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And I couldn’t be more proud of my girl for enduring all the hard stuff in order to reach this point.

Carefully, I guide my truck up the gravel road as the dark skies unleash their second set of flurries for the year. The meager string of lights my father and I threw up along my cabin roof last week comes into view, casting a flicker through the drifting snow, and I use them to guide me into the driveway.

After cutting the engine, I don’t move for a long while, letting this evening marinate in my head.

Snow falls.

Christmas lights twinkle.

Dece sleeps.

And I’m getting married to her in less than a week.

Even as the cold outside threatens to fill the cab, warmth settles in my chest. Reaching for my girl, I brush a curling lock of hair off her cheek to tuck it behind her ear. Pink lips parted, she remains dormant, resting against the passenger-side window, eyelids twitching amidst a dream. Her oil-dark hair cascades around her, catching the shimmer of Christmas lights and painting her like a fantasy.

Tonight went so well.

Better than I could have expected or hoped.

The Rosiers will be at our wedding. Preparations for it are nearly done. The decorations are in. December tells me her dress fits perfectly. The food’s planned. The cake’s confirmed. The invitations are sent, and the RSVPs are in.

All that’s left now is to wait until Christmas.

Because on Christmas?

After years and years of pining…and weeks and weeks of emotional wrinkles to iron out…

December and I will finally become husband and wife.

To think, it all started ten years, nine months, and thirteen days ago…

“I love you, Dece,” I say into the quiet, steadily chilling truck. “More and more each day.”

A soft sound moves her, but she doesn’t rise, so I pop my door, round to hers, and carefully draw my girl out into my arms. Her cheek rocks against my shoulder, and I touch a kiss to her forehead before I make my way to the front door and fumble to get it open.

“Wynn?” she murmurs, drowsy, a moment after I succeed. “Are we home?”

“Yeah, baby.” I kick the door closed behind us. “We’re home.”

Sleepily, she smiles and nestles her face into my coat. “It was a good night.”

I’ll say. It was a Christmas miracle.

“I love you, Wynn-Wynn.” She yawns, drifting once more like the snow frosting the land beyond our windows.

In this moment, I see forever laid out before us, a blizzard of choices we’ll make together, a snowstorm of unending possibilities. I see the love we share, and the love of those who care about us. I see our past and our present. I see the life we’re going to build, one brick at a time.

I see a future of moments and memories.

It is ours.

And it all surely begins…on Christmas.

Epilogue

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Surely Christmas