Page 40 of The Christmas Rescue

“Me too. Let me go through the past few days of mail and then we can get around and go over to your folks for cards.”

“Ugh. Cards all night. Why do we do that?” He frowned but it lacked any real distaste.

“Tradition, family, and all the treats. Did she make any of herkataïfi?”

He shrugged.

“Oh well, it’s not that important. I’m sure that whatever she made will be—oh!” I stared at the paper I’d pulled from the envelope.

“Something bad?” He rolled his head to look at me.

I sat up a little straighter while shaking my head. “No, something good. Very good! It’s my official letter from the state. My name change went through! That took long enough. Look, honey, I’m now Decker Giannopoulos! Goodbye forever Fitzgerald surname. Hello Grandma Lydia’s maiden name.”

“Wow, that’s awesome. I know how much crap you had to go through to get that taken care of. Your grandmother would be proud.” I beamed. “You could have waited though like I kept telling you.”

“Nope. I don’t like to wait. I want as much distance from my father’s last name as I can get.” After folding the letter, I slid it back into the envelope. I’d put that in the safe in our new love nest when we got moved in. My family was now relegated to sad memories. I’d taken a chance and left my phone number with my mother—via a text—but she had never called. That hurt more than it should have, but there it was. I was happy now. I had family, friends, and a wonderful man in my life. The good people of Miller’s Lake were accepting. Fitzgerald & Sons Well Services stopped pestering Acosta to sign over his mineral rights and moved the new pad over a few hundred acres. Our neighbors had been happy to sign. Which was fine. No disrespect for poor people who needed money to survive. We all did what we had to do to feed our kids.

“Still, you could have waited a few more months. Might have saved you all that time and expense fiddling around with the county and state.” He continued to stare at me, those smoky eyes of his now secretive. I wiggled around a little, just a scootch to avoid disturbing the caprine queen napping on me and gave him my best “Whatchoo talkin’ ’bout, Willis?” expression.

“Why would I want to wait? You know how much I wanted to be anything but a Fitzgerald.”

He gave me a smile that I had come to know meant he was hiding something. It was a quirky little half-grin. I’d seen it several times over our year together. From surprise birthday parties at the grange where most of Miller’s Lake had shown up to celebrate the newest citizen of this fine burg to the addition of four ducklings that he’d bought for me at Tractor Supply. OMG. Now, I loved ducks as much as I loved goats. I’d named them Huey, Dewey, Luey, and Carbuncle. I had plans for a pond beside our cabin for my little web-footed friends who were now sleeping with Rufus and Ralph. Birds of a feather and all that. Ralph and the cat spent all day with the new ducks. I worried Rufus would start suffering an identity crisis and would soon be trying to get into the bathtub with Acosta and me like the ducks do.

“I know.” He shoved a hand into his front pocket. “I just thought if you waited for a couple of months, you’d only have to change your name once. That is, if you say yes.”

He held out a small velvet box that bore the name of the jewelry store in the next county. My gaze flew from the box to his beautiful face, my eyes growing misty.

“Are you asking me to marry you?” I choked out, my heart thundering away madly in my breast. “We’ve only been together a year. It’s quite nonsensical to propose marriage after only a year,” I teased as my eyes welled.

“You moved in with me three weeks after I met you. I figure a year is like a lifetime for us. So will you? Marry me? I love you so much, Decker. Your love has saved me.”

“Of course I’ll marry you. Next week! Oh! Yes, next week for sure. A New Year’s Eve ceremony! Your family can cater the affair. In the grange! With that traveling polka band the mayor is part of for the music. Oh! And pretzels. Loads of pretzels and—”

Bitsy lifted her head to give us a severe goatie glare. I began giggling as tears wet my cheeks.

“A week seems like it might be too short to get a wedding set up.” He flipped the box open with his thumb. Inside were two plain gold bands. They were so simple and so brilliant. Kind of like the two of us. He slipped one band on my left ring finger and then I slid the other on his before he stole a long, sweet, delicious kiss. “But if anyone can whip up a wedding in seven days that will leave Miller’s Lake talking, it will be you.”

“That’s so true. What do you think, girl? Can we pull off a wedding in a week?” I asked the sleepy goat on my lap.

“Blah!”

“I think so too.”

And so we did.

With one day to spare.

The usher ate all the floral arrangements but other than that Bitsy did well. We’d not go into what Millicent did during the reception…

The End