by Annie O'Neil
Evie rushed up all smiles and twinkling eyes. “Adao! Just the man I was looking for. Do you think you’d like to come along and meet Father Christmas?” She shot a quick look at Finn and Naomi. “Would it be all right if I steal him for half an hour? We could meet at, say...how about at the Pin the Tail on the Reindeer stand at half-past?”
“Absolutely.” Naomi’s voice was bright, though Finn sensed a note of reluctance to let the little boy out of her sight.
“How ’bout I take care of this one?” Finn pointed to Naomi. “And you take care of this one.” He pulled his own knitted cap off his head and tugged it onto Adao’s. “And we’ll meet up for apple cider doughnuts and a warm drink after.”
“Sounds great.” Evie grinned at the pair of them then stuck out a mittened hand to Adao. “Ready to meet the big guy?”
Adao’s eyes shone with delight as he slipped his hand into Evie’s.
“Right!” Finn clapped his hands together and gave them a brisk rub before putting them gently on Naomi’s shoulders. “You and me. We need to talk.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
NAOMI TRIED HER best to look relaxed as she and Finn strolled away from the party and down toward the river.
“From the look on your face people are going to think I’m kidnapping you!” Finn gave her a playful nudge with his elbow and tried to rouse a smile.
He wasn’t successful.
She felt nervous and as if her heart was being yanked from one side of her chest to the other.
Sure. The angst was all of her own making, but...why couldn’t Finn just let sleeping dogs lie?
“It’s so cold I think we’d better forgo the bench and just keep on walking, if that’s all right.”
“Of course.” She glanced back at the party scene behind them.
“Don’t worry, love.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a light squeeze. “I’ll get you back to Adao.” He dropped his arm from round her shoulders and instantly she felt the loss of contact.
“I want to tell you a bit more about me after my accident.”
“You don’t have to,” Naomi quickly jumped in. She knew how painful trips down memory lane were and yet...she’d wanted him to know about her past. “I’m sorry. Please. Go ahead.”
Finn gave her a thin smile of thanks, clearly already halfway back on his journey to the past. “After I lost my leg I was in a rage with the world. As you know, I was married at the time and the truth of the matter was I didn’t handle it well. Not at all. From a young age I had everything all planned out. I would be in the army like my dad. I would teach my kid brother to do the same so I could look after him—”
“You have a little brother?”
Finn’s smile was tight and his eyes didn’t meet hers, so she knew the memories were painful. “I do. And there are still some fences that need mending on that front. He’s a career military man. Always traveling. Mostly peacekeeping tours, but...he’s out there, doing the family thing.”
Naomi shook her head. “What do you mean?”
“Morgans have always been military. As far back as we can trace. When I became the first one to drop the baton—”
“You didn’t ‘drop the baton’!” Naomi was indignant. He’d sacrificed himself to save a fellow soldier. A friend. A life.
Finn took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. For the first time in days it felt right and she gave his fingers a squeeze back so he would know she was there, listening.
“It felt like it. I thought I’d let my family down. And my wife. It wasn’t the future I had promised her. Wasn’t the future I had promised myself, and the only way I thought I could deal with it was on my own so I pushed and pushed until there wasn’t anyone around me anymore and I’d got exactly what I’d wished for.”
“And?” Naomi knew there was a big “but” lingering out there and felt a twitch of nerves, wondering what it was.
“But...” Finn grinned at her as if he’d been reading her thoughts. “Being alone, going through what I’d been through on my own was about the dumbest thing I think I’d ever done.”
“So...do you regret getting divorced?”
“Yes. No.” He quickly shifted course. “Our vows meant a lot to me. To both of us. And not coming good on them was a lot to face up to. So, for a long time, I didn’t. Just pushed her and everyone else who mattered away.” He looked up to the sky for a minute before continuing. “Caroline’s in a great place now, and to be honest? I don’t know that she and I would be a match...the people we are now. We were married very young and neither of us was ready to take on the challenges that my injury brought along with it. The minute I’d decided to retrain as a pediatric surgeon, that was all I had room for in my life. I simply shut her and anyone else who cared right out of the picture.”
“What about Charlie?” Naomi was completely lost in Finn’s story now. She knew exactly what he meant. The same drive he’d used to retrain as a surgeon sounded so similar to how she’d poured herself into her physiotherapy studies. Like it had been a mission. And yet...she had a feeling Finn’s tale came with a lesson. One she might benefit from learning herself.
“Charlie?” Finn laughed. “Charlie was the one who knocked me on the head and demanded I start being more sociable. As far as I was concerned, doing surgeries and skulking round my houseboat were good enough for me. But when he introduced me to those kids and the lads on the wheelchair team, I slowly began to see what an idiot I’d been. But I was still compartmentalizing.”
“Until...?” There had to be an “until” because Finn was completely different from the gruff, standoffish man she’d met at that first staff meeting.
He turned and faced her, eyes alight with emotion. “Until I met you.”
“Me?”
“Yes,” he said softly, stroking her cheek with the back of his hand. “You. You made me want to live again.”
“What are you talking about? You’re the one who went to the sports center. You...you...made marshmallows!”
“That wasn’t living, love. That was going through the motions. Charlie used to harangue me like an old harpy. ‘Come down to the gym! Do this! Do that! If you don’t come for tea the trouble and strife’ll have my head!’”
Naomi laughed at his spot-on imitation of Charlie, then looked up to the sky, trying to collect her thoughts. “Why are you telling me all this?”
“I think you know damn well why I’m telling you,” Finn said gently. “I’m in love with you and I think you feel the same way, but you’re scared.”
Tears sprang to her eyes and she was half-tempted to ask if he’d also been retraining as a psychic. “How do you know?”
“Because I know what it feels like to carry a burden of guilt around. I know how terrifying it feels to let yourself be happy when you hold yourself responsible for causing the ones you loved so much pain.”
He took her hands in his and dropped kisses on her knuckles. “Naomi, what happened to your family is not your burden to carry. What you can and should carry in your heart are all the happy memories. The joy.”
Tears began to trickle down her cheeks. Finn tugged a handkerchief out of his winter coat pocket and held it out to her. “I brought extras just in case.”
She giggled through her tears, despite herself. “You came prepared?”
“I try to always come prepared.” He gave her a cheeky grin.
“Army boy,” they said in tandem then stopped, frozen in each other’s gazes as if they’d been given a heaven-sent reminder that they were and should be together.
“You’re right, you know,” Naomi finally admitted.
“About what?”
“All of it. The guilt. Not wanting to let go. Not wanting to let myself admit that...” A hint of shyness overcame her. Finn, once again, seemed to read her mind and dropped a kiss on her forehead.
“It would be
the first time in a long time anyone admitted I was worth loving.”
“I want to be that person.” Naomi spoke in a rush, acutely aware that if she let this pass with Finn—this love that really could grow into something wonderful—she would be letting an enormous part of what it meant to be alive pass her by. Because what was the point if there wasn’t love?
“I love them so very much,” she admitted. “But I can’t do anything to change what’s happened.”
Finn nodded along as she spoke. “It’s the double-edged sword of loving. Loving and losing,” he clarified. “Look, I was determined to spend the rest of my days on my own. I didn’t want to hurt anyone the way I’d hurt Caroline ever again, but you know what? I rang her the other day and wouldn’t you know it? She’s as happy as Larry.”
“Who’s Larry? How do you know that he’s happy?”
Finn threw his head back and laughed a full-bodied laugh. A warmth grew in her chest, a happiness that she’d been the one to set him off.
He pulled her close to him, so close she could feel his heartbeat through his winter coat. “Larry is a very happy guy,” Finn said. “And I will be too if you’d agree to give this thing a shot with me. I want to live again, Naomi. I want to love and laugh and...” his voice went all rumbly “...make love. And I’d like you to be the woman I do all those things with.” He held her out at arm’s length. “You deserve happiness, Naomi. You deserve to live a full, rich, incredible life. What do you say? You and me doing our best to make our peace with the past and give ourselves a shot at a happy future?”
She stared up into Finn’s gray eyes and knew she could look into them forever. He truly understood her. Her fears, the terrifying experiences she’d been through. Her reluctance to let herself experience unfettered happiness. And yet...he was willing to try it. And when she was with him, she felt brave, too. She’d already had a glimpse into the joy of being with someone who made her insides fluttery and her heart skippity. She already knew she was in love. It was simply a question of saying... “Yes.”
Finn stared at her as if in shock. “Yes?”
Her grin widened along with his. “Yes!” She shouted it out and a pair of swans took flight from the river.
“Well, then, my little flower blossom...” Finn pulled her close to him and cupped her face in his big hands “...I think we’d best seal this deal with a kiss.”
“You think?” Naomi teased.
“I know,” Finn growled, kissing her with a sensual confidence that came with truth and honesty and love.
* * *
“He’s over here!” Finn hadn’t felt this happy in he didn’t know how long. A beautiful woman by his side, a chance to look forward rather than dwelling on the past and, best yet, snow!
“Adao!” Naomi waved her arms when the boy turned to them, a cup of steaming hot chocolate in his hands.
“Finn! Naomi!” Evie waved them over. “I jumped the gun when the snow began and ordered some hot chocolate. You in?”
“Of course.” Finn looked up at the sky, enjoying the sensation of the big, fat flakes falling on his face, then knelt down so he was eye to eye with Adao. “What do you think, little man? Does it live up to its reputation?”
“Even better.”
Naomi laughed and gave the knitted cap on his head a bit of a tweak. “Looks like it’s definitely a day for Christmas wishes to come true.”
She laughed, enjoying the comforting sensation of Finn nestling in close to her, then leaning in even closer so that he could whisper into her ear.
“Was I your Christmas wish?”
“Something like that.”
He feigned looking affronted. “Just something?”
“Exactly.” She gave his hand a squeeze, already excited for the next time they could be alone and share more of those luxurious, life-affirming kisses. “Exactly what I wished for.”
And he was. Finn had helped her see the only person she was hurting was herself. She scanned the party area as she sipped her hot chocolate and listened to Adao tell Finn all about his time with Father Christmas. The only thing she needed to do now was find a little sprig of mistletoe and then all her Christmas wishes would come true.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
A year later
“MUM... BAABA...” ADAO beamed at his mother and father as they stepped into the hospital’s foyer, which was decked out with two huge trees the hospital had decorated in their usual incredible fun-loving style. “This is Naomi. And this is Mr. Morgan.”
“Finn,” Finn corrected, as he stepped forward to shake hands with the couple who had just been flown in. “Lovely to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Weza. And you must be...”
“Imani.” Adao’s sister didn’t suffer from shyness in the slightest. She shook hands with Naomi and Finn and beamed. “I can’t believe it is snowing!”
“These are just the types of miracles that happen here at Hope Children’s Hospital.” Naomi shrugged and grinned. The place was magical. Especially under a thick blanket of snow.
“It’s amazing to see you here in your working environment,” said Mrs. Weza. “After the village, I mean. You seemed so at home there as well.”
Finn wrapped his arm around Naomi’s shoulders and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “That was an amazing trip. I don’t think I’ve ever had such incredible seafood before.”
“It was wonderful of the charity to organize for us to come out and work with Adao. He’s progressed so much with his prosthesis. And grown, too!”
Adao beamed. “Nine centimeters in one year!”
“Well above average. In many ways,” she added, giving his head a scrub. Seeing his parents again had really brought out the spark in him.
Naomi smiled up at Finn. She couldn’t believe how much the pair of them had changed in just a year. Evie had even taken to calling them the Grin Twins.
Well...
When one was in love, why not spread the joy?
The prosthetics specialists spotted them and joined their group. After a quick discussion about what Adao would have to do to get the mold for his new prosthesis, they suggested his family join him so they could all see.
“It was really lovely meeting you.”
“We’ll see you again before we go, right?” Adao threw his arms round Naomi’s waist and gave her a huge hug. His new prosthesis seemed a part of him now. Proof, as if she needed any, of just how important their work at the hospital and overseas was. She smiled down at him. “Of course we’ll see you again. And next year when Finn and I come out again with the charity, we’ll see if you can manage to grow as much as you have this year.”
“As tall as you!” whooped Adao. “Then the next year as tall as Finn!” The thought struck his entire family as hilariously funny and Naomi felt nothing but warmth and joy in her heart as she watched them laughing their way down the corridor.
“They’re a lovely family.” Finn slipped his hand round hers and gave it a squeeze.
“That they are.”
“Want to go out and have a snowball fight with me?”
Naomi looked at him in disbelief. “I bet you think you’ll win.”
“I think a lot of things,” Finn riposted playfully as he pulled her into a hug.
“You do, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Finn said airily. “And I’m usually right.”
Naomi went up on tiptoe and gave him a quick kiss. “You have been right about a lot of things.”
“I know.”
He tried to keep a straight face for as long as he could, but Naomi knew the trick to make him break now.
“Tickle fight!”
She ran out the front door, chasing him as he begged her not to tickle him. His weakness, she’d discovered one day when she’d worn nothing but a feather boa to bed.
Finn tripped when he reached the green and Naomi fell on
top of him breathless with laughter and joy.
When they had caught their breath, she beamed at him. “I love you, Finn Morgan.”
“I love you, too, pretty lady. You make the world—my world—a better place.”
“And you helped me see what a lovely place the world is.”
They shared a tender kiss before getting up and shaking the snow off themselves. She hoped Finn knew how much she had meant what she’d said. Over the course of the year he had shown such patience and tenderness that sometimes it was hard to believe he was the same man who’d barked at her to leave him alone.
Finn knew her inside and out. Her fears. And now, more importantly, her hopes and dreams.
“Fancy a cup of hot chocolate by the Christmas tree before we get back to work?”
“Absolutely.”
Finn reached out his hand and took Naomi’s in his. This was the moment he’d been waiting for all year.
Luckily, the hospital “fairies” had waved their magic wands over the green outside the hospital yet again and... Yup! Just over by the enormous candy cane...a mistletoe stand.
“C’mere, you.” Finn led her over to the stand.
“What are you up to, you rascal? I thought we were going for hot chocolate.”
Finn tipped her chin up and looked straight into her eyes. “I can do you one better than that, my love.”
“Better than hot chocolate on a snowy day?” She laughed. “I don’t think so.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a little light blue box. “How ’bout an early Christmas present?” He flicked open the box and showed her the diamond solitaire he’d been carrying around in his pocket for the last three months.
“A—? What—?”
Finn dropped to one knee, not caring who saw him.
“Naomi Collins Chukwumerije...” He stopped and grinned, clearly pleased with his pronunciation of her surname. “Would you do me the honor of marrying me?”
Her heart stopped for an instant then did a happy dance all its own.
“Oh, Finn... I... Of course I’ll marry you!”