Page 54 of A DIY Christmas Miracle
Epilogue
Eli
One year later
“I fucking hate snow,” I declared, looking through the windshield at the thick snow. White as far as the eye could see. “It’s deceiving. It looks all soft and cozy, but it really is wet and cold and…urghs.”
Will sat next to me in the driver’s seat, quietly laughing at my tirade. I knew he couldn’t spare even a single glance at me in this fucking awful weather because he had to stay focused on the road ahead of us. Or rather, the white something that was barely recognizable as a road.
“Why now? Why today? Couldn’t this stupid snowstorm have waited a little longer to arrive?” I continued swearing as we crawled up the mountain at a snail’s pace. Thank God we had snow chains!
A soft yowl came from the backseat.
“Calm down or Charlie will go crazy. You know what he’s like,” Will gently admonished me, but there was no heat in his words.
I turned in my seat to take a quick look at Charlie, who didn’t like staying in his carrier in the backseat — at all. But there was just no way around it. Three months ago when we first got him, we’d brought him home sitting on my lap, but he was just too big for that now. Not to mention the fact that it was too much of a safety risk. But it was hard to make a puppy understand that being alone in a plastic prison was safer than sitting on my lap where he loved to be.
When Charlie saw me looking at him, he immediately perked up, started wagging his tail, and barking softly.
“We’ll be there soon,” I explained to him, not knowing if it was him or myself that I was trying to cheer up. “Then you can get out of the truck and play in your beloved snow, and I can go curl up in front of the fire.”
“Oh no, Mister.” Will shook his head. “We have an agreement. We said if we got a dog, we’d walk it together.Together.”
I gave a theatrical sigh and looked at Charlie. “He’s trying to torture me,” I whispered. “You hear that? He wants to torture your daddy.”
Will wasn’t, not really. I knew he wouldn’t really force me to trudge through the freezing snow for hours if I didn’t want to. But a walk in this weather wouldn’t take too long, anyway. Charlie was still a puppy and got tired fast. Besides, it was a walk with Will and Charlie. My little family. What could possibly be better than spending time with them?
“Look at it this way: the others can’t be that far ahead of us. When we arrive, the cabin will still be cold, but when we get back from our walk with Charlie, I bet it’ll be warm and cozy, and someone will probably have made tea or hot chocolate.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” I agreed with a sigh, glancing through the rearview mirror at Charlie, who was still wagging his tail, waiting to be freed from his prison. “By the way, I still can’t believe you named our dog after Charles Dickens.”
I also couldn’t believe he’d only admitted to what he’d done after we’d already been calling the puppy ‘Charlie’ for two weeks. Sneaky bastard.
“Still better than naming him after Shakespeare.”
“Would having a William the Second in our house really be that bad of a thing?”
Will took the time to search my eyes for something. He shouldn’t have looked away from the road, but he did. Which told me this was important to him. Whatever this was. He looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end, he shook his head, then focused back on the road.
A couple of seconds later, he cleared his throat. “If we ever have a second William living under our roof, I can guarantee you it won’t be a dog,” he said seriously, stunning me into silence with one sentence.
What?
I gaped at him.
Did he mean what I thought he meant?
“Do you mean…kids?” I croaked, reaching for my travel mug filled with coffee. My throat was suddenly dry, making it hard to swallow.Kids?
“Well, I think, for starters, one would be enough.” Will laughed and winked at me. “But we’ve got time. And we can practice with Jack and Sophie’s baby for the next week, see if we like it.”
He was actually being serious.
I swallowed hard. Kids. Will was talking about having children together. Holy shit! A year ago, I’d dreamed about being with him one day, and now… now we had a house together, a dog, and he was talking about having a child…
“I want a proposal first,” I blurted out, slapping a hand over my mouth afterward, even though it was already too late. My eyes darted to Will in horror.
Fuck. I hadn’t meant to say that. Well, I hadn’t meant to demand a marriage proposal like that. But it was logical. Marriage, then kids. Would we even be considered for adopting if we weren’t married?
