12 Days Until Christmas✔️

Epilogue

4 Years Later...

Tinsel and mistletoe decorated the lake house as Christmas carols filled the air, along with the smell of the delicious food waiting to be served. As our annual tradition, our 4 families would stay at the lake house for the week between Christmas and New Year's, today being Christmas. After 2 years and countless motivational speeches from myself and Noah, Daniel finally grew the balls to ask Nora out and the pair have been together ever since. This have also been looking up for Kate after she met a great guy named Toby, who's stayed by her side and has been a great fatherly figure for her daughter Isabella.

Each year our families seemed to grow bigger and bigger, with Daniel's sister giving birth to twin boys, Caleb and Jesse, and Noah's brother and his wife giving birth to a baby girl named Morgan.

At the moment, Morgan had her fist wrapped around Noah's hair and refused to let go while I sat next to him and laughed.

"Hey! It's not funny!" Noah grumbled while trying to pry the giggling baby's fist from his hair.

I covered my mouth with my hand in order to stifle my laughs. "I can't help it okay." In the blink of an eye, Noah was freed from her grip, only for her to grab onto a lock of my hair. "Ouch!" I shrieked when she tugged a bit too hard.

The roles had been reversed and now Noah was the one laughing at me while I glared at him. "Shut up" I muttered.

Noah's hand quickly flew out to cover my mouth and I game him my most unimpressed look. "There are children here who can hear you." He whispered.

With a glare, I licked the back of his hand, hoping he would remove it. Sadly he only smirked and whispered in my ear, "Kinky. I like it."

As soon as he removed his hand I laughed out loud and gave him a soft shove. "Looks who's being inappropriate in front of children now." He merely smirked at me and gave me a peck on the lips.

Anne, Noah's sister and Morgan's mother, chose that moment to fetch her daughter. She picked her daughter off of Noah's lap with a knowing smirk, letting us know that it was nap time. Before she left, she said something that widened by eyes and caused Noah to choke a bit. "You guys would make great parents."

When I didn't say anything Noah said, "We still have a while before we think about having kids though." I merely smiled.

"Just don't take too long before you give me a niece or nephew." She said and left.

*******

This year we decided to be a bit creative and started the Secret Santa tradition. A week ago we all drew names out of a hat and, thankfully, I had received Noah and not one of Daniel's fussy family members. At first I was stumped at what to get him but one afternoon trip, I had the perfect idea.

We all sat in the lounge around the Christmas tree and gave each other their gifts. The gifts included festive jerseys, jewellery, beauty products and when Anne's husband laughed at her gift, a "Take me out of the kitchen" apron, he was gifted a smack. When it came time for me to give Noah his gift I told I'm that he would have to wait til later. Although confused, he asked no questions.

Then it came time for me to get my present. Looking around the room I noticed that Noah hadn't given anyone a present and that everyone was waiting expectedly. Grabbing a small, wrapped box from under the tree, he handed it to me. I unwrapped the box and took in the familiar logo of our favourite charm shop.

I opened the box and my breath caught in my throat. Inside was a miniature wedding ring charm and a red card with the bold letters, Will you marry me?

If I hadn't been sitting I most probably would have fainted. I look up at Noah with tears in my eyes as he takes me hand and slowly goes down on one knee. I hear gasping in the background and I'm almost positive it was Nora and Kate.

I can feel Noah's hand start to shaking in my equally shaking one as he looks at me nervously. "Juliet, you mean the world to me and I would do and give anything to spend the rest of my life with you. The last 4 yours of us being together have made me the happiest man in the world and I have no idea what I would do if I hadn't grown the balls to tell you how madly in love I was, and still am, with you."

He quickly reaches into his back pocket and pulls out the most beautiful diamond ring that I have ever seen. "You are my light, my life, my love and my everything. So are you ready to be my partner in crime for the rest of our lives and marry me?"

I used my free hand to while a fallen tear with an ear-splitting grin on my face. "Yes. Yes. Yes."

With a grin of his own, Noah slipped the ring onto my finger, picked me up and spun me around as I giggled.

As soon as my feet touched the ground, my hips were pulled to his and our lips touched in a breath taking kiss. I can't believe that this is what I can expect for the rest of my life and I was more than excited by that thought.

Suddenly, we were pulled apart by our friends and families as they congratulated us. The girls all huddled around me as they admired the ring and the guys patted Noah on the back and wished him the best of luck with his ball and chain. I chose to ignore that comment because the moment my eyes connected with my soon-to-be husband's, nothing in the world mattered but us.

*****

It was sunset and my body was still tingling from this afternoons events. Hand in hand, Noah and I walked down the lake's dock, enjoying the comfortable silence and each other's company. I wanted to give Noah his present in private because I didn't know how he would react at what I was about to give him. The small box in the back pocket of my jeans was practically burning a hole in the material.

We stopped at the edge of the dock, the setting sun bathing the still water in red, orange and yellow. It couldn't have been a better day. I couldn't have asked for a better person to share this with.

Turning to Noah, I pulled the box out of my pocket and handed it to him wordlessly. His eyes flickered between my face and the box a couple of times before he decided to open it. His reaction almost mirrored mine when he proposed. Wide, misty eyes and a look of shock plastered on his face.

I wrung my hands nervously waiting for an emotion other than surprise to appear on his face and when it did I breathed a sigh of relief. Slowly, a smile started to grow on his face and I grinned in return.

"Are you sure?" he asked taking a step closer to me.

My throat tightened a bit so I merely nodded and placed one of his trembling hands onto my stomach.

"You're pregnant?" he asked almost as if he could not believe it. I would have thought that the charm of a baby would have done the trick.

I simply nodded again with a small laugh. "You're going to be a Daddy."

With an ear-splitting grin, he picked me up and swung me around while I giggled. I've never been more grateful for Noah and his love for me.

When he set me down again, with me securely in his arms, I whispered, "What have I done to deserve you?"

The love in his eyes shine brighter than anything I've ever seen. "It should be the other way around because you are all I've ever wanted and so much more."

And with that I pressed my lips to his and wrapped my arms tight around his neck, never wanting to let go.

*****

A/N:

Merry Christmas Eve/Merry Christmas to everyone. This is the final chapter of 12 Days Until Christmas. Thank you to everyone who stayed until the very end and what better way to end this story than on this special weekend.

I hope you all enjoyed this book. If you did don't forget to click the 'vote' button.

'Til next time.

Mea