The Christmas Wish by Katy Regnery Read Free Book Online Page A

heavy-lidded, like he was drunk. He grinned at her, shaking his head back and forth like she was amazing to him. That’s how he made her feel, too; by some miracle, Lucas Flynn made Tess Branson feel like she was amazing.
    “Thank you for giving me Christmas, Kitten,” he continued. “For giving me your heart. Especially because I know you’re still worried about me leaving.” He tilted his head, looking into her eyes, searching them. “I want to give you your present, too. Is that okay?”
    Tess smiled and nodded, taking Lucas’s hand and pulling him down next to her on the couch. He took the large square gift from the coffee table and put it on her lap. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a Christmas present from anyone but her mother. She grinned up at him before tearing away the paper to find…a book. No, she realized as she turned it over, not a book but an album. She flipped it open to the cover page.
    Neatly printed she read: FOR TESS, ON OUR FIRST CHRISTMAS.
    And on the opposite page: THE BEST THINGS ABOUT BILLINGS.
    She looked up at him and he smiled. “I ran out of work so I could spend a couple hours at the library before they closed. I needed to use the computer there.”
    He reached over and turned the page. On the left side was a picture of the largest theater in Billings.
    “That’s the NOVA,” he explained. “They do Broadway shows and operas there.”
    “I know,” she whispered. “I recognize it from pictures.”
    On the right side was a picture of a large glass building. “That’s the—”
    “The Yellowstone Art Museum,” Tess finished, running her fingers over the pictures he’d printed of the building and various works of art on display there. She looked up at him and smiled, overwhelmed and trembling, her heart beating painfully in her chest. Lucas turned the page, and she looked down to find a collage of microbreweries on the left. She chuckled.
    “More in Billings than anywhere else in Montana,” he teased, quoting her from Monday night.
    On the opposite page was a photo of the Montana Zoo logo, with pictures of the animals, and beside it was a photocopy of a HELP WANTED ad. Tess leaned closer to read it. She got to the words Zooschool before looking up at him. His brown eyes were gentle, encouraging, and infinitely loving.
    “They…well, they don’t need teachers right now. They need an aide, though, Tess. Someone who can help the little ones put on their snowsuits and use the restroom and help out the teacher. I called and talked to the head, uh, lady there. She was real nice. She said, uh, that they hadn’t found the right person yet.”
    The page blurred before Tess as his words sank in.
    “You could still go to night school, too,” he hurried to add, “to learn how to be a teacher. You don’t have to settle for this. But you told me if you worked at the Zooschool you’d be happy for the rest of your life. That’s what you told me. And I want you to be happy for the rest of your life, Tess. That’s all I want.”
    She bit her lip, speechless, her heart bursting with love for him as he turned the last page. There was a picture of him. Of Lucas Flynn, smiling back at her.
    “And one more thing,” he said, as she flicked her swimming eyes up to capture his.
    ***
    “I do want to leave Gardiner, that’s true,” Lucas admitted. “A few weeks. A month tops. I want to move to Billings. But I won’t”—he slid off the couch, dropping to one knee beside her, his heart beating furiously with the enormity of what he was about to do—“unless you agree to come with me.”
    He pulled a small box out of his back pocket and opened it. Inside was a silver ring with a sparkling stone on top. “It’s just a crystal,” he said as she stared at it, covering her open mouth, tears coursing down her face. “Someday, when I can, I’ll replace it with something better. I’m a hard worker. I promise.”
    He smiled at her, pulling one of her hands away from her