Theo
Her face went soft in that special Eva way, the one that made me feel a hundred feet tall, like I could score a thousand goals, heft dozens of Cups, love this woman exactly as she deserved for the rest of my life.
“I love you,” she whispered, reaching up, stroking her fingers over my jaw.
“I love you,” I whispered back, covering her hand with my own.
My mom sighed, and I remembered that we weren’t alone, that—I glanced up, looking over Eva’s shoulder—and saw that my mom was shamelessly watching us.
And my family was in the next room.
“Pressies, Eva baby?” I asked softly.
She stroked her fingers over my jaw again, a blip of that worry I’d been seeing over the last few weeks reentering her eyes.
“I—”
But then she was dropping her hand away, stepping back. “Yeah, honey.” A nod. “Want to go wrangle your family and I’ll finish up here?”
“I’ll help you—”
“Come into the living room,” my mom said when Eva glanced over at her, and for the first time I realized that she must have been in on whatever this was, but then she was grabbing my arm, drawing me back out of the kitchen. “Present time!” she declared.
Which was enough to send my sisters into motion, dragging Eva’s siblings along with them.
Walker and the hockey-playing boyfriend—I narrowed my eyes at the floofy-haired fucker who was all too handsy with my sister—followed them into the family room, gathering around the tree with its carefully placed ornaments and perfectly draped twinkly lights, taking up the couch and armchairs and generally filling the room with people we cared about.
Except that floofy-haired fucker.
Dommie cuddled up next to Rose, the two of them looking at something on Rose’s cell phone. Lana sat in Levi’s lap (something that had both Walker and I narrowing our eyes—my teammate might be a pain in the ass in the locker room, but he had my back). My mom released my arm and went over to Roger, curling her legs beneath her, practically radiating joy when Gabe and Jer joined her, the two having latched onto my mom.
Because my mom was a mom.
Because they hadn’t ever had that—not with anyone who wasn’t Eva, who wasn’t their sister bending over backward and slowly killing herself to help her family survive when her parents checked out.
Because Eva had made it that way.
Made space for my family to embrace hers—no jealousy, no roadblocks.
Just love and togetherness and—
“Ready?”
A rustling came from behind me, and I spun around, saw Eva carrying in a huge basket filled with blankets.
Blankets that color coordinated with the throw pillows on the couch.
It was chilly outside, snow falling, the air biting in the strictly Baltimore way, and my sisters and mom all had thin blood—hello California weather. I smiled, knowing that my thoughtful woman had brought them out so my family would be cozy and comfortable while they opened their presents.
I started toward her, intending to help her pass them out.
Only…
The blankets were moving.
No.
That wasn’t right.
There was something moving in the blankets.
Eva moved toward me, setting the basket down in front of the coffee table. Rose leaned in and I watched her freeze. Something that Lana immediately picked up on, head jerking up to mine, eyes going wide, mouth dropping open.
The air in the room changed, going taut and still and…
Every single eye in the room came to me.
“What?” I asked.
“Bark!”
I blinked.
That sounded like—
“Bark!”
A dog barking.
But I didn’t have a dog. None of our extended family did. Not since Dog, my childhood dog, had died a few years back, breaking my and my sisters’ hearts. I missed him so fucking much, mostly because he’d been the best dog ever and—
A fluffy head popped up.
Big ears. Golden fur. Deep chocolate-colored eyes. And…
A big red bow around its neck.
“I thought it was time,” Eva said softly.
I jerked my gaze away from the tiny ball of fur and looked up at the woman who I knew loved me from my rapidly beating heart down to the depths of my soul and everywhere in between. “What?” I rasped.
“You have so much love to give, honey,” she murmured. “And Pooch needed a good home.”
I inhaled sharply, eyes stinging, throat tight. “Pooch?” I asked, still rasping.
“Well,” she said, moving to the basket and carefully scooping up the puppy, carrying him back toward me, tucking the warm weight of his body into my arms, “you had Dog the dog, and now I thought it was time for Pooch the pooch.” A shrug, her cheeks going the slightest bit pink. “Or we can pick whatever name you want, honey.”
“Pooch,” I whispered.
The puppy lifted his head, eyes coming to mine, head tilting curiously, and just that easily, it was settled.
“Pooch,” I said again, causing his head to tilt the other way.
“Yeah,” she murmured, nibbling at her bottom lip.
“That’s perfect.”
Her expression relaxed, body melting against mine, the warm weight of her more familiar, more right than Pooch.
But his wasn’t wrong.
His was right too.
Right in the weight of a future, the weight of future hopes and dreams.
A future with squeaky toys and rolling balls and walks out in the cold, of cold noses pressing to my throat way too early in the morning and a tail whipping back and forth at warp speed when I walked through the door.
A future where I wasn’t alone.
Where I had a family of my own.
Where I had Eva and Pooch and more.
My eyes burned and my throat was tight and I was about a second away from bursting into tears. “Eva baby,” I rasped.
She turned into me, her coffee-colored eyes beyond soft. “You don’t hate this.”
Not a question.
“Now, baby,” I tell her, dropping my forehead to hers, settling my hand on her nape. “Aside from the day you honored me by becoming my wife, this is the best thing anyone has ever done for me.” I squeezed lightly. “The best.”
She exhaled, her breath grazing my lips. “I’m glad, honey. I was so scared it might be too soon.” Another breath. “You haven’t mentioned getting another dog.”
I hadn’t.
I probably never would have.
Because it made me feel too raw, too vulnerable. But Eva knew me better, knew that this was a part of my life that was missing, that was aching and ready to be filled.
Knew it was beyond time to fill that void.
“I hadn’t,” I told her, pressing my lips to her forehead. “But”—Pooch wriggled between us, head coming up as he licked at the bottom of my chin and we both laughed—“I already can’t imagine our life without him.”
“Honey,” she whispered.
“I love you,” I whispered back.
“I—”
“I know this scene is sweet and all,” Rose said, making us jerk apart and whirl around to face the audience I’d forgotten we had, “but when are we going to get to cuddle the puppy?”
Eva snorted.
I slanted a look her way. “You wanted the audience.”
“I wanted”—she stepped close, snagged Pooch from me—“our family to have this moment with us too.”
Our family.
Mishmashed and not related solely by blood, ties that ran along DNA but also deeper, tying us tightly together.
Forever.
Which was why I didn’t protest when everyone swooped in…
And Pooch got all of the attention.
Twinkly lights.
Sugar cookies.
Laughter and cuddles. Jeans coated in dog hair.
And a pup with a bright red bow for a collar.
The best Christmas ever.