Page 62 of Blame It On the Lattes

“Yes, Sam. I’ll marry you!”

He stood up and wrapped me in the tightest hug as Kennedy and Cassidy cheered for us from the couch.

Thirty-Two

Sam

Isat at the dinnertable, grinning like a fool as Kennedy told us about the arts and crafts projects she did with my parents for Christmas. It felt surreal that not only were Avery and Kennedy staying in Sugarplum Falls but that Avery had agreed to marry me.

I felt bad for not having an actual ring, but she didn’t seem to care. Her smile had been just as big as mine, and she refused to let go of my hand when she didn’t have to. It was like she needed to touch me any way she could, and the feeling was mutual.

After dinner, we all sat down in the living room to open one present before bed. This was a tradition that my family had always done when I was growing up, and I made sure to ask Avery about it before suggesting it to Kennedy.

Not only was I about to have a wife, but I was also getting the most incredible daughter. I couldn’t wait to start the process of officially adopting Kennedy, even though Avery and I agreed that it didn’t matter how long it took because she was already mine. Plus, we had all the time in the world now that they weren’t leaving.

“Which one should we have Sam open?” Avery asked Kennedy as they sat on the floor in front of the Christmas tree.

“This one!” Kennedy said, pointing to a small box sitting on top of a stack of larger ones that were for Kennedy.

“Are you sure?” Avery tilted her head and smiled.

“Yes!” Kennedy gently grabbed it from her mom and handed it to me.

“Here you go!”

“Thank you, Kennedy.” I held the present to my chest while she giggled.

“Do you think you can help me pick one for your mom?” I asked, leaning around Avery to grab a few from the stack I had wrapped and put under the tree this morning.

“Sure!”

Kennedy looked through the different-sized boxes and then handed her mom a medium-sized one.

“Alright. Now that we all have one present, let’s open them.”

Kennedy immediately ripped the wrapping paper off of hers, squealing when she found a baby doll she had seen on TV.

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