“I have one last gift for you,” I tell Amanda as I reach behind the massive Christmas tree and pull the tiny box from its hiding place.

Her mouth drops open, her eyes sparkling with excitement. She’s bouncing around like a little kid. “What is it?”

“You’ll have to open it and find out.” I settle in next to her where she sits on the floor. It’s Christmas morning, and we’re at my house in Sonoma. We just opened our gifts to each other, save for this one last present.

“You spoil me.” She nudges my side, then holds out her left hand to study the giant diamond on her ring finger. “I still can’t get over this ring. It’s so beautiful.”

I steal a kiss from her. “You’re beautiful.” I gave it to her two months ago and I still catch her staring at it like right now. “You’re worth twenty of them.”

“Oh, stop.” She shakes her head.

“It’s true.”

“I didn’t expect another present.” She smiles. She doesn’t have a lick of makeup on, her hair is piled on top of her head in a sloppy bun and she’s wearing holiday-themed pajamas. They’re green and red and it says Oh Deer on the front of the long-sleeved shirt. She wanted me to get a matching set, but I refused.

A man can only deal with so much.

I relented and wore red and green plaid pajama pants for this special occasion—pajama pants she bought for me. That’s about as Christmas spirit as I get, which made her incredibly happy.

That’s all I want in life. To make Amanda happy.

I fucking love her so much my heart hurts.

“This gift you’ll love.” I flick my head at her, encouraging her. “Open it.”

She pops off the red bow and then tears away the gold wrapping paper, revealing the small black velvet box. Her gaze lifts to mine briefly before she pops the box open.

A gasp escapes her when she spots what’s inside, and she presses her fingers against her mouth. “Where did you find this?”

It’s the very same promise ring I gave her at Christmas during our senior year. It’s small and delicate, and there’s the teeniest, tiniest diamond set in the center. I didn’t want to scare the crap out of her or her parents by giving her a ring with a large stone in it, so I went for discreet. And it worked. She loved it. Her parents didn’t freak out.

Everyone was happy.

“I called your mom and asked her if she knew where it was. And she did,” I explain. “She gave it to me when we were there for Thanksgiving.”

“Oh my God, you two are so sneaky!” She’s staring at the ring, smiling down at it. “I wonder if it still fits.”

“Of course it will.” It belongs on her finger.

Just like we belong to each other.

“I left it in my old jewelry box when I moved out to live on my own. Mom said she’d keep it in the closet.” She’s blinking back tears, I can tell. “At first, I wanted to take it with me, but I realized it felt like such a sad reminder of what I lost.”

“You didn’t lose me. You never really did.” I reach over and pull the ring out of its velvet setting and hold it out to her. “Can I put it on your finger?”

She holds her right hand out to me. “Please.”

I slip the ring on her shaking finger, rubbing my thumb across the tiny stone. “We promised each other forever that night.”

“Then I broke up with you less than a year later.” Her voice is tinged with sadness.

“Yet here we are now. Together.” I lean in and kiss her briefly, my lips lingering on hers. “I guess we kept our promise to each other after all.”

Amanda’s staring at me, her eyes shining with tears. And love. “I have one more gift for you too,” she whispers.

“Yeah? What is it?”

Leaning in, she kisses me, then leaps to her feet. “I’ll be right back.”

She’s gone for a minute—I have no idea where she went. And then she’s back, clutching something behind her, stopping to stand directly in front of me. “Guess which hand I’m holding it in.”

I point at her. “Your right.”

Rolling her eyes, she reveals her right hand has nothing in it. “Guess again.”

“Your left?” I ask with a chuckle.

“Ta da!” A small, flat present is clutched in her fingers. It’s wrapped in simple white paper, with a shiny silver ribbon tied around it. “I was going to give this to you as a New Year’s present, but I couldn’t wait any longer.”

“A New Year’s present? Who does that?” I tease as I take the present from her. It’s flimsy. Almost feels like a piece of paper wrapped up in…paper, and I open it carefully, worried I might tear something.

It’s a slick piece of paper, just like I thought. Black and white, with tiny writing in the top right corner. I can make out Amanda’s name. The date. It’s a photo of some sort.

Oh.

Shit.

It’s a photo of…

“That’s our baby,” she whispers.

My head jerks up, my eyes going wide when they meet hers. “We’re having a baby?”

“I had an ultrasound a few days ago.” Amanda nods, smiling tremulously. “It happened when we were in London. The baby’s due on the Fourth of July.”

“Serious?”

She rolls her eyes and snatches the ultrasound photo from my fingers. “Serious, Jordan. There’s our baby’s head. Right there.” She points.

I stare at the blob in the photo, squinting. It sort of looks like a head. Maybe. My heart swells despite my confusion. That little blob is mine and Amanda’s baby. Our first child.

This moment, my life right now, is mind blowing.

“Is it a boy or girl?” I ask.

“We don’t know yet.”

“I want a girl. So she’s smart and pretty like her mama.” I reach for her, take the photo of our baby from her fingers and place it on the coffee table before I pull her into my lap and hold her close.

“I want a boy so he’s strong and handsome like his father,” Amanda says, her head nestling into the crook of my shoulder.

“Don’t forget smart,” I remind her.

“And smart.” She holds her hand out, fingers splayed, staring at the tiny ring on her finger as she sighs. “I love this ring even more than my engagement ring.”

I squeeze her close, resting my chin on top of her head. “Why?”

“There’s so much more meaning behind this ring. The promise we made to each other. Turns out it all came true.”

“Yeah, it did. I’m a lucky son of a bitch, knowing you’re mine forever,” I tell her, making her laugh.

And I mean it. She is mine.

Forever.