Page 86 of Wrapped Up in Christmas Hope
His expression tightened. “Not even when you hate what I’m going to be doing?”
“I don’t hate it,” she countered. “Far from it. I admire what you’re doing, Andrew. What every firefighter does whether they are fighting structure fires or forest fires. You’re heroes. I...I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.” She really had, thanks to her conversation with John. “I regret that I’ve been giving Greyson such a hard time about wanting to be a firefighter. I tried to hide how I felt some, but he knew. I shouldn’t have let my biases come through so strongly.”
“That kid is going to do great things no matter what he does.”
Morgan nodded. “He has a good heart.”
“Like his mom.”
“And his father.”
“...Tell me about him?”
Andrew’s request surprised her. But talking about Trey felt much easier than addressing the ache inside her at the thought the song would soon end and Andrew’s arms would no longer be around her.
“Trey was fun, full of life, not afraid of anything.” She half-smiled. “A lot like you.”
“He died while mountain climbing?”
She nodded. “The weather changed unexpectedly. Apparently, the blizzard was blinding and a few of their group stumbled off the trail. Trey attempted to rescue them and lost his life in the process.”
“I’m sorry, Morgan. For you and for Greyson.”
“Me, too.” She bit into her lower lip. “He died a hero, laying his life down to try to save others. That’s something I didn’t acknowledge until recently.”
“He sounds like a good man.”
Trey had had a love of adrenaline, but he truly had been a good man. A very good man, and she’d loved him so much. As the thought hit her, she realized that although the deep sadness was there, it was different. She was no longer filled with anger that he’d taken such risks with his life or that he’d left her much too soon. Instead, the gratitude she felt for the time they’d shared soothed the hole in her heart that losing him had caused.
“There’s something else you have in common with him.” Morgan stared up at Andrew. “For a long time, I was so buried in my grief and anger that he’d taken such risks that I couldn’t see beyond the walls I’d built around myself. Thank you for helping to improve my life’s view by tearing down those walls.”
Swallowing, he stood still. “I’m leaving in two weeks, Morgan.”
“You think you need to remind me of that?” she asked, determined to say what was in her heart once and for all. “That I don’t keep thinking of how soon you’re going to disappear from my life? I finally find someone who fills me with such hope, and now I have to let him go.”
“I’m sorry,” he said again, his body stiff against hers. “I never want to be the reason you cry.”
Morgan’s eyes prickled, but her tears stayed checked as she admitted, “I didn’t think I wanted you to be the reason I cried, either, but I was wrong.”
His brows veed as he stared down at her. “I don’t understand.”
Finally, she did. Fully and completely.
“Crying meant I cared and once upon a time I didn’t think it possible for me to care about another man. But then you came along and I...”
“And you what?” he prompted, his gaze searching hers.
“Oh, look at you two!” Sophie exclaimed, popping the bubble they’d been inside and pulling them back to the reality. As she and Andrew turned to glance Sophie’s way, Morgan noticed one of the soldiers standing nearby, holding a giant candy cane with a sprig of mistletoe tied to the top. A sprig of mistletoe that was dangling above her and Andrew’s heads.
“You have to kiss. It’s tradition.”
Mortified, Morgan’s gaze met Andrew’s. He didn’t look any happier about the situation than she did.
“No, sorry, but we can’t,” she said. “I mean...”
“Morgan, you have to kiss,” Sophie insisted. “It’s bad luck if you break the mistletoe tradition. You can’t send Andrew off to training with bad luck.”
No, she couldn’t do that. It wasn’t as if she didn’t want to kiss him. She did want to. Only, she wanted him to kiss her back because he wanted to and not because mistletoe hung above their heads.
