“Well, I do need to think,” he insisted. “I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do yet, because I can’t continue promoting a book whose theories I can no longer wholly support. Let me deal with that first.”
“No,” she said. “Love should come first.” She stared into his eyes. “Love changes everything, Wynn.” Then, because it was impossible to hold back for another second, she put down her purse and the Yule log and threw her arms around him.
Wynn was stiff and unbending, and then his arms circled her, too. “Are you always this stubborn?” he asked.
“Yes. Sometimes even more than this. Ask Zelda.”
Wynn kissed her. His arms tightened around her, as if he found it hard to believe she was actually there in his embrace.
“That’s the way to handle it,” Max said from somewhere behind them.
Wynn and K.O. ignored him.
“He’s been a real pain these last few days,” Max went on. “But this should improve matters.”
Wynn broke off the kiss and held her gaze. “We’ll probably never agree on everything.”
“Probably.”
“I can be just as stubborn as you.”
“That’s questionable,” she said with a laugh.
His lips found hers again, as if he couldn’t bear not to kiss her. Each kiss required a bit more time and became a bit more involved.
“I don’t believe in long courtships,” he murmured, his eyes still closed.
“I don’t, either,” she said. “And I’m going to want children.”
He hesitated.
“We don’t need all the answers right this minute, do we, Dr. Jeffries?”
“About Santa—”
She interrupted him, cutting off any argument by kissing him. What resistance there was didn’t last.
“I was about to suggest we could bring Santa out from beneath that sleigh,” he whispered, his eyes briefly fluttering open.
“Really?” This was more than she’d dared hope.
“Really.”
She’d been more than willing to forgo Santa as long as she had Wynn. But Santa and Wynn was better yet.
“No hamsters, though,” he said firmly.
“Named Freddy,” she added.
Wynn chuckled. “Or anything else.”
The doorbell chimed and Max hurried to answer it, ushering LaVonne inside. The instant she saw Wynn and K.O. in each other’s arms, she clapped with delight. “Didn’t I tell you everything would work out?” she asked Max.
“You did, indeed.”
LaVonne nodded sagely. “I think I may have psychic powers, after all. I saw it all plain as day in the leaves of my poinsettia,” she proclaimed. “Just before Max called, two of them fell to the ground—together.”
Despite herself, K.O. laughed. Until a few minutes ago, her love life had virtually disappeared. Now there was hope, real hope for her and Wynn to learn from each other and as LaVonne’s prophecy—real or imagined—implied, grow together instead of apart.
“Champagne, anyone?” Max asked, bringing out a bottle.
Wynn still held K.O. and she wasn’t objecting. “I need to hire you,” he whispered close to her ear.
“Hire me?”
“I’m kind of late with my Christmas letter this year and I wondered if I could convince you to write one for me.”
“Of course. It’s on the house.” With his arms around her waist, she leaned back and looked up at him. “Is there anything in particular you’d like me to say?”
“Oh, yes. You can write about the success of my first published book—and explain that there’ll be a retraction in the next edition.” He winked. “Or, if you prefer, you could call it a compromise.”
K.O. smiled.
“And then I want you to tell my family and friends that I’m working on a new book that’ll be called The Happy Child, and it’ll be about creating appropriate boundaries within the Free Child system of parenting.”
K.O. rewarded him with a lengthy kiss that left her knees weak. Fortunately, he had a firm hold on her, and she on him.
“You can also mention the fact that there’s going to be a wedding in the family.”
“Two weddings,” Max inserted as he handed LaVonne a champagne glass.
“Two?” LaVonne echoed shyly.
Max nodded, filling three more glasses. “Wynn and K.O.’s isn’t the only romance that started out rocky. The way I figure it, if I can win Tom over, his mistress shouldn’t be far behind.”
“Oh, Max!”
“Is there anything else you’d like me to say in your Christmas letter?” K.O. asked Wynn.
“Oh, yes, there’s plenty more, but I think we’ll leave it for the next Christmas letter and then the one after that.” He brought K.O. close once more and hugged her tight.
She loved being in his arms—and in his life. Next year’s Christmas letter would be from both of them. It would be all about how happy