The Gift (Unrestrained 4.50)

“Honestly, Kate, this has been the best Christmas ever. Seriously.” He pulled back and looked into my eyes. “I feel as if I have a life now. A real life. Before I met you, I was just living.”

I nodded. “Me, too.”

My eyes were wet and he smiled and leaned in to kiss me. It was then I pulled out the final gift for Drake. A long white box wrapped in a shiny red ribbon.

“Here,” I said, my voice choked. “One more gift.”

Drake frowned. “Hey, you,” he said and took the present. “We agreed only two presents each. Why did you get me another one?”

“It’s for both of us,” I said as he pulled the ribbon off the box.

“Both of us?” he said, his expression one of curiosity now. “A set of gold pens?”

He removed the wrapping and took the lid off. Beneath the lid was a layer of batting, and then he removed that, eager to see what it was.

He picked it up. My pregnancy test.

Positive.

He turned to me and the look in his eyes was all I needed to send me over into full-fledged tears.

“Oh, Kate,” he whispered, his own eyes wet. He pulled me into his arms, his face buried in my neck, and said nothing, squeezing me tighter and tighter.

Nothing needed to be said. Words seemed trivial compared to the emotions I knew we both were feeling and so we sat there in the apartment on 8th Avenue, wrapped in each other’s arms, the noise from the street filtering in under the open window, the church bells ringing in the distance.

THE END