“Yeah.”
“I’d like that.” It had been over a year since I’d visited my mother’s grave, and I liked the idea of spending Christmas morning with her. It would give me a chance to introduce her to the woman I intended to marry.
Payton and I showered together, lingering for longer than necessary after I buried myself inside of her against the tiled shower wall. I hadn’t been able to resist, and neither had she. In all honesty, it was the best Christmas present I’d ever received, being able to make love to her first thing in the morning.
Knowing most places would be closed, Payton made coffee and then we slipped out the door. I hadn’t seen Leif yet, so I figured he’d slept in. Forty-five minutes later, we were pulling up to the grave site, parking on the narrow road that wound through the cemetery. There were other cars pulled off in the grass, and I figured there were plenty of families having to make their Christmas visits to their loved ones the same way I was.
What I hadn’t been expecting was to find my father’s Lexus parked in the grass, just a few yards from my mother’s headstone. I swallowed hard and then climbed out of the truck, helping Payton out behind me. We walked hand in hand across the frozen grass that was littered with dry leaves that had yet to be raked up.
Rachelle’s headstone had been cleaned off, probably by my father, and there was a bouquet of roses in the small vase that had been pulled from its hiding place in the ground.
“Hey,” Conrad greeted us both.
He looked as though he’d been crying, and I think that was the first time in my life that I’d seen him cry. It made him seem more human to me, something I’d had a hard time believing him to be for the last decade.
The three of us stood there in silence for a little while, and then Payton surprised me when she introduced herself to my mother. I couldn’t hold back the tears, and I didn’t give a shit what it made me look like. I’d cried plenty of tears for my mother over the years, but never because I wished she could’ve been there to meet the love of my life face-to-face. She would’ve loved Payton, and Payton would’ve loved her. I knew that much.
Payton continued to talk to her softly, her hand squeezing mine tightly. When she was finished, she took a step back, releasing my hand. I knew it was my turn.
“Mom,” I said, my voice rough with emotion. I swallowed hard, trying to get the words out. “This morning, when I woke up, I was thinking about the leather jacket you bought me for Christmas that last year we were together. I’m not sure I ever really told you how much that jacket meant to me. I’ve still got it, actually. One of the few things I have from back then. I just wanted to let you know that you’ve outdone yourself this year, though. That jacket, it meant so much to me. But the gift you gave me this year is something I promise to cherish for the rest of my life. So, thank you.”
I glanced at my father, noticing he was studying me, tears in his eyes.
Payton stepped forward, linking her arm with mine and hugging my bicep. “What did she get you this year?” Payton asked softly.
“You,” I said simply.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Sebastian
After an emotional morning, I didn’t think anything could possibly change the course of the day for me. After visiting my mother’s grave, Payton managed to convince me to take her to the track. We spent two hours out there, sitting on the track in my truck while we talked. She told me about Christmases at her house growing up, and I told her about some of the ones that I remembered. There weren’t many from after my mother died, because Christmas hadn’t been the same without my mother, and even though he seemed somewhat remorseful now, Conrad still hadn’t been much of a father to me. Not even on holidays.
Usually I’d spent the day alone; sometimes I’d spent it with Toby’s or Leif’s family. Knowing that I would never have to spend another Christmas alone because I had Payton had been the upturn in my day.
But then we pulled up in front of my house right at noon. Payton had said she needed to get something so we could go to her parents’ house for dinner. Upon seeing the influx of cars in my driveway, I realized it had all been a setup.
“Surprise,” Payton said softly, her hand on my knee.
I stopped the truck and stared over at her.
“You did this?”
“Well, it wasn’t all me.”
I recognized several of the cars parked out front; others I had no idea who they belonged to. Finally, Payton urged me to pull around to the garage, so I did. When she led me inside, the overwhelming aroma of turkey flooded me, along with the chatter of at least a dozen people. Maybe more.
“What the fuck?” I mumbled under my breath as I looked around my kitchen. There was food everywhere, and Leif was sporting an apron, of all things, as he pulled a turkey from the oven.
“Merry Christmas.” I turned to respond to the greeting to see Payton’s parents standing side by side smiling at me. Her father shook my hand, a knowing look on his face.
I figured he was remembering the conversation we’d had last week when I’d made an impromptu visit to his house.
After I hugged Susan, Payton led me through the crowd, stopping to say hello to everyone there. It took a while, because it seemed everyone I knew was there. Aaron and Chloe, Leif’s three brothers—Garrett, Sean, and Dale—and their mother were all in the kitchen working side by side to get the food ready. Derrick, Toby, and Toby’s parents were in the living room, talking. Aaliyah was standing off to the side, watching Leif. Even Aaron’s parents were there, now chatting with Susan and Hal.
“I can’t believe you did this.” I pulled Payton against me, pressing my lips to her forehead.
“I wanted to get you something for Christmas that no one had ever gotten you.”
“Well, I’d say you succeeded.”
“Come on in here and help with the food,” Leif yelled, his eyes meeting mine over the heads of the others.
I laughed, releasing Payton and making my way into the kitchen. “I’m willing to help, but don’t expect me to put on an apron.”
“No worries, bro. I’m secure enough in my masculinity to wear this thing,” Leif told me, his gaze moving past me.
I didn’t have to turn around to know he was looking at my sister, who was still holding up the wall less than a foot away. I reached for her, pulling her against my side and kissing her temple. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me, too,” she said softly. “I’m glad Payton invited me.”
“How do we wanna do this?” Toby asked, his burly form moving through the kitchen, forcing others out of the way. “We takin’ it in there or just serve yourself in here?”
“There’s too much food. Just serve yourself,” someone else said.
While everyone piled their plates full, I watched from the sidelines, waiting until the room had emptied somewhat. I urged Aaliyah to get food, and she did, but not until Leif motioned her toward him. Once they were out of the way, I grabbed Payton, and we made our way through the line, filling our plates before joining everyone in the dining room. The dining table didn’t hold that many people, but I noticed that someone had relocated the table from the breakfast nook so that everyone had a seat.
The doorbell rang just as I was about to take my seat. I excused myself to see who it was. When I opened the door, I got another shock. My father was standing on the front steps.
“Hey, son.” His words came out choked, as though the emotion he’d been riddled with that morning was still lingering.
“Hey, Dad. Come in.” I stepped back out of the way so he could come in. That was when I noticed he had some people with him. A woman and a man, along with two young kids, probably around ten or eleven.
“Hi, Sebastian,” the woman greeted softly.
Payton arrived to stand beside me, her arm wrapping around my waist as I stared back at the woman.
“I hope you don’t mind that I invited a few people,” Conrad said softly.
“The more the merrier,” Payt
on said. “Come in, please.”
I took a step back, but my eyes were still trained on the woman.
“Sebastian, I’m not sure if you remember, but this is…”
“Tina.” Her name barely passed my lips.
When it was obvious I wasn’t going to say anything more, Payton stepped in and introduced herself while I listened intently.
“I’m Payton. And you are?”
“Tina. I’m Sebastian’s aunt. This is my husband, Randy. And our kids, Chelsea and Jeremy.”
I swallowed hard. My aunt Tina was standing in my foyer, her husband and kids by her side. She looked nothing like the woman I remembered. She looked … healthy. No longer did she have dark circles beneath her eyes or sallow skin. Clearly she’d cleaned herself up over the years and even managed to start a family, although if my math was correct, she’d started a little later than most parents.
When she stepped forward, looking as hesitant as I felt, I smiled. “It’s good to see you,” I told her.
“Truer words have never been said,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around me and squeezing me so tightly I thought my head was going to pop off my body.
“Hey, kids. I hope y’all are hungry because we’ve got so much food.” Payton took the kids as though she’d known them all her life and led them into the kitchen, leaving me with the adults.
Tina gave me a small smile and then took her husband’s hand, following them into the kitchen. And then it was just my father and me standing there, watching the others.
“You’ve got a good woman there,” Conrad said, and I glanced over at him.
“Payton’s … amazing,” I said.
“She’s certainly managed to open my eyes,” Conrad told me.
I looked at him, unsure what to say to that.
“It might take a while, Sebastian,” he began softly, “but I’m going to make it up to you. I’ve been a shitty father, I won’t deny that.”
I watched him briefly, then glanced back at my aunt. My mother’s sister. The woman who’d been plucked from my life so long ago. I hadn’t heard from her once in the last eleven years, but now she was in my house, eating my food.
“It wasn’t her fault,” Conrad said, apparently reading my mind. “It was mine. I’ve spent far too many years cowering beneath my own mistakes, Sebastian. I wouldn’t let her see you, although she tried so many times.”
“Lauren?” I asked knowingly.
“As much as I want to put all the blame on her, I can’t. I made my own decisions. I just didn’t make the right ones, son.”
I turned to look at my father then. And this time I really looked at him. At the man I’d hated for so long, and I realized right then that I could forgive him. It might take some time, but I could eventually forgive him.
“Thanks,” I said, holding out my hand to shake his.
He ignored my hand and reached for me, pulling me into his arms and hugging me tightly. It took a moment for me to return the gesture, but I finally did.
After all, it was the first time he’d hugged me.
Ever.
Chapter Thirty
Payton
Dinner was amazing, but it wasn’t just the food that made it complete. Everyone we had invited had shown up with more food than we could possibly eat. On top of that, Toby and Chloe had brought over a Christmas tree that morning, and they’d decorated it while we’d been gone. I hadn’t even noticed it at first until Sebastian said something to me. I’d been too engrossed in the fact that they’d all come through for Sebastian.
It was truly the best Christmas ever.
Now, as we all sat in the living room talking and drinking coffee, I watched Sebastian move around the room. He was talking to his aunt Tina, laughing at something she said. She looked as though she’d been given the gift of a lifetime, and I was so glad Conrad had thought to invite her. The kids had already bonded with Sebastian, grabbing his attention at every opportunity.
Yes, Sebastian looked happier than I’d ever seen him.
Not that I was taking credit for the smile on his face, but I was glad to have contributed to it. I listened half-heartedly to the conversations going on around me, answering when someone spoke to me, acknowledging others, but I still found myself watching him most of the time. When he looked my way and smiled, my heart swelled each and every time until I wasn’t sure I could contain all the love I had for this man.
The sound of metal against glass sounded, and the room grew quiet. I looked around, finding Toby grinning as he tapped a fork against his glass, Chloe at his side.
Sebastian started my way, and I moved over so I could give him room to sit beside me, but he continued to stand, facing the room.
“Hey, sorry to interrupt,” he addressed everyone in the room, laughing. “I really just wanted to say a quick thank you for coming. I’m still in shock, or maybe that’s just the turkey. After all, Leif did cook it. And Chloe, for the record, Toby does like turkey.”
A round of laughter escaped as Leif tried to defend himself. Aaliyah stopped him with a hand over his mouth, which only invited more laughter. Chloe laughed at Sebastian’s inside joke, and Toby grinned sheepishly, pulling her against him.
“So, thank you all for coming here today. For you to spend your Christmas with me… Well, let’s just say I’m humbled.”
“It was our pleasure,” Dale announced, slapping Sebastian on the back. “We were promised food. Who could refuse that?”
More laughter.
“I’m truly grateful to have you all here.” Sebastian turned his gaze on me and smiled again, making my insides light up like the colorful, glowing bulbs on the Christmas tree. “But most of all, I’m grateful to you,” Sebastian said to me directly.
I smiled, suddenly feeling my face heat from the embarrassment. I knew everyone was looking at us, which made me slightly uncomfortable.
But then Sebastian did something that caused my face to flush completely and my hands to start trembling uncontrollably.
He lowered himself to one knee in front of me, smiling as he did. When he took my hand, I knew he could feel the shudder that raced through me. Hell, I was surprised the other people sitting on the couch couldn’t feel it.
“Payton,” Sebastian began, “from the instant I saw you in front of my father’s house, I knew… No, wait, let me take that back. From the first time I dreamed about you, long before I actually met you, I knew that you were the woman I was going to spend the rest of my life with.”
“You dreamed about me?” I asked. I probably shouldn’t have interrupted such an intimate moment, but that was the first time he’d ever mentioned dreaming about me.
“I did. Several times before I saw you in front of my father’s house.”
My heart stuttered. He had dreamed about me. And I had dreamed about him. There was no way that was a coincidence.
“I knew from that moment that you were the woman I was going to spend the rest of my life with. You’ve made me whole in ways I never imagined possible. You manage to keep me together when I feel like I’m falling apart, and you manage to unravel me in the best ways possible. I love you, Angel.”
“I love you, too,” I whispered, tears forming in my eyes.
“Payton Michelle Fowler, will you marry me?”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat, nodding my head and trying desperately to force the word out. I finally managed, offering Sebastian a rough version of the word yes.
When he slipped the ring on my finger, I stared down at it in complete and total shock. It was the most beautiful ring I’d ever seen in my entire life. Granted, it was a little bigger than I had ever imagined a diamond that resided on my finger would be, but it was beautiful nonetheless.
I threw my arms around him, hugging him to me as the room erupted in whistles and applause.
There was no doubt about it — that was a Christmas that I would never forget.
Epilogue
Sebastian
Three years later<
br />
“Sebastian?” Payton called to me from somewhere in the shop.
“Over here,” I answered, rolling out from underneath the car I’d spent the better part of the morning working on.
“Can you take him for a little while?” she asked, moving toward me with our little boy in her arms. The instant he saw me, his eyes lit up, and he reached out for me, nearly launching himself from his mother’s grasp.
“Of course I can,” I replied, getting to my feet and moving toward them, catching Devon as he flung himself in my direction. “What’s up, little man?”
“He’s being a little ornery this morning,” Payton said, mussing Devon’s dark hair as she smiled down at him.
“Car,” Devon stated.
“Yep, that’s a car,” I told him.
“No, car,” Devon demanded.
I laughed. I knew exactly what he wanted. I’d taken to driving him around the race track early in the mornings. The promise of getting to go the following day was something I used to get him to go to sleep at night. Getting him to bed was never easy, not even on a good night, but these days, the terrible twos were certainly gripping him firmly, although we still had three months until he turned two.
“Remember, my parents and Conrad are coming for dinner tonight,” Payton reminded me, leaning forward and kissing me on the mouth. I wrapped my arm around her, holding her to me and refusing to release her.
“I remember,” I grumbled good-naturedly, my lips pressing against hers. She flicked my lip ring with her tongue, and I smiled. “Are we gonna tell them the news this time?”
It was a regular occurrence for Conrad and Payton’s parents to visit. They claimed it was to come by and check on us, but I knew it was really so they could spend time with Devon. Not that I minded. He’d certainly been spoiled by all of the love from his grandparents, and having them over certainly wasn’t a hardship.
“I think we probably should tell them,” Payton replied. “If not, my mother’s gonna figure it out soon enough.”
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