First Day Of My Life ((Mack))

[Alexander Promise R7]

Alex smiled softly as Mack put her wand again, after once more receiving no prizes. Part of Alex was very upset that his girlfriend hadn’t gotten anything, but another part of him thought it was really cute when she got frustrated over it. They weren’t exactly amazing prizes anyways. Besides, it was better she got nothing then got a curse. Alex shrugged as Kennedy laughed and told Mack that she had rotten luck, getting a snide but joking comment back from her. It was always entertaining to see Mack and Kennedy go at it. It always shocked Alex that Mack and Kennedy had been in the same house and year for so long, and Alex and Kennedy had been friends since they had been taking Care of Magical Creatures classes together, and yet Kennedy had never introduced, or had the opportunity to introduce, Mack to Alex. When Alex had realized that he and Mack shared a close friend, it had been quite humorous. All those years of being just a person away from each other. Alex had thought about that a lot. About how many times he had probably just barely missed Mack in the hallways. About how he had probably seen her in classes and never talked to her. About how something had always stood between him and her. All the way up until that day on the train. It really had changed Alex’s life. It was funny how fate could to that to you, sometimes there were just certain times when things were supposed to happen.

Just as Mack slipped her hand into Alex’s, linking their fingers, Skyler joined them, and Alex wasn’t given a chance to enjoy being so close to Mack. If there was one thing Alex really did appreciate about his and Mack’s relationship, it was the fact that when they were together they were always together. They made it very obvious to everyone around them that they were together and Alex loved that. He loved that they were such an obvious couple and that neither of them felt the need to keep their love from the world. They were together and they didn’t care what others thought. Alex smiled and was about to say hello to Skyler when Skyler said hello to him and Mack. Wow, there was another shocker. Finding out that the kid whom had been talking to Alex nonstop had fainted at the sight of Mack just a few days later. How very interesting that had been. Call him crazy, but Alex didn’t know how he felt about other guys fainting at the sight of his girlfriend. True, it had later been explained to Alex that Skyler just simply idolized Mack, and was a fan of her music, but even that was a bit strange for Promise. Not normally did guys do that either. Oh well, Skyler was proving to be quite the interesting little first year...if not a bit clingy at times. Alex watched Skyler light up a box, and then turned his attention to the most recent student at the games.

Almost before he realized who the newcomer was, Alex had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that something about Mack’s attitude had changed. He just, knew her that well. When Alex realized that it was Celia that had walked up, it all clicked in his mind. He could still remember the look Mack had given him when he had told her that he had spent a few moments sitting on a bench with Celia, watching a sunset. It hadn’t been one of his favorite looks he’d ever gotten. Alex glanced back and forth, from Celia as she picked a box, to Mack as she watched the girl as well. Mack finally squeezed Alex’s hand, and Alex squeezed hers back, whishing she’d look at him so he could give her that look that told her she was being silly. It was no use though, because Mack’s mind was on something else. A few moments later Mack turned her attention to Skyler, though Alex knew she was just trying to avoid Celia, and then after commenting on the first year’s recently granted curse, she turned and kissed Alex, whom had been waiting for it, before leaving quickly. With a frown, Alex turned and asked Kennedy if he’d mind watching the booth, and once all of that was worked out Alex turned, and hurried off in the direction Mack had gone. When he caught up to her she was a ways away from the bonfire, and the sounds of kids talking and having a good time was just a mumble in the background. Alex reached for Mack, taking her hand and turning her around to face him. He pulled her close and smiled at her for a few moments, before pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear and kissing her forehead, whispering. “I wished it was you with me watching that sunset, you know.”

[Mackenzie Holden]

Mack knew that Alex wouldn't be happy with her departure. She knew she had left a bit too quickly and she knew that he would probably, most likely, chase after her. She knew that his gears were clicking in his head the moment he spotted Celia, which had been a moment or so after Mack had seen her, and she knew that he wasn’t going to let her walk off without knowing how much he loved her. This wasn't the reason why Mack left in such a rush, though, she just really couldn't deal with the fact that Celia was there. Mack had, honestly, no reason at all to feel the way she was feeling. She knew she was blowing it a bit out of proportion, she knew that there was no strong reason for her to feel so jealous except for the fact that Celia had shared something with Alex that she hadn't shared with him recently. Mack was a girl, though, a girl so deeply in love that she would do strange things or act a strange way. She couldn't help but feel the way she did and she knew that Alex wasn't going to like it, but she couldn't do anything to change it. All she could hope was that perhaps he would catch her later and let her know just how much he loved her and no one else. Mack ran her fingers through her hair, letting it fall from behind her ears, before crossing her arms over her chest and heading over to the bonfire slowly. She could hear the laughter and chatter from everyone having a good time, the awe's from people who were amused with the sparklers, and the students who were running around with smiles plastered across their faces. Everything around her seemed grey and dull, though, not nearly as bright and colourful as it would have normally.

Her eyes had been cast down as she walked, watching her feet scrunch against the grass, and so it wasn't surprising when she didn't notice that Alex had caught up with her. It was convenient that at that precise moment, Mack had uncrossed her arms because that was how he got her attention. He grabbed her hand turned her around to face him gently, pulling her closer to him, close enough that she could smell the scent that she loved so much in the air. There were no words spoken as he smiled at her, and she managed a small smile back, and when he pushed some of her hair behind her ear. It was when he kissed her forehead that he spoke. She let out a rush of air as she closed the gap between them and wrapped her arms around him, resting her head against his chest and closing her eyes, "I…I know," she whispered back after they had stood like that for a bit, "I know you did. I don't know what's wrong with me, Alex. I just…" she shook her head slightly and then looked up at him with sad blue eyes, "I feel like she got something, she shared something with you, that I've not shared with you in months. Remember when we were at your house over the hols, and we'd just sit and watch the sun set? Remember all those times we just goofed around outside on the grass as the sun went down? It's difficult now, here, knowing that we can't have those things because we're so busy or… because we can't always be together every second of every day like we had been before." Mack paused here, taking a deep, shaky, breath before continuing; knowing he wouldn't like her next words, "How do we know that you won't want that? That you won't want to find someone you can be that way with all the time? Someone you see in classes…someone….someone like Celia?"

She stared at him, her eyes still sad but more frightened now than sad. Yes, the sadness was there, but the fear that she might lose him was unbearable. Intolerable. Mack had never really allowed herself to become too dependent upon one person since the whole Jack issue. She had depended upon him for too many things and when he disappeared, she had lost a part of herself. Not the part that Alex held now, but her song writing Jack had taken with her – and that wounded Mack deeply. Now, Alex held a lot more in his hand than he might have realised. He held her entire heart and soul and he was the one that Mack wanted to spend the rest of her life with, even though they hadn’t really spoken about all of that. If something happened where she lost him, Mack wouldn't… she wouldn't be able to go on; she knew she wouldn't be able to. Losing Alex was now, and forever will be, her greatest fear. She stared at him a moment longer and then buried her face in his neck, breathing in his scent, letting it relax her like it almost always did.

[Alexander Promise R7]

Alex could tell that Mack wasn’t ok the moment he smiled at her. Normally, if everything was fine, smiling at Mack would lead to her smiling back, and smiling a good smile at that. This time however, all Mack had managed was a small smile, and Alex always hated when she could only smile small smiles. It meant something was really on her mind, something big enough to affect her happiness. Nothing meant more to Alex then Mack’s happiness. Nothing every had meant more to him, and nothing ever would. Her happiness was his happiness. If she was happy, he was happy. That’s how his day went; if Mack was having a bad day, he was having a bad day, and then they could have a bad day together and try and make it better together at the end of it. That was it; they were together. They were together in all things; that was why her happiness meant his happiness, and his meant hers. They functioned off of each other. That’s how it always had been really. Maybe not from the first moment they’d met, but not too long after that for sure. I mean, hadn’t Alex wanted nothing more than to make sure Mack wasn’t scared of the train? And now Alex wanted nothing more than to give Mack a reason to really smile again. Finally Mack wrapped her arms around Alex, closing the space between them, and Alex in turn wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight to him as she rested her head on his chest.

Alex closed his eyes, resting his head against hers, waiting for her to speak her mind. He knew her thoughts were working their way to the surface, they’d just need time. Mack’s head moved and she looked up at him. Alex looked at her lovingly, his arms still wrapped around her tight, not wanting to let her get an inch further away from him. As she spoke he smiled, thinking about the summer holidays she mentioned. She was right, then they had been able to spend twenty four hours a day together, and now school was getting in the way. Wow, that was a strange thing to say, that school was getting in the way? Alex had never said that before. But now it was true. School was getting in the way of him and his girlfriend. Girlfriend, the more Alex thought that word the more he realized just how unfitting it was. But the fact remained, what Mack was saying about their times together was true. When they had first gotten together, they had gotten used to being with each other all day. They had been forced to adjust to being apart once school had started, and that fact was eating away at them. They needed to be together, remember?

The problem with what Mack was saying was the last part. Alex frowned and as Mack finished and then stared at him, he tried to hold tears from his eyes. As much as the thought of Alex wanting to be with someone else might have hurt Mack, it killed Alex. The idea that he could possibly ever be with another person, the concept of living without Mackenzie Holden, was not one that Alex could comprehend. Mack had become his world, she had become his everything. She was his morning, and his night. His first and his last thought of the day. And she occupied his dreams; day and night time ones. Alex’s life revolved around Mack. It wasn’t possible for his life to go one without her. It never would or could. Mack buried her face in Alex’s neck by now, and all he could do was hold her and try to get all his thoughts in order. He held her, and moved a hand to run his fingers through her hair, feeling her relax in his arms. After a few moments of that he pulled back to look her in the eyes. “Do you remember when I first told you I loved you? And you asked why? And I told you that I could spend forever giving you reasons? Well, Mackenzie Holden I really meant that. Every word of it.” Alex paused and smiled, taking a deep breath so he didn’t break down. “I love you for so many reasons that when I get to thinking about it they block up my head and nothing else but why I love you makes any sense. I can’t think of anything else because there are so many reasons they just fill up all of my consciousness. There are more reasons then you could count. And do you know something else? There are no reasons in there at all for why I could ever love someone else.

“Honey, yes, our time is spent on a million different things now and we cant be together twenty four seven but you know that I think about you all the time right? That even when we’re not together you’re on my mind? That even when I’m sitting on a stupid cold bench in the stupid chilly weather, with a girl that isn’t who I want her to be, and I’m forced to make rounds, not having a single clue where my girlfriend is, except that she’s off with Kennedy who just might be making moves on her, that I’m still thinking of you and only you?” Alex paused to laugh at his joke about Kennedy, and to take a breath, and to pull back just a bit more. “You know something else? You know that you’re the only one I ever want to be with? You know that I could never love anyone like I love you? I’ve never been in love like this, and I know I never will be with anyone else. You’re it for me and I know it.” He paused again and smiled lovingly at her. “You know that when I say girlfriend all I can think about is how much you deserve a title more fitting to our relationship? You know that when I call you Mackenzie Holden it just doesn’t sound right in my ears?” He pulled back just the final step so that he could reach into his pocket. “You know that I wasn’t gonna do this until Christmas and yet this seems like the absolute perfect time?” From inside his pocket he pulled a small black box, and as he slowly moved to kneel down on the grass, he opened it to reveal a simple silver looking ring (for if you knew anything you’d know it was white gold, seeing as Alex was never a fan of the yellow color of real gold, and besides it just screamed Gryffindor) with a small diamond on the top, and then looked up at her. “You know that I want you to marry me? Because then you can be my fiancé, and then my wife, and I’ll be able to call you Mackenzie Promise.”

[Mackenzie Holden]

She knew it was coming before it happened. He pulled back to look at her, and she tried hard not to just bury her face in his neck again. She felt somewhat ashamed that she had even thought the things she did, but she couldn't help it. There were many things that Mack just couldn't help. She knew that most of the things that she couldn't help were things that he struggled with as well and that just made her feel even worse. He could handle them, but she couldn't? What did that say about Mack's character? She wasn't very strong, was she? Or did she only see herself as weak? Did love make you weak? Mack refused to think that love could have any negative effect on a person, because how could something so amazing, something so positive, have such an ugly effect? It couldn't. People doubted and grew hateful feelings toward each other because of stupid reasons, not because of love. And people weren't weak while in love, they were just more dependent upon someone other than themselves. Mack looked at Alex as he spoke, moving a hand to tuck a stray strand of her hair behind her ear as she listened to him. Her attention was completely on him and she stared into his eyes, something she didn’t do with anyone else unless she was angry or annoyed. She always looked into Alex's eyes, though, because she felt like they connected more when they held a conversation and she looked into his eyes. Besides that fact, she loved looking into his eyes because she got lost in them; she loved doing that almost as much as she loved playing with his hair and listening to him talk. It must have been his accent. She nodded now, "I remember…" her voice sounded so tiny.

The next time Alex spoke, he spoke for a length that Mack couldn't interrupt. And it wasn't like she would have interrupted anyway. Everything he was saying, every single word, made her heart stop for a second and then start again at double the speed it had been previously. She listened to every word like it would be the last one she ever heard from him. She had never heard such glorious words like the ones he was speaking now in her entire life and it made her feel like she could fly. Although, she knew if she tried – she would fail miserably. When Alex did pause, Mack managed to whisper, "Kennedy wasn't making moves on me…" she knew that it wasn't something Alex had planned on elaborating on, but Mack couldn't help but say that. She knew he was joking, but she didn't want it to turn into a jealousy that shouldn’t be there…quite like her current jealousy. They had enough jealousy as it was. Alex seemed to be taking a deep breath, and Mack wondered if that was because he was upset with her and how she was handling things, or if it was because he had reason to be nervous about something. Mack watched him intently, laughing slightly when he mentioned the fact that the girlfriend title didn't sound right; wondering if that was an implication of something or if he was just… talking. She noticed he had taken a small step back from her, but she didn't act on it. It would all be okay, she kept telling herself, why would any negative come out of this? The truth was, Mack just hated when it seemed like Alex was pulling away from her.

He was about a hand's reach away from her now, and he was reaching into his pocket. Mack didn't take her eyes off his, though, even though she was curious to see what he was pulling out of his pocket. She figured she would find out soon enough. Then, her breath caught in her throat and her head got light, and she felt like she would just topple over if a breeze blew by at that precise moment. She watched him get down on his knee, holding a black box open, a black box that held a small white gold ring with a diamond… holding a black box that held an engagement ring. When Mack finally did get her breathing back, it was hard to keep it regular. First, her breathing was slow and shallow, and then it grew faster and she felt like she might hyperventilate. Alex spoke, ending with 'Mackenzie Promise' and all Mack could do was stare. That was all she was able to do. Her jaw hung open slightly, her lips forming a small 'o,' and she knew she was shaking visibly. After an eternity seemed to pass, Mack gained control of her limbs, and she reached for his hand, taking the ring box and pulling him up from the ground. She wasn't saying anything yet, because she hadn't gained control of her brain and what it was telling her to do completely, but she was able to pull him close to her and kiss him. This kiss was different than their other kisses because this kiss was… was an answer. It was her yes, her I love you, her… this kiss just held everything.

Mack was certain that this kiss made the world stop. All the other kisses had only given the illusion that the world had stopped, but this one? This one made the world stop. There was no one else, no laughter, no chatter, no stars in the sky, no moon, no lake, no bonfire, no anything. The world was empty except for Mack and Alex, and she loved it that way. The kiss ended all too soon, but even when she pulled away; the world did not exist. The world was just an empty vast space even as she spoke. Her lips were still on his, her eyes still closed, and her voice was a whisper… so it gave off the air that it was all the more powerful, all the more imperative, and all the more memorable; "I know. You know, my kiss was my answer if that was your question?" An uncontrollable smile crossed her face, but she didn't pull away anymore; she didn't want to be any further apart from him.

[Alexander Promise R7]

Alex smiled lovingly at Mack when she quietly assured him that Kennedy wasn’t in any way making moves on her during their rounds. Of course, Alex knew that. He trusted Mack, and he trusted Kennedy, and Alex couldn’t see a single reason in the world why either of them would want to hurt him like that. At first, when they had all started hanging out Alex had taken their way of picking on each other to be a subtle form of flirting, and yes, he had been slightly jealous, but Mack always knew when something was bothering Alex, he couldn’t keep anything from her. So that night she had pried the words out of him and they’d talked and kissed and held each other, and when it was all over Alex knew he’d never lose her to someone else. Especially not Kennedy, please, Kennedy had enough girl problems. Alex was positive that unless Kennedy was completely out of his mind he wouldn’t do anything nearly as stupid as go after Mack. Which would result in wasted time and the loss of his head. Alex had problems with jealousy, just as much as any other guy who was in love did. He absolutely hated the moments he was away from Mack, which made it all the more hard for him to see her so torn up about a stupid sunset on a stupid bench with some other girl. It really had meant nothing, but he understood the way she was feeling. He’d felt the same way before, and he knew that they’d work it all out.

As Alex spoke he stepped slowly away from Mack, which pained him just as much as he knew it pained her. Being apart from her, like I said, was not something he ever enjoyed. But there was a reason for it this time. Proposing to Mack was something Alex had been thinking about for quite some time. And buying the ring had been quite the pain. He was never away from Mack, and so he hadn’t had the ability to actually go somewhere to buy the ring himself. Instead, Chrys had been shopping for him back home. They’d been writing back and forth and she had been sending him pictures of the rings that she found that were similar to the one he had in his head. Finally she sent him the picture he was pleased with, and the ring had been shipped shortly after. He’d had the box in his pocket for about two weeks now, keeping it safe...even though carrying around an engagement ring in your pocket might not have been the best idea out there, it was what he had done. And a good thing to because the moment had come and he had been prepared for it. Here he was, proposing to Mack. Dropping onto one knee and fumbling over words until he finally found a way to say it that worked. A way to say it where it made sense, where it sounded good; where it got out his thoughts.

Alex smiled up at her as he finished his little speech, and tried to hold back a chuckle as Mack just stared at him. She was shaking and he wanted nothing more than to stand up and wraps his arms around her, but he needed to wait for her reaction. He needed her to make the step so that he didn’t feel like he was pulling her into something that there was a possibility of her not wanting. So he waited and finally she pulled him from the ground and took the ring box, and as she pulled him close he wrapped his arms around her waist tight, and when she kissed him he kissed her back happily. Within seconds he forgot where he was, or what was going on around him. He was sucked into her kiss. His mind started spinning, not on anything particular, but have you ever had that feeling where you close your eyes and it seems like the world is spinning around you? But you’re not dizzy and you don’t get sick, you just...enjoy the way everything’s moving. Because that’s what this kiss did to him. Mackenzie was all there was to the world; there was no ground, no air, no sky, no forest nearby or bonfire burning. There were no other people, and no other living things. Nothing existed except for him, and her, and their kiss. Alex could have spent a lifetime in that kiss, but when it finished he was still just as happy. The world came back but it was different now, and as he listed to Mack whisper, his hands moved to take the box back from her. His eyes were still closed, and his body was still close to hers, and he fiddled with the box for a bit before getting the ring out. It took him a few minutes to find the right finger without looking, but he managed to slide the ring onto her hand and whisper back. “This is the first day of our life, Mrs. Promise-to-be.”

[Mackenzie Holden]

Mack felt the ring slide onto her finger as Alex put it on, her breathing had slowed down to nearly nothing and as the ring fit perfectly, she was pretty sure it had slowed down to nothing completely. Mack was nearly certain she wasn't breathing as he spoke, and it wasn't until he had finished that Mack caught her breath again and started to breathe in and out slowly. She curled her hand into a loose fist, feeling the band beneath her hand, and then she opened her eyes and looked down at it. It was so weird seeing it. It was so odd to see a ring, besides her star ring which was always on the middle finger of her right hand, on her hand. It wasn't a bad sight, it was a good sight, but it was still so strange. It was like when you pass by the same place every day for 10 years and there is a wooden bench there that is painted white, and then one day when pass by it again, there's a huge red heart in the middle of it. It's not a bad thing, it adds light to the bench, adds happiness, but it's new because for the past 10 years the bench had been white….just white, that's all. Mack's hand had been bare, but now there was this ring on it and well…it was a nice ring and it made her hand look happier, not so empty. A memory filtered into her mind. It was of her mother, sitting on a couch, holding her wedding ring and engagement ring from Derreck in her fingers. She was just staring at them blankly, just blankly- with no emotion on her face. Finally, she realised Mack was standing in the same room as her, and for the first time in years, Pam had told her why exactly she had wanted out of the relationship. "It's too much of a burden, Mackenzie. This ring used to make me feel so free, it meant I was independent of my parents, but I became so dependent on Derreck that life just… slipped away from. Reality just slipped away from me. The ring went from making me feel free, to making me feel weighted down. I feel a billion times less heavy now that the ring is off. The memory's still there, though… I don't think it'll ever leave me be."

The ring that was on her finger, glinting in the firelight and moonlight, was never going to be a burden. It wasn't ever going to symbolise something that Mack wanted out of. The ring was not going to be like the ring that her mother wore, because this ring was something more to Mack than that ring had been to Pam. Pam had seen her engagement and wedding rings as something to symbolise her freedom from her parents. Mack was already free from her parents. Mack didn't have to see the ring as something that symbolised that. Her ring symbolised something far more powerful. It symbolised love and forever. The ring wasn't something that would easily be taken from her, lost, or broken. This ring was always going to, forever, be a part of her. Without the ring physically on her finger she might feel a bit lost and alone, but she knew that she would never be completely lost or alone because she would always have Alex to be a part of her. He would always be inside her heart, he would always be inside her head, he would always just be. That's how things were and that's how they were always going to be. Mack was no long going to be Mackenzie Sara Holden. She was going to be Mackenzie Sara Promise. The name, even just the name, sounded right. It sounded like it clicked. And it wasn't because it had that star bell appeal to it like she had told him on the train the day they had met, it was because it sounded like it was always supposed to be that way. Mackenzie Sara Promise… Mackenzie Sara Promise… "Mackenzie Sara Promise…" she whispered as she continued to look at her ring. Her ring. Her ring. The ring that she was wearing on her left ring finger from Alexander Promise. No one else would be getting this ring, because it was hers. He was hers.

Mack looked up at her fiancé and smiled softly, letting that word roll over in her head for a moment. Fiancé. Fiancé. "Fiancé…" She whispered as she looked at him, "Is that so strange to hear? It still doesn't fit does it? It still means less than what we are… but for now, we are engaged. Engaged, Alex." They were engaged. Mack felt really light headed from this rush of news, and so she sank onto the grass beside the bonfire, but not too close beside it, and pulled Alex, her fiancé, down beside her. She breathed in deeply and looked at him, linking the fingers of her left hand and his right, and just stared at him. She could safely say, she never saw this coming. Not even if he was going to do it at Christmas… "Christmas? Really? What was your plan for that?"

[Alexander Promise R7]

Alex smiled softly and took Mack’s hands in his as she whispered her new full name to herself, or at least, what her name would be soon enough. They still had one more year to go before they were out on their own as true adults. And Alex’s family was never going to allow him to get married while he was still in school. So he and Mack would have to be engaged for this bit of time until they could have a wedding and be official. An official married couple. Most of the time the parents of a teenager wishing to ask his girlfriend to marry him would frown on the idea, but Alex’s parents, or at least his mother, had been rather supportive. She had made him assure her that he would wait to be officially married until after he left Hogwarts, but other than that she had no objections to he and Mack being engaged. She had grown quite fond of Mack during the short period of time over the summer she had been at their house. Not to mention the entire Promise family had seen how happy Mack made him, so why would they turn down his requests? Alexander Promise has always been a smart young man capable of making good decisions. Why would this one be any different?

Aside from the facts that Alex’s family respected his decision, and wished him happiness, they also knew that there was no reason to fear for the young couple having a rough start. Well, having a rough start as far as money goes. For Alexander and Chrystine Promise, the future was secured; though Chrys had every intention of breaking away from the family business to do some work more closely knit to the muggle world she had lived in all her life. Alex however, knew exactly what he wanted to do. He wanted nothing more than to inherit his father’s estates and business. The griffins had been his life up until Mack had come along, and they were still held close to his heart. Money would never be a problem in Alex and Mack’s life, nor would house, or expenses. They would be free to a none-problematic economical life. And so, neither of Alex’s parents could find a logical argument to prevent him from asking the one girl he’d ever loved to marry him. Besides, Alex’s parents had married young as well.

“Mackenzie Sara Promise has a nice ring to it eh?” Alex grinned and then nodded as Mack once again whispered to herself, this time the word being fiancé. Alex could not hold back the bright smile from his face as she looked at him. He nodded as she spoke and then wiggled slightly in happiness, as was his habit. “We’re engaged. And soon enough we’re going to be married.” Alex chuckled as Mack pulled him down onto the grass, and then as she linked their fingers he didn’t hesitate to pull her into his lap, facing him, sliding his thumbs on hers lightly. “Yes, Christmas. I figured it’d be the perfect present, and so now I’ll have to find something good to give you for the holidays.” Alex leaned and kissed her softly. “I was assuming we’d get together some time on Christmas. I wanted to do it in front of my family, or your sister, or someone else, but now that it’s happened I’m glad it was just me and you. It’s so...so much more personal. And I think it’s something that we should share alone, so here we are right? Engaged.”