I shrugged. “I know, but your parents should see all of your hard work pay off, and tickets are expensive, so…” It was the least I could do for them, and for her. They should be there. I had the extra money to get them there; it was as simple as that.

As Kiera cuddled into my side, I mouthed, Thank you, to Anna. She’d given me all the information I’d needed to get the tickets at the airport. Anna winked at me, then smiled and shook her head at Kiera and me. I supposed she was right, we were a little nauseating, but I didn’t care; I’d never been so completely content in all my life.

Kiera let out an equally content sigh as she laced our right hands together and stared at our rings. Absentmindedly running my thumb back and forth over the wheels of the car in my other hand, I smiled as I also absorbed the vision of our joint commitment. The rings just looked so good together; I couldn’t get over it.

Slightly pulling away from me, Kiera said, “When I gave you that toy, you said something. What was it?”

“It’s nothing,” I told her, my gaze returning to our rings. Just a dumb, stunned outburst. Obviously, Kiera couldn’t know what the car meant to me. It was just a happy coincidence.

Kiera kissed my jaw. “Tell me anyway.”

I looked at her, then around the room full of love, debating what to tell her. I didn’t want to change the feeling in the air, and my story might. But it was a good memory for me, and she’d unknowingly made it even better. She’d…completed it. And she should know that.

Instead of plunging right into the story, I told her, “This is so nice…so peaceful. Kind of idyllic. I keep waiting for the yelling to start.” I looked at her, then back at our rings. “It means so much to me that you let me…be a part of this.” I returned my gaze to the warmth of her face. “I think this is my new favorite Christmas morning.” No. I knew it was the best. By far.

Kiera smiled, then playfully poked me in the ribs. “Even though you had to climb down a trellis?” she whispered. Her smile dropped. “Even being…interrogated?”

Grinning, I nodded. “Yep…still the best.” Both of those incidents seemed like such minor details now; they couldn’t even touch my mood anymore.

Her eyes grew curious, and compassionate. “Before this…what was your favorite?”