He reached for the next present and handed it to her. They repeated the process until she was surrounded with baby items. Some pink. Some blue. Some a mixture of pastels.
“You’ve been busy,” she mused, biting into her lower lip, trying to decipher the meaning behind his gifts.
“I had help, but don’t hold that against me.” He gave a crooked grin. “Even Santa utilizes elves.”
“Ah,” she said, not quite believing he’d gone to so much trouble to bring her Christmas alive, to give her a magical day despite the fact they’d argued the last time they’d really talked, that she’d told him to leave. “Thank you, Dirk. I love everything.”
She did. Not only because these were the first baby items for their child but because they’d come from Dirk. But what did all this mean? Why was he here? Giving her presents?
“Do you, Abby?”
She lifted her gaze to his in question.
“Love everything, that is?”
Abby’s breath caught at the intensity in his blue eyes. At the vulnerability she saw shining there.
No protective walls. No barriers. No hanging on to the past. Just a man asking if she loved him.
A man who she loved with all her heart, but…
Glancing away when she didn’t immediately answer, Dirk scratched his chin. “Um…” His voice broke slightly. “Better let me check my bag. Seems like there might be another present for you.”
Abby wanted to stop him, to explain her pause, to ease what had put that break in his voice, but the moment had passed and she wondered if some of those fallen walls had been re-erected.
“You shouldn’t have.”
“Might not want to shake this one,” he warned, causing Abby’s curiosity to grow as she took the package.
She unwrapped the present, lifted her gaze to his, and caught her breath at what she saw reflected in his eyes.
He hadn’t re-erected any walls, had left his heart bare for her to see, for her to take if she wanted.
She swallowed, glancing back down at the gift in her hands. “I can’t believe you had someone find this for me.”
“Actually, I had this one in my truck on Saturday night,” he explained. “I’d meant to give it to you after our quiet dinner.”
“Only we didn’t have a quiet dinner.” She pulled the piece from the box, carefully removed the protective wrapping, stared in amazement at the antique village piece. A piece that matched her mother’s pieces. How had he known? And that he’d bought it before the crash made it all the more special. He wasn’t trying to replace something he felt responsible for breaking. He was giving her something from the heart, giving her something because he’d known it would mean something to her, would make her happy.
“I love it,” she whispered, leaning forward to kiss his cheek and hoping he couldn’t tell she was choking back tears.
“And I love you, Abby.”
She almost dropped the house. “Dirk?”
“I love you, Abby,” He repeated words sweeter than any melody. “With all my heart. I didn’t think I’d ever love again, that I could ever love. But I do. I love you. And our baby. Please forgive me. I’ve been such a fool, wasted so much time we could have been together.”
Taking a moment to steady her nerves, she put the house back into its box, took a deep breath. “Tell me again.”
“I’ve been a fool—”
“Not that part,” she interrupted, meeting his gaze, amazed at the emotion reflected there. “Tell me you love me again, Dirk. Please.”
Eyes shining with everything Abby had ever hoped to see in a man’s gaze, he took her hand into his, lifted it to his lips. “I love you, Abby. Completely. Always. For ever.”
“I love you, too.” She wrapped her arms around him, leaned in to kiss him, to show him everything in her heart.
But rather than take her into his arms and kiss her, he held her hands and stared into her eyes, looking almost nervous as he slid his hands into a jeans pocket and pulled out a small box, snapped it open. “Marry me, Abby.”