Coming Home (42 page)

“You were his first choice, though. You have to know that.”

“He should really have his first choice on such an important occasion, don’t you think?”

Kate smiled at him. “I couldn’t agree more.”

“I’ll take care of it.” He leaned in to kiss her cheek. “Enjoy every minute tomorrow. You’re getting the very best man I’ve ever known.”

Touched, Kate said, “Thank you.”

They returned to the living room, and Ashton joined Jill on the sofa.

“So he told you his big news?” Reid asked.

Kate looked up at him. “How long have you known?”

“A couple of days. He asked me not to tell anyone, but I was dying to tell you. I’m glad he did.”

“It was nice just now with him. Felt like old times. I love them together.

“So do I.” Reid glanced at his son and Jill, their heads bent close as they whispered to each other. “He hasn’t left her side all weekend.”

“Except to sleep. Maggie told me he hasn’t been staying at Jill’s while she’s been there.”

“No, he wouldn’t. That doesn’t surprise me.”

“You Matthews men are extremely
old
-fashioned in your beliefs.”

“Did you just call me old, darlin’? The night before our wedding?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He leaned in to press his lips to her ear, making her shiver. “The other sleigh is ours after everyone else is done.”

Kate snuggled into his embrace, delighted by him, his surprise and the possibility of her sister’s engagement. This was shaping up to be the very best Christmas ever.

“Are you warm enough?” Ashton asked Jill as he tucked a second blanket around her.

“Yep. Are you going to join me, or am I going alone?”

His heart raced with nerves and excitement. What if she said no? What would he do then? He pushed those negative thoughts out of his mind and settled in next to her. The full moon cast a bright glow over the snow, making it glisten like thousands of tiny crystals.

Jill raised the blankets to invite him in, and Ashton slid closer, putting an arm around her.
 

“There,” she said. “Now, it’s perfect.”

“Yes, it is.” He turned to her, loving how cute she looked with a knit hat pulled down over her ears and her nose pink from the cold. As the sleigh jarred forward, sliding silently through the snow, Ashton kissed her. He’d intended it to be a quick kiss, but after three nights without her in his bed, he was aching for much more.

“I’ve missed you,” he said many passionate minutes later.

“I’ve missed you, too. I’ve gotten used to sleeping with you.”

“Please don’t break the habit.”

“I won’t. Maggie is going home the day after tomorrow, and then I’m all yours again.”

“I like the sound of that. All mine.”

She put her arm around him and rested her head on his chest. “Mmm.”

“I want you to be all mine forever, Jill.” The words were out of his mouth before he had time to consider the carefully worded proposal he’d been practicing for days.
 

She raised her head and met his gaze. “You do?”

He nodded. To hell with carefully worded. “I love you so much. These last few weeks, when we’ve finally gotten to be together, have been the best of my whole life. I never want what we have to end. Will you make me the happiest guy in the world and marry me, Jill?”

Her face was a study in dismay, which was not at all what he was hoping for. “You can’t ask me tonight when my sister is getting married tomorrow!”

“I knew you’d say that, so I talked to Kate about it.”

“Wait—
you
talked to
Kate
?”

“Yes, and I told her you’d be worried about us getting engaged the night before her wedding, and she said—I’m quoting here—‘Tell her there’s no one in the world I’d rather share the stage with.’ She also said—and this is me being extremely self-serving—that she hoped you said yes. I suspect that was mostly because she’d rather I be her brother-in-law than her stepson, but that’s another story.”

Jill laughed through her tears.
 

“And your dad gave me his blessing, too.”

“He did? You asked him?”

“Of course I did,” he said, indignant that she would even ask. “I’m a Southern gentleman, darlin’, and there’re rules for these things.” He tugged off his glove with his teeth, retrieved the jeweler’s box from his coat pocket and opened it so she could see the two-carat diamond ring he’d picked out for her. He’d suspected that anything bigger would’ve been too much for her. “What do you say? Should we spend the rest of our lives together?”

Jill looked at the ring and then at him.

Ashton thought he would die as he waited for her to say something—
anything
.
 

“Yes. Yes, we should.”

Somehow he managed to hide his overwhelming relief from her, but his hands trembled as he pulled off the glove on her left hand and slid the ring onto her finger. “Let me see.” He held up her hand to use the moonlight to gauge how the ring looked on her. “Perfect,” he said, kissing her hand and then her lips.

“I love you, too,” she said, making his heart dance with joy.

He hugged her tightly and kissed her again, lingering this time. “That’s the best gift anyone has ever given me.”

“This reminds me of the night we took Thunder for a ride in the snow,” Kate said as she and Reid skimmed over the snow in the other sleigh. The cold air had reinvigorated her after the long day, and she was thrilled to be cocooned with Reid under the blankets.
 

“I know you would’ve preferred to take Thunder tonight, but I really don’t want you riding while you’re pregnant.”

“How will I go
nine months
without riding?”

“You can do it, darlin’. For the baby.”

“Yes, I can, but it’s not going to be easy. And I’ll get fat as a house without the exercise.”

“I won’t let you get fat. I’ll take you for long walks on the beach in St. Kitts and more long walks through the woods when we’re here.”

“What if I do get fat?” she asked playfully. “Will you still love me then?”

“I’ll love you no matter how fat you get, no matter how many wrinkles line your sweet face, no matter how gray your hair gets or how many warts pop up on your nose.”

Kate laughed at the visual he created. “So you’re picturing a fat, wrinkled, gray-haired witch of a wife?”

“I’m picturing you, round with our child, glowing with excitement and love and anticipation. I can’t wait to see that. I can’t wait to watch our baby be born and watch you feed him or her.” He rested a hand on her still-flat belly. “I can’t wait for every minute of it.”

She was deeply moved to hear him speak with such excitement about their child. “I can’t believe that this time tomorrow we’ll be married. What a long and winding road it’s been to end up exactly where we belong.”

“Thank you, darlin’, for choosing me when you truly could’ve had anyone you wanted.”

“I chose the only one I’ve ever wanted.”

He captured her lips in a sweet, soft kiss that had her clinging to him, wanting so much more.

“Tomorrow,” he said. “Tomorrow, we’ll have everything.” He kissed her again. “I’m going to take you home now and tuck you into bed, and then the next time I see you, you’ll be coming toward me as my bride, and I’ll be the luckiest, happiest guy in the entire world at that moment.”

“I don’t get why you can’t stay with me tonight.”

“Because it’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding, and I’m not doing anything to tempt fate when she was kind enough to bring you back to me.”

“I don’t want to sleep alone.”

“I’ll ask Maggie to come sleep with you.”

“I want you and no one else.” Kate knew she sounded like a petulant child and didn’t care. She hated the idea of even one night without him.

“You have me, and this is the last night you’ll spend alone. I promise.”

A short time later, the driver pulled up to the house, which was dark except for a single light still shining in the living room. Reid walked her inside and waited until she was ready for bed.
 

True to his word, he tucked her in and then sat on the edge of the bed to look down at her.
 

“I don’t want you to go,” Kate said.

“I’m not going far.”

“Where will you be?”

“In town at the Hermitage. That’s where we’re going tomorrow night, too.”

“We’re not staying here?”

“No, we’re not spending our wedding night with your entire family.”

Kate smiled at the forceful way he said that.
 

“Your mom wants to come back in the summer after the baby is born, and I told her we’d love that,” Reid said.

“I would love that. I’ll need her here to tell me what to do.”

He leaned over to kiss her. “Close your eyes and go to sleep. Dream about tomorrow and all the other tomorrows we’ll have together. When you wake up, it’ll be our big day.”

“I love you,” she said.

“I love you, too. Now close those magnificent blue eyes.”

Kate kept her eyes closed when he kissed her once more and got up to go. She opened them to watch him leave the room. Staring into the darkness, she heard his car start and the crunch of snow under his tires.

He was only gone a minute when she reached for her phone.

“You’re supposed to be sleeping, darlin’,” he said with a chuckle.

“I can’t sleep without you.”

“Yes, you can.”

How fitting, she thought, to spend the last night before their wedding the way they’d spent so many nights in the past. “Can I keep you company while you drive into town?”

“Only if you promise to sleep the minute I’m there.”

“I promise. Do you want me to sing for you?”

“I’d love that.”

So she did.

Jill and Maggie woke Kate at ten the next morning, thirty minutes before the hair-and-makeup people she used on tour were due to arrive. For this special occasion, she’d agreed to let the professionals have their way with her.

“I can’t believe I slept so late!”

“You needed it,” Maggie said as she handed her sister a mug of coffee. “Here is your one serving of caffeine for the day.”

As much as she wanted and needed the coffee, Kate’s stomach turned at the smell. “Can’t do it, Mags.” She handed the mug back to her sister. “Sorry.”

“That’s okay. How about some tea and toast?”

“That’d be great, thanks.”

“Coming right up.”

“Are you okay?” Jill asked when she and Kate were alone.

“I’m fine, just the usual nausea. How about you? Any
news
to report?”

Jill blushed and smiled as she held out her left hand to show Kate the ring.

“It’s gorgeous. Congratulations!” She hugged Jill. “Do you love it?”

“I do. He did great.”

“How was the proposal?”

“Lovely and perfect. Thank you for what you said about sharing the stage. I would’ve turned him down if he hadn’t told me that.”

“You would’ve broken his heart if you turned him down.”

“I’m glad I didn’t have to.”

“When’s the wedding?”

Jill rolled her eyes. “Can we please get through yours before we talk about mine?”

“I suppose so.”

“Reid gave me this yesterday and asked me to give it to you this morning.” Jill handed her a small box, wrapped in silver paper with a card attached.
 

“This isn’t fair! We agreed to skip Christmas presents for each other with everything else going on.”

“I don’t think it’s a Christmas present.”

“Oh.” Kate opened the envelope first. On an embossed cream-colored card bearing his initials, he’d written, “Something new for the big day. I can’t wait for today, tomorrow, the next day and all the days after. With all my love, Reid.” She tore the paper to find a black velvet box. Inside were teardrop diamond earrings.

“They’re gorgeous,” Jill said.

“I can’t believe he did this,” Kate said, reading the note again and wiping away tears. “We said no gifts.”

“A man can buy his new wife a wedding gift if he wants to. It’s in the rule book.”

“But I didn’t get him anything.”

“You’re giving him everything, Kate, and he knows that. That’s all he wants.”

“Have I thanked you for supporting us even when it wasn’t cool to support us?”

Jill smiled. “I support
you
. That’s what we do for each other—what we’ve always done for each other.”

“And what we’ll always do.”

“Right. All this wedding stuff will never change that.”

“Did Maggie tell you her news?”