by Tracy Wolff
“I’m sorry?” Her eyes darted to his.
“You’re not the one who needs to apologize.”
He paused for a minute. “I blew it, Vivian. I’m sorry. I screwed everything up. I was just scared and it gave me the excuse to turn away from you.”
“What did you possibly have to be scared of?”
“You’re everything I’ve ever wanted, Vivian, and was afraid to ask for. Everything I ever needed and didn’t know how to ask for. So when you came into my life and made me fall in love with you, I kept looking for excuses to get out. I kept looking for a reason for us to fail. You had too much money, your world was too different from mine, I didn’t want to get between you and your family.
“But they were all excuses, ways for me to put distance between us because I didn’t trust my feelings—or yours.”
“Why?” The word burst from her. “Love is rare—why would you want to just throw it away?”
“What happened with Jacquelyn screwed me up. Made me think that caring about someone made me vulnerable. Made me weak.” He looked away. “I spent five years in prison for something I didn’t do because I trusted a woman. I lost my freedom, lost who I was, almost lost my family because I was too embarrassed to reach out for them. I was worried about making the same mistake again.”
“You thought I would do that to you.”
“No, of course not. Not rationally. But letting my guard down, trusting anyone, isn’t easy.
“But you changed all that. You made me feel alive for the first time in fifteen years. You made me understand that I could love someone and not lose who I’d become. Most of all, you taught me what it means to love another person so much that her happiness is more important than my own.”
He looked her straight in the eye and said, in the dark, gruff voice she had come to adore, “I love you, Vivian, more than I can ever tell you. You’ve given me love and support and friendship and passion, and rolled it all up into one incredible package. I can’t promise I’ll never hurt you again, but I promise that I’ll never walk away from you. I’ll never again let my issues get in the way of what I feel for you.”
Vivian watched him for long seconds, this brave, compassionate man who knew more about the ugly side of life than she ever would. If he was willing to take a risk, willing to love her, then how could she do anything else?
“I love you, Rafael. Sometimes I think I was born to love you.”
“Good, because I know I was born to love you.” He leaned forward until his lips just brushed hers.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and brought him in for a deeper kiss. “Just remember that after we’ve been married for thirty years.”
“You want to marry me?”
“Well, of course I do.” The shock on his face had her backtracking nervously. “Well, I mean only if that’s what you want—”
“That doesn’t sound like much of a marriage proposal. What happened to pledges of undying love?”
“You want me to propose to you?”
“Well, you are the one who brought it up.” When she didn’t say anything, he grinned. “I’m waiting.”
“What, you mean now?”
“There’s no time like the present.”
“Okay.” She cleared her throat. “So will you marry me?
“Now that’s pathetic, especially for a lawyer who’s supposed to have a way with words.”
“Well, what do you want me to say?”
“Something more romantic.”
“All right. I love you. Will you marry me?”
He gave a long-suffering sigh, though he was clearly enjoying himself. “I guess if I want something done well, I have to do it myself.”
“I guess,” she answered with a grin, captivated by this new, playful part of his personality.
“Well, if I were going to propose…” He reached over and grabbed Vivian’s hands, pulling her against him. “From the first moment I saw you, I knew you were trouble. Too rich, too smart, too beautiful—and you were headed right for me. But never could I have imagined where we would end up. Vivian, I love you. I love everything about you.” He smiled ruefully. “Well, everything except your damn money.”
“Rafael…”
“The way you smile gets to me. It melts me. And the way you argue for what you believe in. The way you’re not afraid to stand up. The way you take the world’s problems on your shoulders and still manage to laugh. And love.”
He brought her hand to his mouth, placed a lingering kiss in the center of her palm and watched as her eyes went dark and hazy. “I love the way you look at me…and Diego. I love how you always see the big picture and the little details. I love that you’re as tough as I am, yet infinitely softer.
“I just love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Tears were shimmering on her lashes, her breath catching in her throat when he asked, “Will you marry me, Vivian?”
“Yes!” She threw her arms around him and squeezed so tightly that for a second he couldn’t tell where she left off and he began. “Yes, yes, yes!”
When she finally let him go, she said, “You know, you’re the best Christmas present I ever got.”
“Just wait till next year. I’ll be a rich man.”
“You already are—you have me, don’t you?”
“That I do. Thank God.”
EPILOGUE
The Following Christmas
“ARE YOU GOING TO OPEN that present or are you just going to stare at it?”
“Yeah, Vivian, hurry up.” Michaela smiled at her. “I’m next and I’m dying to check out that big green one with my name on it.”
Vivian looked up from the bright red box she held. Rafael’s mother had handed it to her with a soft “Feliz Navidad,” and she hadn’t been able to move since. The package was small and messily wrapped, but it meant more than any present she’d ever received—save the wedding ring Rafael had slipped onto her finger seven months before.
She started to rip the paper delicately, but Gabriel’s teasing, “Come on,” had her tearing into it like a child. She gasped when she pulled out a scarf as delicate and beautiful as the one she had complimented Michaela on so many months before.
Though it was made of stunning graduated shades of purple silk, it was the intricate beadwork at each end that really captured her attention. It was Michaela’s work, she could tell, and the idea that her sister-in-law had gone to the trouble of making her a scarf like this made her feel incredibly special.
But then, everything about being with Rafael made her feel special, important, invincible. It was strange that she’d spent her whole life running from love because she’d been afraid it would make her vulnerable, when the truth was, loving Rafael and accepting his love had made her stronger than she’d ever been.
“It’s absolutely stunning, Michaela. Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome. Put it on so I can see if I was right about the center color matching your eyes.”
Vivian laughed as she draped the scarf around her shoulders.
“It does!” Michaela clapped her hands. “And it highlights them so well.”
“It looks great, Vivian.” Diego smiled shyly at her from his spot next to the tree, then handed her a package. “Open mine next.”
She accepted the small box he handed her and opened it carefully. Inside was a beautifully knit baby blanket. “Oh, Diego, it’s gorgeous.”
“Esme made it for our baby. I thought it might be nice if you and Rafa could use it for yours.”
“We’d be honored, Uncle Diego,” Rafael said, his hand curving around her waist to rest protectively on the growing mound of her stomach.
Vivian held the blanket long after all the presents had been opened. And as she watched her newfound family celebrating life and love and Christmas, she thought back on what Rafael had said one year before. Family was everything, and she was so grateful to have finally found hers.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-4508-6
THE CHRISTMAS PRESENT
Copyright © 2009 by Tracy L. Deebs-Elkenaney.
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