I stand and take her in my arms. “We are. We will. I love you. We may be two naked fibbers, but you and me know the truth of who are to each other, right?”

She nods. “Right.” Then her face breaks out into a tear-streaked but brilliant smile. “I love you so much. I can’t believe I don’t have to hold that inside any longer.”

“Never stop telling me that, baby.” I kiss her on the mouth, soft and pulling, a kiss that is a promise and a commitment.

“I should warn you, my gifts for you are… not the same…”

“I’m sure I’ll love them.”

“They’re really—”

I kiss her again. “Whatever they are, I will love them.”

Chapter Eleven

Sienna

Jacob refuses to wear the full matching PJs set for Christmas morning. He wears the top, but insists that he’s a jeans-during-the-daytime guy, and I can’t fault him for that.

I’m in the bright red onesie, because things like that make my mother happy, and since so little of what else I do in life does that, I figure it’s the least I can do.

We’ve all had croissants and fancy coffee, and now we’re gathered in the great room to exchange gifts. I decide to get Jacob’s last-minute presents out of the way first, and plunk them in his lap.

His expression is so hard to read as he turns over the coffee-table book about interstate highways.

He promised he would love the presents, and he chuckled at the shave kit, but the book is getting such a neutral reaction that I’m not sure what to make about it.

And then my sister starts laughing. “Hang on. We got Dad the same book!” She jumps up and grabs a present from under the tree and hands it to our father. “Did you find it at the shop in the village?”

Oh, shit. “Uh…I don’t remember.”

“The shave kit looks familiar, too. The place that had all the last minute gifts for dads, right?”

“Maybe, but—”

Nathan snickers. “Did you buy all of his presents there?”

“Shut up.”

“Sienna, language.”

“Mom!”

Nathan is howling.

I grab a ball of used wrapping paper from the floor and wing it at his head. “Nobody asked you.”

Jacob watches all of this, then turns to my dad and says, “Did you know that there are four state capitals that are not directly connected to the interstate system?”

My dad blinks. “I did not.”

Nana grins. “I did.”

Jacob wraps his arm around me and tugs me into his side. “Love the book,” he murmurs.

I snuggle in tight.

“Ready to open your present from me?”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t buy it.” He gives me a funny look. “Maybe lower your expectations.”

Except I know there’s a ring upstairs, so why would he say that? I don’t expect him to buy me anything, anyway.