Page 69 of Haystacks and Hoaxes

Ashley gave a sputter of helpless laughter. His brand of humor was irresistible.

“There you are!” Mrs. Santa reappeared and reached for Johnny’s arm. Though she drenched him with a syrupy smile, she managed to shoot a few eye daggers at Ashley in the process.

Guess I’m no longer invisible to her. Lucky me!Before Ashley could blink, Caroline Madison dragged Johnny off into the crowd. It quickly closed around them.

“What about your jacket, cowboy?” She glanced ruefully down at the lapels she was still clutching around her. After a short debate, she decided it would be easier to track Johnny down at Lonestar Security in the next day or two. It was certainly preferable to freezing her backside offbeneath two snow blowing machines at a wedding she hadn’t been invited to in the first place.

Rock’s kiss-the-bridekiss warmed Mila all the way to her toes. It even melted the snowflakes off her eyelashes. “Thank you for marrying me, partner.” His voice was husky with adoration.

“I’m honored you asked me to.” She touched his cheek, reveling in the love she read in his gaze. It was hard to believe their relationship had started off with a simple job interview and blossomed into all of this!

“I’m honored you said yes.” He brushed his mouth against hers again, taking the rest of her breath away with the reverence in his touch.

Mila’s mother flew in their direction with a sob of happiness. “Oh, my sweet girl!” She threw her arms around them both. “You got the right one this time,” she babbled.

“I sure did!” Rock kissed her mother’s cheek.

“Welcome to the family,” she gushed.

“The pleasure is all mine, ma’am.”

Gage and Ella joined their huddle for another round of hugs, tears, and congratulations.

“We did it, bro!” Rock exchanged a laughing fist bump with his brother. “Not sure how, but we did it.”

Gage pointed upward, sending the credit for their happily-ever-after-times-two where it belonged.

“Thank You!” Mila tipped her face toward the sky, allowing the snowflakes to graze her cheeks and nose again with their icy kiss. Sometimes the simplest prayers were the best ones. Sometimes two words were all a person needed to get their point across.

“I love you,” Rock’s voice brought her back to the present.

Or three words.

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