6 Mountain Brothers for Christmas

I was so excited as I got the kids situated in their seats and stowed our bags away above us. When I sat down, I tapped my fingers against my knee until the flight took off. I was so impatient to see Sean that I could barely sit still throughout the entire flight.

We landed in Chicago right on time. Tommy and Sarah both jumped out of their seats with excitement. I followed right behind them as we all hurried through the airport. At baggage claim, a man was waiting for us with a sign that said, “Sean Evans’s guests.” The three of us felt like VIPs as we headed outside and were loaded into a black car. The driver threw our luggage in the trunk and then drove through the city of Chicago. It took an hour for us to reach our destination, but when we did, we were all speechless.

Sean’s second event of the day was at a college campus. He was giving a speech to a class full of undergrads, all pursuing the art of children’s books. They were aspiring writers who hoped to learn from someone successful. The campus was beautiful, and I couldn’t stop looking around as the driver drove us closer to the building. When we pulled up to the front, Sean’s agent was waiting for us right outside. She waved and smiled brightly, running over to open the door and let us out.

“What about our bags?” I asked as the driver suddenly drove away.

“He’ll take them to the hotel,” Anne Marie, Sean’s agent, said. “They’ll be waiting for you tonight.”

“Okay,” I said with a nod.

“He’s right inside,” Anne Marie said.

She led us through the front door of a tall building. We followed her down a few hallways and up a flight of stairs until we reached the entrance to a classroom. Sarah was vibrating with excitement as she jumped around, trying to catch a glimpse of her dad. Tommy was doing the same, but he kept stopping himself, as if he wanted to appear older, more mature.

“Where is he?” Sarah complained after a few minutes. “I don’t see him.”

“He’s in there,” Anne Marie said. “We’re going to wait until everyone is seated, and then we’ll sneak you guys in the back. Remember, this is really important so we have to be quiet, okay?”

“We can’t say hi to Daddy?” Sarah asked. “But we haven’t seen him in so long.”

“You’ll be able to see him right after the event,” Anne Marie said. “It won’t last long. Only an hour at the most.”

“An hour?” Sarah whined, and I bent down to talk to her face to face.

“It’ll be fine,” I said. “Just think, you’ve gone weeks without seeing him, and now, he’s right inside that door.”

Sarah smiled and tried to remain calm. When we could finally go into the classroom, we were ushered into three seats at the very back. I could see Sean standing at the front of the classroom, his eyes focused on the notes in front of him. A smile spread across my face when he finally looked up and his eyes fell on us. He waved, and the kids waved back, practically jumping out of their seats.

I’d never been prouder of Sean as I sat there and listened to his speech. He said so many wise, intelligent things about the art of writing children’s books. My mind was racing with his every word, but what was most impressive was how many applauded him for choosing such a difficult subject.

“You know,” he said after someone brought it up. “Just over two years ago, my kids lost their mother. She died from cancer, and it shook all of us deeply. But they were both so young that there wasn’t much I could say to comfort them. They barely understood what happened, and because of that, I felt lost and hopeless. My own emotions were nothing compared to theirs, and I found myself wishing for a way to break through to them. About a year later, I thought of an idea for a book. It was hard at first. Writing didn’t come easily to me, and I had to push myself a lot. I had the support of so many amazing people though, and eventually, it worked. I wrote the book, and well, here we are now.”

The room erupted in applause, and I joined in, slamming my hands together frantically. Just listening to Sean talk was enough to make my heart race. As I watched him finish out the class, I became more desperate to be near him. I hadn’t felt his lips against mine in far too long, and when we were finally able to walk over to him, I threw myself at him with desperation.

He laughed and caught me, kissing me quickly before turning to greet the kids. Tommy and Sarah both erupted in stories they just had to tell him. It took hours for them to quiet down enough for me to get a word in, but I didn’t mind. I was just happy to be there with Sean, in Chicago, while he lived out his dream.

***

That night, we were all exhausted but starving. Sean had made us a reservation at a fancy restaurant across town, but none of us were up for it. Instead, we went downstairs to the hotel restaurant and ordered dinner. Tommy and Sarah were both surprisingly wide awake throughout the entire meal. I expected them to be falling asleep in their soup bowls, but they weren’t. They kept glancing at Sean nervously.

As we ordered our dessert and talked about the rest of Sean’s tour, I found myself waking up a bit too. There was so much excitement in the air around us that my exhaustion faded from my body. I laughed and talked with Sean and the kids for what felt like hours, until finally it was almost time to head upstairs.

“It’s getting late,” I said sadly. “We should probably get them to bed.”

“Not just yet,” Sean said with a smile. “There are a few things I want to say to you first.”

“Okay,” I said slowly. “Is everything okay?”

“That’s just it,” Sean said. “Everything is okay. Actually, it’s much more than okay, an

d that’s all because of you.”

“What?” I asked nervously. When I glanced at Tommy and Sarah, I saw that they were both smiling widely at me.

“You see,” Sean said. “Ever since we met you, things started to change. All three of us were so sad for so long that we didn’t think we would ever be happy again. I know I didn’t feel like I’d ever find love again. But then you came into our lives and changed everything. You made me feel like I could really be myself again, like I could finally be happy. This past year has been the best year of my life for so many reasons. I got closer to my kids, I finished my book, and I found you. You, Emily Ward, are the reason for my happiness. None of this would be possible without you.”

I felt my heart racing inside my chest. My stomach was full of butterflies, and I knew what was coming next. Sean and I had talked about marriage before but never seriously. It was always just a nice idea. Something to dream about for the future. When we sat down to dinner together, I never imagined he would propose, but that’s exactly what he was doing.