along with candles. And a trip to Mexico for New Year’s. But nothing could’ve prepared me for the last gift.

I opened it to see the most beautiful opal pendant in what appeared to be a platinum setting. It looked vintage.

“It belonged to my mother, then my father’s mother before her.”

My eyes went big. A family heirloom. Something passed down. “Trevor, I can’t possibly take this. I’m not part of your family—”

He was already taking the necklace out. “Yet. That’s how your sentence ends. Because you’re my forever. It would’ve made my mom happy to know it’s no longer sitting in a box somewhere collecting dust but instead being passed on to the woman I love.”

He lifted it up and put it around my neck, fastening the clasp and letting it lie against my skin. The necklace was exquisite. And the implication about being his forever—Well, it no longer made me panic as I couldn’t imagine not spending the rest of my life with this beautiful man.

“No more sobs of happiness?” he asked, seeing my eyes well up.

“I can’t make any promises when you keep doing sweet things like this. I’m looking forward to Mexico over New Year’s.”

“Me, too.”

Just then, a knock came on the front door. “Breakfast is ready whenever you two are,” Avery’s voice said.

He chuckled. “Any regrets about staying in Texas or coming home with me for the holidays?”

I knew without a doubt my home was wherever he was. “Not a one.” I flashed him a smile before kissing down his neck. “And I think we may be a little late for breakfast.”