Chapter 9

Two months had passed, and Jamie's first Christmas with Lynn was fast approaching. He found a job in the Men's department at Macy's of all places, and working there made him feel like a kid in a candy store. But he was saving his money for a special gift for her, and with his employee discount he was able to afford what he wanted to buy.

It was Christmas Eve, so Jamie worked a ten-hour shift. When he finally arrived home at eight o'clock, he was exhausted from running around the store catering to his customers' needs. But he had still found the time to make his special purchase, and when he thought of the look on Lynn's face when she saw it, it motivated him to stay up until midnight so he could give it to her.

"Baby? I'm home!" Jamie said as he walked in the house.

He was thrilled to see that Lynn had brought home a live Christmas tree, and he loved the smell of pine that filled the room because of it. His parent's always settled for artificial trees when he was growing up, so this was a welcome sight to him.

"Hey sweetheart!" Lynn said as she ran up to greet him. "What do you think of it?"

"It's beautiful," he said as he kissed her. "How did you get it here in that little car of yours?"

"Your parents and I went and picked it out," she said. "We took your dad's truck. They even helped me bring it in and set it up. Wasn't that sweet of them?"

"Wow, it sure was," Jamie said surprised. "They never went to that kind of trouble when I was a kid."

"Well, as we were on our way to the lot Marlene told me that since this was our first Christmas together it should be extra special," Lynn said. "I mentioned that we always had live trees when I was growing up, so we went and found one that would be perfect. She knew having this would only make our first Christmas even more memorable. It looks as though she may be getting closer to fully accepting our relationship."

"Well, hallelujah!" Jamie exclaimed. "Now that's what I call a true Christmas miracle."

Lynn laughed and said, "Well, I think I've given the branches enough time to settle, so how about we decorate it?"

"Let's do it!" Jamie said.

After the tree was completed, Lynn turned off all the lights. She and Jamie stood in front of it admiring the colored lights, shiny ornaments and the fiber-optic animated angel on top. They sat down on the couch holding their glasses of wine.

"You know something," Jamie said, "that angel on top of the tree must have been modeled after you, the only difference being you are way more beautiful."

"Thank you, sweetheart," Lynn said as she kissed him. "This has already turned out to be the best Christmas of my life."

"It can only get better, baby," he said.

"I can't imagine how," she said teasingly. "Just having you here is enough for me."

"Just wait until the clock strikes midnight," he said. "We are allowed to open one gift from each other at that time."

"Really?" Lynn asked enthusiastically. "I've always waited until the morning."

"I can't wait to see your reaction to what I have for you," he said. "There's no way I'll be able to sleep tonight unless I give it to you before then."

Luckily for Jamie it was five minutes to twelve. He counted down the remaining minutes out loud, just to entice Lynn even more.

"Oh, come on Jamie!" Lynn said, losing control from her excitement. "Do we HAVE to wait until exactly midnight?"

"Well, it's not quite Christmas yet, is it?" he teased. "We still have forty-five seconds to go."

"Grrr!" Lynn exclaimed.

Jamie let out a hearty laugh and said, "Alright, baby. We can open them now. I think I've tortured you long enough."

Jamie went over to the coat closet and took out a small wrapped box from his jacket pocket. Lynn also had a small wrapped box for him. This worried him for a second because he was thinking that she may have gotten him the same thing, and that would have ruined his surprise.

"Merry Christmas, Angel Face," he said as he handed her gift to her.

"Merry Christmas, my darling," she said. "You open yours first."

"Okay," he said as he started to tear open the paper.

When he saw the box was from Macy's, he started to feel panicky. It looked exactly like what he had for her, but he was overjoyed when he saw the stainless silver ESQ Centurion Chronograph watch he had admired when they first went shopping together.

"Oh, baby, this is beautiful," he said. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome, honey," she said. "That's not all. Read the back."

Jamie took the watch out of the box and turned it over to see there was an inscription that read:

'Love you forever. Eternally yours, Angel Face.'

Jamie looked at Lynn and said, "My God, I don't know what to say. This is just so..." he paused, then said, "I love you so much."

"I love you too, sweetheart," Lynn said.

He gave her a long kiss and said, "Okay, your turn."

Lynn smiled and started to open her present. Jamie was beyond excited, and he sat up and braced himself for what was sure to be quite a reaction.

When she opened the box, she immediately started to cry when she saw matching 14k gold wedding bands.

"Oh my God," she said, her voice shaking from emotion.

She then noticed they were engraved with their initials. "JSW" for Jamie Steven Wyatt, and "LMW" for Lynn Marie Wyatt.

Lynn was speechless. She sat there staring at them, the look on her face enough to make Jamie's own eyes well up.

"Oh sweetheart, I love them," she said quietly.

She then looked at Jamie and said, "I am so in awe of you. You have done more than I could have ever asked for to show how much you love me every day, and then you go and do this. You are the one the angel is modeled after."

They hugged each other in such a way it nearly frustrated them they couldn't just crawl inside each other and stay there forever. "I was thinking we need to start making wedding plans right away," Jamie said excitedly, "I can't wait to make you my wife."