Chapter 228 The Final Lap
Christmas had to be postponed slightly because of the wedding. Rather than rushing downstairs to open presents first thing Christmas morning, like she and her sister had done when they were young, Andrea and her family waited until late afternoon to open presents. By then, her mother was done crying about how beautiful the wedding was, and they had transformed the place from a chapel back to the Christmas wonderland Karen required in order for everyone to open presents.
For Andrea, she was content to sit back and watch her family open their gifts, laughing and joking. Charlie had something hilarious to say about every present, whether it was his or someone else’s, and somehow her mother had managed to have gifts for him as well. How she’d pulled that off was beyond Andrea. It was as if Karen had her own secret shopping center in the basement.
“Here’s another gift for you, Case,” Karen said, handing a large package to her husband. Andrea had hoped that one would be last. She’d picked it out special for Case, not realizing at the time that when he opened it, he would be her husband.
“What’s this?” Case asked, reading the tag that it was from Andrea.
“Oh, just a little something I picked out for you,” she said. “It’s not a tie.”
He caught her eyes and started chuckling, but he didn’t say anything about the gift she’d gotten him last year. Hopefully, he would like this one a lot better than that one, even though he’d been polite when he’d opened it.
Case peeled the paper off of the large gift carefully. As soon as he realized what he was looking at, his mouth dropped open, and he looked at Andrea, his eyes wide. “Is this… what I think it is?” he asked, taking the rest of the paper off.
“Yes. I had it painted for you by Angelo Piconni. Do you like it?”
Case finished taking the paper off and stared at the painting for a long moment. It was based on the picture of them kissing at midnight that had been taken their first New Year’s Eve together, but Angelo, one of the most well-known, talented artists alive, and while it had been difficult and expensive to get him to recreate the image, as well as adding the special touches he had to make it even more meaningful, like the checkered flag in the background and the red hearts, but she had managed to get it done, without Case even knowing.
“This is unbelievable,” he said, still staring at it. Eventually, he turned to her. “Thank you so much, babe. I love it.”
“Good,” she said, smiling. It was a far cry from that awful tie. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, so much.” He leaned over and kissed her. The only thing that made him stop was Charlie’s cat calls from across the room.
Later that evening, Andrea sat with a blanket wrapped around her, leaning against Case’s chest as they snuggled on the front porch swing, glasses of champagne in their hands, a soft snow falling out over the yard. She couldn’t help but stare at the ring on his finger. Even if it wasn’t the one she’d picked out for him, it was there just the same. They were married. Nothing, no one, would ever be able to tear them apart.
“Would you have ever thought…?” Case began, stopping midway through his sentence.
“After that first night, sleeping together with a wall of pillows between us?” Andrea asked, smiling up at him.
“A wall you quickly toppled,” he reminded her with chuckle and a kiss on the top of the head.
“In my defense, I was asleep.”
“I guess you just knew what you wanted, even if you weren’t awake at the time.”
“I guess so,” she agreed, giggling. “I don’t know when I knew for certain that I wanted to be with you, but it wasn’t too long after that night. It all happened so quickly.”
“I know when it was for me,” he said, the assuredness in his voice making her turn to look him in the eyes again.
“When?” she asked, staring at him.
“In that moment from the painting—from the picture the painting is based on. When we kissed at midnight on New Year’s Eve at the mayor’s party. I knew right then, I wanted to marry you.”
“Really?” A smile came over Andrea’s face. She’d looked at lots of pictures of the two of them together to try and decide which one to have turned into a painting, but that one had stood out. Now, she knew why.
“Yes. That was the first time I truly felt my heart racing in my chest and thought to myself, ‘This is even more of a rush than racing.’ From that moment, I knew, I wanted to be with you forever.”
Andrea set her glass down on a nearby table and took Case’s from him, setting it aside, too. She moved her hands to either side of his face, and he wrapped his arms around her tightly. “I love you so much, Case Meyer. I can’t believe how lucky I am to be your wife.”
“I love you, too, Mrs. Meyer,” he said with a grin. “I’ll be yours until the checkers wave for the last time.”
She kissed him and everything in the world was right. They’d come a long way, but it had all been worth it to know they’d be with each other until life’s last lap.
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