Lone Star Holiday Proposal

Raina had been hurt before, badly. And he’d hurt her, too. He knew it and regretted it with almost every waking thought. So it was up to him to re-earn her respect. To give her space and time to know that she could love him as much as he already knew he loved her. Which, in a nutshell, meant a whole lot of self-denial on his part. Still, he reminded himself, it didn’t hurt a man to be prepared. He patted his jacket pocket and felt the small parcel there. He’d carried it around for a couple of days now, debating when would be the right time, keeping it with him always should the opportunity present itself.

“No’an!” JJ launched himself through the front door and off the top step straight into Nolan’s arms.

Nolan caught the little boy and swung him in the air, laughing even as Raina chided the boy for not saying hello properly. After whirling a giggling JJ around Nolan tucked him up on one hip and smiled at Raina.

“Good evening. I take it you’re both ready?” he said on a laugh.

“As ready as we’ll ever be,” Raina said and smiled back.

“No’an! Santa’s coming tonight!” JJ squealed excitedly.

“So I hear,” Nolan replied, giving the little boy his full attention. “Have you been a good boy all year, JJ?”

For a moment JJ’s forehead wrinkled in a frown, then his expression smoothed. “Yup!”

“Then I guess tomorrow morning will be a whole lot of fun for you, won’t it?”

“Yup.” JJ leaned a little closer to Nolan and cupped a small hand in front of Nolan’s ear. “Mommy has a present for you,” he whispered loudly. “It’s a secret.”

Nolan looked at Raina, who was rolling her eyes.

“JJ Patterson, what did I tell you about secrets?”

“That you’re not suppos’ta tell other people?”

“That’s right.”

“But No’an’s not other people,” JJ protested.

Raina’s eyes met Nolan’s and the look they shared deepened into something else. Something that made Nolan’s heart swell on a note of hope.

“No, honey. Nolan’s not other people. He’s much more than that.”

Silence stretched between them. Nolan wished he could do nothing else but kiss Raina right now. Long and hard and deep. He wanted to demand from her what “more than that” meant to her. But he had to satisfy himself with waiting. Down the street, they heard the church bells begin to chime.

“We’d better get going.”

He carried JJ toward his SUV but Raina remained on the front path.

“Shouldn’t we take my car? I have JJ’s seat in there,” she said.

Nolan opened the rear door of the SUV and gestured to the new car seat he’d had installed a couple of days ago.

“You bought a car seat?” she asked, her voice incredulous.

“I thought I ought to,” he said simply. “Brand-new and ready for a test drive. How about it, champ?” he asked JJ. “You ready to hop in?”

In answer, JJ scrambled into the car seat and waited to be buckled in.

“You want to check he’s secure?” Nolan asked Raina, who was standing on the sidewalk, a bemused expression on her face.

“No, it’s okay. I... I trust you.”

The words were simple enough in their expression but they meant the world to Nolan. Now he had only to prove to her that she could trust him in all things—not only with her precious son, but with her heart, as well.

The service at the nearby church was well attended and, given that the congregation was primarily young families, it was kept simple and sweet and involved the children for much of it. He didn’t miss the pointed glances Raina received from several people when they saw her at his side. The only sign that she’d noticed anything was the faintest of blushes on her cheeks.

But when the service was over, it was the words of one of the older parishioners that really made her blush.

“Raina Patterson, good to see you’ve seen sense and have found yourself a decent young man,” the old woman said as they left the church with JJ holding both their hands between them.

“Mrs. Baker, Merry Christmas to you,” Raina replied courteously, but Nolan could see she was embarrassed by the attention. “This is Nolan Dane. You might have heard of his father, Howard Dane?”

The old lady eyed Nolan up and down as if he was a prime cut of meat before smiling and giving him the benefit of the twinkle in her eye. “I remember teaching your father. He was quite the rascal in his day. Are you a rascal, young man?”