Page 78 of Sweet Surprises

“Now it’s time for our present,” Chance squeaked, brandishing a small, wrapped object. “Come on, Olivia.”

“Oh, kids,” Charlotte said. “You didn’t have to get me a present.”

“It’s not a big present,” Olivia warned her worriedly. “There’s not like a car or a computer or anything in there.”

“Anything from you will make me smile,” Charlotte told her. “Because it will mean you were thinking of me.”

“Open it up,” Chance advised her, handing over the package.

She did as she was told, and when she revealed what was inside, she found herself crying for the second time in a day.

“It’s your picture with your dad, Charlotte,” Chance told her. “You love that picture.”

“We took the messed up one to the print shop in town,” Olivia told her. “And Josh scanned it and fixed it up for us and then printed out a new one. I think it turned out great.”

“That’s my thumb in the picture,” her mom was telling Maggie. “Al liked to say that made it a family photo.”

“Oh, you guys,” Charlotte said, trying to stop the flow of her tears. “You’ll never know how much this means to me. I love you both, so much.”

“We love you too, Charlotte,” Chance said happily. “Can we go play with my sled now?”

Everyone laughed and Charlotte wiped her eyes with the hand that wasn’t hugging the photo to her chest.

“Definitely,” she told him. “I think a nice walk and watching you sled sounds like the perfect Christmas to me.”

As the rest of the family moved to start cleaning up, and Olivia went with Chance to look at his sled, Tag scooted closer to her.

“I know all of this is… a lot,” he said. “I hope we didn’t hit you with too many surprises at once.”

“I think I’m starting to like surprises again,” Charlotte admitted, smiling up at him.

“Good,” he told her. “Then I’d like to actually put this on your finger now.”

He took her hand, and her heart threatened to burst with happiness as he slid the ring into place. Chance was right. It was very pretty. And it looked right at home on her finger, like it had always been there.

“What do you think about a New Year’s wedding?” Tag asked, his gaze a flash of blue fire as he kept her hand in his, stroking her wrist with his thumb.

“Yes,” she whispered, glad their family was all around them so that her resolve to be a good example wouldn’t be tested. “Let’s get married as soon as we can. I don’t want to wait an extra minute.”

He laughed with joy, and she gazed up at the man she loved in wonder.

How did I ever get so lucky?

26

CHARLOTTE

Charlotte had spent the happiest week of her life since Christmas, enjoying every minute with Tag and the kids, and feeling incredibly grateful to have her mom there, so she could begin to show her everything there was to love about being part of the Lawrence family.

Besides all the regular family activities like Christmas dinner, walks in the snowy fields, and board game nights that went way past the kids’ bedtimes, Charlotte was also enjoying extra time with Maggie.

She had pulled her mother-in-law-to-be aside the day after Christmas with an idea for the ice cream shop. She asked Maggie if they could rename the shopStone’s Throw Creameryin honor of the long-ago family patriarch, Stone Lawrence, and something else too.

Maggie had agreed enthusiastically and thought Daniel would love it.

“But what else would it be named for?” she asked.

“I thought maybe getting the wordthrowin there could be kind of a little nod to your pottery,” Charlotte told her. “And I thought we could put any mugs and bowls that you would bewilling to part with on those nice wooden shelves behind the counter. It would be really fun to offer gifts as well as ice cream, and since it’s all made on the farm, it feels just right.”

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