that she pushed through the swinging door and walked up the hall. She opened the door with a jolly “Merry Christmas,” only to have Finley propel herself at her knees.
“Merry Christmas, Shannon!”
Shocked, she looked up at Rory. Their gazes caught. “Merry Christmas, Shannon.”
Her heart tumbled in her chest. It was wonderful to see them. Fabulous that they were still in Pennsylvania this late. That probably meant they wanted to share Christmas with her.
But it was also bad because she’d finally, finally stopped crying and finally, finally reminded herself that she could adopt on her own. Create the family she wanted. Seeing them again only brought back her sad sensations of loss.
“Can we come in?”
Shaking herself out of her stunned state, she said, “Yes. Yes, of course.”
Her mom pushed open the kitchen door and came into the hall. Obviously expecting to see Mary, she frowned. “Oh, Mr. Wallace? What can we do for you?”
“Actually, I’d like to talk to Shannon.”
Her mother’s perfectly shaped brows arched in question.
Shannon said, “My dad is here. If you want to talk about the store…”
He caught her gaze again. “I want to talk to you. Privately.”
Finley huffed out a sigh, walked to Shannon’s mom. “That means he wants us to go.” She caught Stacy’s hand. “We can make cocoa.”
Stacy laughed. “I’ll give you five minutes. After that, I won’t be responsible for what the kitchen looks like.”
When the kitchen door swung closed behind them, Shannon stood staring it at. After a few seconds, Rory put his hands on her shoulders, turned her around.
“First, I’m sorry.”
She shrunk back. “That’s okay. I get it. You had to go.” She smiled sheepishly. “I’m surprised you’re here now. Isn’t your family going to miss you?”
“My parents are in Arizona with my sister and her family for the holiday.”
“Oh. So this will be good for Finley then—”
He tightened his hold on her shoulders. “Stop. I’m trying to tell you something here.” He sucked in a breath. “I think I love you. I know it’s crazy. We’ve known each other only a few days. But hear me out. We’ve both been hurt. So we’re both smart about love. We don’t give away our hearts frivolously, so for me to have lost mine, I know this has to be right. Now you can argue, but I—”
Catching his cheeks in her hands, Shannon rose to her tiptoes and pressed her mouth to his. She let the joy of following an impulse flow through her as she deepened the kiss, expressed every ounce of crazy feeling inside of her through one hot press of her mouth to his.
Then she pulled away, stared into his eyes and said the words she’d been aching to say for days. “I love you, too.”
He grinned. “Really? In a few days? You don’t think we’re crazy?”
“Oh, we’re definitely crazy, but that’s okay.” She patted her chest with her right hand. “I know here that it’s right.”
“So you won’t think it out of line for me to ask you to marry me?”
“I think it will go easier on us at the adoption agency if we’re married.”
He sucked in a breath. “So you won’t mind adopting kids? Because I really do want to raise more kids.”
“We can adopt seven if you want.”
He laughed, caught her around the waist and hauled her to him. This time he kissed her. He let his tongue swirl around hers, nudged her so close that their hearts beat against each other. Savored the moment he knew, truly knew, that he loved her.
And that this time love would last.
Then he heard the swinging door open and he broke the kiss. Seeing Finley slinking into the foyer, he smiled down at Shannon and nudged his head in the direction of his daughter, alerting her to Finley’s presence.
“So now that all that’s settled, Finley would like to know how Santa gets all around the world in one night.”
Her eyes widened in horror. “Seriously, you want me to field this?”
“I already tried and failed.”
Smiling, Finley blinked at her expectantly.
She glanced up at him and he raised his eyebrows, letting her know he, too, was eager to hear what she said.
She stooped in front of Finley. “Santa’s sleigh is powered by love.”
Finley squinted. “Love?”
“It’s the love of all the parents in the world that gets his sleigh to get to every house in one night.”
Finley pondered that, but Rory’s heart expanded. Leave it to Shannon to know exactly what to say. Was it any wonder he loved her?
Shannon glanced up at Rory and said, “Without love nothing really works.” She looked back at Finley. “But with love, everything works.” She hugged her tightly, then rose and wrapped her arms around Rory. “You do realize we have to sleep on the floor.”
“Huh?”
“My parents get the bedroom. We get the sleeping bags—”
Finley let out a whoop of joy. “And I get the sofa!” She headed for the living room. “Let’s turn on the fireplace. Oh, and the tree lights. We can have the tree lights on all night!”
Rory cast a confused look toward the living room. “Do you think she’ll fall asleep long enough for me to grab the gifts I bought Thursday afternoon from the back of my trunk?”
Shannon laughed. “She better.”
“Or?”
She nestled against him. “Or we won’t get any snuggle time, either.”
Rory said, “Ah.” Then he bent his head and kissed her.
THE FOLLOWING Christmas Eve, Rory stood near the half wall of the mezzanine watching Finley play Santa’s helper. Over the course of the year that had passed, she’d finally caught on to the whole Santa thing. Due in no small part to the new friends she’d made in Green Hill when he and Shannon had bought Mary O’Grady’s house. She’d thought the place too big and decided she liked Shannon’s house better, so they’d swapped. She took the little house that was remodeled. They got the old house and were in the process of redoing it to accommodate at least four kids.
