Chapter 15 - Christmas Morning
That night, Emily didn't go back to the South Garden Suite after we tucked Mia into bed.
She stayed in my master bedroom as the snow piled high against the windowpanes and the fireplace cast golden shadows across the high ceilings. For the first time, we belonged to each other completely—slow, reverent, and overwhelming, stripping away every scar of her past and every cold wall of mine until there was nothing left between us but skin, whispered promises, and a love that felt like it had been forged in fire.
When Christmas morning arrived a week later, the mansion smelled of pine needles, cinnamon rolls, and hot cocoa.
Mia woke the entire household up at six in the morning by charging into my bedroom in reindeer pajamas and jumping directly onto the center of the king-sized bed, landing between me and a very flustered Emily, who quickly pulled the cashmere duvet up to her chin while I laughed into my pillow.
"Santa came! Santa came!" Mia shouted, bouncing up and down like a human pogo stick. "Grandma Eleanor is already downstairs by the big tree! Get up, Uncle Logan, you're sleeping like a bear!"
Downstairs in the grand salon, a twenty-foot Fraser fir stood glittering with warm white lights. Yet, despite the mountain of toys my mother and Ryan’s security team had spoiled Mia with—including a miniature electric Mercedes-Benz that Ryan had personally modified with a remote-control safety brake—there were two gifts sitting beneath the tree that didn't have shiny ribbons.
After Mia had torn through enough wrapping paper to cover Central Park, I walked over to the tree and picked up a simple, cream-colored legal folder tied with a red velvet string, handing it to Emily, who was sitting beside my mother on the sofa in a soft emerald sweater.
"What's this?" Emily asked softly, untying the ribbon.
She opened the folder and read the official seal of the New York State Surrogate’s Court at the top of the page. Her breath stopped completely.
"I haven't signed my line yet," I said quietly, dropping to one knee on the carpet in front of her and Mia. "Because that isn't a decision I have any right to make without your permission, Emily. Those are legal adoption papers. I know Mia had a good father who loved her before he passed away, and I would never try to erase David’s memory—in fact, I already had a scholarship set up in his name at the school where he taught music. But I want Mia to have a father who is here for every ballet recital, every scraped knee, and every day of the rest of her life. I want her to be a Bennett, legally and completely, so no one can ever make her feel unsafe in this world again."
My mother dabbed at her eyes with a lace handkerchief beside her as Emily stared at the papers, tears streaming silently down her face.
Mia, hearing her name, crawled out of her toy car and waddled over to us, peering closely at the paper before looking at me with wide brown eyes. "Does the paper say you're my daddy now, Uncle Logan?"
A lump the size of a boulder formed in my throat. I looked from the little girl to her mother.
Emily nodded through her tears, her voice choked with overwhelming emotion. "Yes, baby. If you want him to be."
Mia didn't hesitate for a millisecond. She threw her little arms around my neck, nearly knocking me backward onto the rug. "Okay! Then I'm calling you Daddy right now! Look, Daddy, I got a car!"
I buried my face in her tiny shoulder, holding her tight as a tear finally escaped my own eye. Over Mia’s shoulder, I reached into the pocket of my sweater and pulled out the worn blue velvet box my mother had given me on the morning of the St. Regis takedown.
I popped it open with one hand, revealing my grandmother’s antique sapphire ring sparkling in the Christmas tree lights.
"I have one more question, Emily," I said, my voice rough with emotion as Mia gasped at the pretty blue stone. "Wait until spring, or marry me tomorrow—I don't care when, and I don't care if we do it in a courthouse or the backyard. Just be my wife."
May you like
Emily slid off the sofa onto her knees beside us, wrapping her arms around both me and Mia as she kissed my cheek, then my lips, whispering against my mouth, "Yes. A thousand times, yes."
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