by Hope Ford
He slaps me on the butt, and I gasp at him over my shoulder. “Cooper!”
He leans over and gives me a quick kiss. “Make it fast. I’ve got a surprise for you.”
When we make it downstairs, everyone is already sitting around the Christmas tree. Once we sit down, they start passing out gifts. There are even a few for me. I ask Janice, his mom, how she knew I would be here when I just found out yesterday and she said that Cooper had told her had found ‘the one’ so she had hoped I would be there.
I smile over at Cooper and he just shrugs and leans in to kiss me.
Once everyone has opened presents, Cooper, who is sitting next to me, slides to the floor on bended knee. I gasp and he looks nervous, but he pulls out a little blue box and holds it in front of me. “Ivy, when I got your first letter a year ago, I knew then that my life would be forever changed. I fell in love with you through your letters. And then once I met you, I knew you were the one for me. You’re smart, you’re beautiful, and you’re kind. Will you please spend the rest of your life with me? Let me love you like you deserve. Will you marry me, honey?”
With tears pouring down my face, I cup his strong, firm jaw. “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you. I love you, Cooper.”
Epilogue 2
Five Years Later
Ivy
Never in a million years did I dream that this would be my life.
“Honey, I’m home,” Cooper calls from the front door. I get up from my home office and meet him and our two children, four-year-old Cooper Jr and three-year-old Tia, in the living room. Both kids are excited about something because they are jumping up and down. Cooper had taken them to the park so I could finish up some work.
“What’s going on? What are you so excited about?” I ask them as I kiss my husband on the lips and then bend down to give the kids their hugs.
“We’re going on vacation!” they scream in unison.
“All right, kids, it’s supposed to be a surprise. Go wash up for dinner and I’ll meet you in the kitchen,” Cooper tells them and they run out of the room.
I put my arms around his neck. “What’s this about a vacation, Mr. Tate?”
He kisses my forehead. “Well, remember the list?”
“You mean our ‘plans’ list?”
He nods his head and he has a big goofy smile on his face. “That’s the one. We had planned to go on vacation, remember? Well, with the kids and then you writing your best-selling novel, we haven’t had time to breathe, let alone take a vacation. So I thought since you just turned in your next book to the editor, we should celebrate with a vacation!”
I laugh and lean in and kiss him. His hands slide down my back and cup my ass. He’s already hard for me. Even after all this time, we can’t keep our hands off each other.
I pull away from his kiss. “It sounds perfect.”
We hear the kids start yelling, and he gives me one last kiss before letting me go and walking toward the kitchen.
“Oh, hey, Coop, I was going to tell you. I’ve been working on that list too.” I try to keep the smile off my face, but I can’t.
He turns around and looks at me. “Oh, yeah?”
I saunter over to him and put my hands on his chest. “Yes, Cooper. Remember how we both want a big family? Well, we are going to be expanding soon. Probably in around eight months.”
His smile gets even wider and he whoops, picking me up off the ground and swinging me around.
I put my hands on each side of his face. “Are you happy, husband?”
He leans in and kisses me until I’m panting for breath. “Yes, wife, I’m more than happy.”
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