After all of the chaos caused my the surprising proposal, the guests left--not forgetting to give their congratulations to the couple--and the rest headed to bed.
Noel was sitting down on her bed--knees to her chest, leaning on the head-board, and holding a mug of coffee, and all--as she heard the last murmurs of Harry's family and her's as they prepared for bed.
Gemma walked in with a smile, putting her own mug down on a bedside table. She took Noel's hand and smiled. "Nice rock."
"A little too nice," Noel mumbled with guilt. She was happy to be in a healthy relationship with Harry again; she really was. But the idea of marriage slightly scared her. What if things fell apart? What if she wasn't the woman he wanted after all? What if they just eventually stopped loving each other? All of these questions raced through her mind, and they couldn't have made her even more sick than she already was.
"You don't need to say 'yes' to him if you don't feel ready."
Noel shot Gemma a look. She looked afraid. "But what if that ruins it all?"
Gemma casually shook her head. "I mean, yeah, marriage would make Harry happy, especially because he found a girl like you. But if he knows that you're not ready for it, he'll wait for you."
"It's not necessarily that I'm not ready," Noel said with complete honesty, "It's just that, well, I'm just afraid that we'll have another fall out, and then our marriage will just be broken."
Gemma gave Noel a sad smile and rubbed her shoulder. She felt sympathy for her panicky friend/hopeful sister-in-law.
"Just think it over, and everything will be okay in the end." Noel nodded at her, trying to calm herself the best she can as she sipped her coffee. The door quietly squeaked open to reveal Harry, who seemed just as panicky as Noel. With one last smile, Gemma left the room.
"I heard what you guys were, um, talking about." Harry took a seat next to Noel and gave her a pleading look. "Like Gemma said, if you're not ready, everything will be fine. I mean, you have a right to be worried. Maybe I was taking things too fast. Maybe we're just not ready for this yet? Maybe-"
"Yes."
"Yes-what?"
Noel looked into Harry's eyes and saw a sparkle in them. Her heart raced at the sight of him that she felt the corners of her mouth slightly perk up.
"Yes, Harry. I, uh, I want to marry you. I really do," Noel spoke with as much confidence as she can get out.
Harry instantly hugged her and kissed her forehead. He was happy, and she was almost happy. She just needed to clear up one last thing.
"Can you just promise me something?"
"Y-yeah, anything."
She was about to let go of all of the built-up insecurities that she held for as long as she could remember. She knew she wanted this. So, she fought for it.
"Just promise me that whatever happens, like, if you or I fall out of love, or if we argue over something trivial that flares up into an entire messy web, that we'd still be there for each other?"
And immediately right after she asked this of Harry, she heard the four most amazing words of her life.
"I promise I will."
• • •
Author's Note - January 4, 2016
I'm thinking of just leaving it here with an open ending, but I'm not completely sure. Maybe I'll write a couple more parts soon if I'm feeling up to it :) But for now, The Christmas Journals is (technically) complete <3
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