“The view is so much better when you’re in my arms,” Leo says, his voice low in my ear.

“It’s lovely,” I answer. “But it’s nothing compared to my fiancé.”

I can feel him smiling. “You wouldn’t have to be in this viper’s den if it weren’t for him.”

“Yes, well. I’m so in love I’d go anywhere with him. To the ends of the earth. Even these horrible fancy parties, I guess.” I let out a sigh, and he laughs.

Leo’s parents come to stand in front of the tree. His dad is handsome, but there’s something cruel about his eyes. The way he keeps his hand on Leo’s mother’s arm isn’t warm. It’s possessive, as if he needs everyone to see that she belongs to him. As if there was any question of that. I wonder if she’s happy. I wonder if she’s ever been happy, the way I am.

Bryant invites someone else to stand with them. The bishop, from Bryant’s introduction. No one seems particularly fazed by this. It’s a party with alcohol and food and many, many rooms to sneak off to, but a silence falls over the room.

The bishop starts talking about the birth of Christ. Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem. No room at the Inn. He manages to fit in a few compliments about how there’s room at the Morelli mansion for visitors.

He bows his head and raises his voice. The tree has been decorated to within an inch of its life, even down at the lowest branches. I think of tinsel and ornaments and the copy of Jane Eyre waiting for me on the table by Leo’s bed at home, which is now my bed too. The words of the prayer float over me. I think of Christmas mornings at my father’s house, with only a few presents and a huge smile on his face. I think of French toast in the frying pan and soft pajamas.

I think of waking up one morning this week, so early the sky was still gray, and padding to the bathroom with my eyes half-open. I think of finding Leo in the bed when I returned. He’d rolled onto his back, one hand thrown out across the pillow like he was reaching for me. I’d never seen him sleeping that way before. I didn’t think he ever would.

I breathe Leo in and my heart lifts just as the bishop says, “Amen.”

“Amen,” answers Leo. People around us are saying three, two, one. “Darling, look at the lights.”