Deep in the pile, my mom uncovered a diamond bracelet that matched the earrings from last night. Dad got a gift certificate to a motorcycle repair shop, Grey received a Texas State shirt, and I opened a pair of Carolina pajama pants.
The floor was littered with wrapping paper and bows. It was hard to believe we had been exchanging presents for two hours.
I was impressed Grey had chosen gifts for my parents without consulting me. He said he wanted them to be just from him.
Mom gushed over the wine glasses he selected and Dad seemed to love the pocketknife from Texas.
“My turn.” I picked up a small box with an oversized bow on it. Grey had signed the tag with an extra note.
Merry Christmas, baby. I love being here with you.
I smiled at him then turned to the tiny box in my hands. For a second, my chest tightened. It was the kind of box that screamed jewelry, and not just any kind of jewelry—ring jewelry. I didn’t have any experience receiving rings, but I knew the box size. This was definitely that size.
I carefully removed the paper and held my breath as I lifted the lid on the soft leather case. I knew all eyes in the room were on me, especially Grey’s. I could almost hear his heartbeat, he was that close.
I stared at the sparkle in my hands. Grey had never given me anything like this since we had known each other. I removed the earrings and held them up.
“They’re beautiful.” The light from the fire caught the underside of the sapphires.
“Did you get earrings too?” Mom giggled.
“Try them on,” Grey urged and unfastened the backs and threaded them through my ears.
“What do you think?” I turned my chin from side to side, swooping the hair off my neck.
“Honey, I think they’re perfect.” Mom was always a sucker for pretty jewelry.
I wasn’t sure if disappointment had settled in my belly, but for the split second I let myself imagine that there was a ring in the box, I realized it was something I wanted. It was ludicrous. Silly. Grey and I had never talked about marriage other than the brief insinuations at Marin’s wedding. That hardly counted as a real marriage talk. We had known each other less than a year and had only lived together a few months. And I was twenty-two. Marriage wasn’t on the table, was it? Today wasn’t the day, but at some point, I needed to know if it was something Grey was thinking about too.
For now, I had to push snowy bride images out of my head and focus on the Christmas in front of me. Focus on Grey.
“I’m glad you like them,” he whispered.
He held up the box I had wrapped last night when he and my dad were in a serious college football discussion. It was nice I could count on Dad to keep him distracted during my secret Christmas missions. I swallowed hard when he pulled on the ribbon.
“I hope you like it,” I eked out.
“Is it the drill I told you about?” He chuckled.
Dammit, that drill was in my closet. “You can’t ask.” I poked him in the leg.
He lifted the lid and tore through the tissue paper. He withdrew a leather-bound album and placed it in his lap, not saying a word.
Oh, God. Did this mean he didn’t like it? He opened the cover and stared at the first page of pictures.
“When did you do all this?” He flipped to the next page.
I chewed on my lip. “Yesterday,” I confessed. “While you were working on the bike with Dad. I had them developed.”
“I didn’t know we had all these pictures. There’s even one from spring break.” By the time he reached the end, he landed on a picture of us from our snow walk. “You even got Christmas in here.”
I nodded, waiting for more of a reaction. “I didn’t fill in the rest of the pages.” Half of the album was empty. “I thought we could do that the rest of this year.” I searched his face for emotion.
My heart soared when he turned to me with a grin. “I can’t wait to fill the rest of it with you.” He kissed me and all my worries melted. He actually liked my last-minute attempt at Christmas romance.
We didn’t have any pictures of us at the cottage in frames, or even on the refrigerator, and I had never considered putting an album together. I saved all my pictures on my cloud, which turned out to be the best thing yesterday when I needed to print fifty of them and sort them in the album. Technology was a blessing.
“I do have other presents for you.” I smirked. “They’re in Padre though. I wanted you to have something to open from me today.”
“Darlin’, thank you.” He opened the leather cover again and leafed through the pictures.
“When you’re done, I want to look at that,” Mom called from her side of the room.
They had embraced our relationship with full support, but I knew my parents were curious about our Texas life. The pictures would help.
After the last bow was tossed in the save bag, my mother turned to me. “Eden, did you open everything?”
I glanced at my spot on the couch. “Yes, I think I’m all done.”
“You sure?” She looked under the coffee table and then shot Grey a quick look of uncertainty. The entire encounter was weird.