Ghostly Holiday (A Harper Harlow Mystery Book 11)
Page 20
“For now.”
“Then ... let’s do it.” Jared dragged her toward the large recliner at the edge of the room. “It’s kind of nice to let them do the cooking and relax, huh?”
Harper nodded as she climbed into the chair with him. “The perfect end to a perfect day.”
Jared managed to swallow his chuckle. She hadn’t seen perfect yet. Not even close.
EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE both stuffed after dinner, Jared convinced Harper to walk across the road to the new house. It was a quiet night, bitter cold, but it was so loud at the other house because of the arguing — and Zander’s insistence on being Zander — that they needed a bit of alone time.
Harper was lost in thought when she entered, her mind on Zoe and what she was probably doing to enjoy the evening, and she pulled up short when she saw all the lit candles placed around the room. “What the ... ?”
Jared smiled. He’d snuck over thirty minutes earlier when Shawn and Zander distracted Harper with a game of Christmas trivia and arranged the house so he could give her his surprise. “Take off your coat.”
“Why?” Harper whipped her head in his direction. “What’s going on?”
“Take off your coat,” Jared repeated, this time putting a bit of effort behind the words.
Harper did as she was told, stripping out of the coat and boots before moving to the blanket stretched out on the floor in the middle of the candles. “Are we having a picnic?”
“Something like that,” Jared replied, rubbing his sweaty palms over his jeans as he followed her. He’d been calm when he disappeared to handle the candles and set-up. He thought he was ready. Now that the moment was here, he was unbelievably nervous.
“Do you like it?”
Harper nodded dumbly. “It’s beautiful. Zander is going to melt down if we try to spend the night over here, though. You know that, right?”
“Zander will survive.”
“Yeah, but ... .” When Harper turned, she was confused. The spot where Jared had been standing only seconds before was empty. He was no longer on his feet, in fact. Instead, he was on one knee with a velvet box in his hands. He was also unbelievably pale. “What’s going on?”
“What does it look like?”
“I ... .” Harper’s heart seemingly skipped ten beats in a row. “Are you proposing?”
“If you let me get the question out.”
“But ... yes.” Harper dropped to her knees alongside him. “Yes. I’ll marry you.”
Jared scowled. “You have to let me propose before saying yes.”
“Oh.” Harper was appropriately abashed. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to steal your thunder.”
Jared waited a moment and then inclined his head. “You have to stand up. I’m the one who is supposed to be on one knee.”
“Oh.” Harper was flustered, her face red as she scrambled to a standing position. “Better?”
Even though it was a serious situation, Jared wanted to laugh. The proposal was so them. “Close enough.”
“Okay. Get on with it. Although ... this is why Zander wouldn’t tell me what you got me for Christmas. I wondered why he was being so tight-lipped when he’s never met a secret he didn’t want to blab. I’m going to kill him.”
“Hey!” Jared snapped his fingers to get her attention. “Are you going to let me do this?”
Harper nodded, solemn.
“Good.” He sucked in a breath. “I love you,” he started, his mind suddenly going blank. He couldn’t remember the words he’d been practicing over the course of the past two weeks. “Um ... I really love you.”
“I love you, too,” Harper offered helpfully.
“Yeah, but ... I forgot what I was going to say.” Panic licked at Jared’s heart. “How could I forget? You totally threw me off.”
Harper giggled as she dropped to her knees a second time. “It doesn’t matter. I know what you feel because I feel it, too.” She pressed her hand to the spot above his heart. “I love you more than anything. I want to be with you forever.”
“If you propose to me, we’re going to fight,” Jared warned. “That’s still my job.”
“Then ask me.”
“Fine.” He opened the box and grinned at the way her eyes widened. “Harper Harlow, will you make me the happiest man in the world and be my wife?”
Harper nodded, momentarily stunned by the size of the diamond.
“You have to say the word out loud!” a muffled voice yelled through the window on the other side of the room.
Jared jerked his head in that direction and rolled his eyes when he saw Zander, Shawn, his mother, and Harper’s parents standing with their noses pressed against the window.
“Yes,” Harper said finally, her voice cracking. “Yes. You’re all I want.”
Jared smiled as she threw her arms around him, closing his eyes as her warmth washed over him. “You’re all that I want, too.”
“It’s about time,” Zander yelled through the window. “I was starting to think it was never going to happen.”
“Go away,” Jared bellowed. “This is our moment ... and you’re ruining it.”
“Oh, puh-leez. I’m just as much a part of this moment as the two of you. You’d better clear some room on that blanket because I’m coming in.”
Jared thought about fighting him, but he couldn’t. The moment was perfect for them — all of them — so that’s all that mattered.
“This isn’t what I had planned,” he lamented.
“But it’s what works.” Harper’s eyes filled with tears as she slipped on the ring. “We’re going to be really happy.”
His heart, he was ashamed to admit, turned to total mush. “You have no idea. This is the start of a new adventure.”
“I’m really looking forward to it.”
“Me, too.”
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Acknowledgments
I’m a romantic at heart. A true romantic. I love the idea of a happy ending, so much so I have trouble writing a sad one. The world is sad enough. I like escaping in fiction. That’s just me. I like sarcasm and snark – but I’m not sure a sad ending is in me. If you’re looking for an edge like that, you’re probably looking in the wrong place. Just FYI.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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