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After dinner, Kookie waits until everyone is busy watching a movie in the family room downstairs before he invites Emmie up to the living room.  I’m in the middle of clearing the dinner dishes from the dining room table.  On one of my return trips from the kitchen, I catch sight of them and realize he’s chosen this moment to give her the Christmas present that he bought her on Black Friday when we went shopping together.  I am just as eager as he is to see her open her gift, so I pause in the doorway between the kitchen and the space where the living room meets the dining room.

“Emmie?  I got you a little Christmas present,” he begins.

He’s nervously studying his feet as his fingers reach into the big pocket on the front of his burgundy hoodie, so he doesn’t see how her whole face transforms into a picture of pure ecstasy.  But I don’t miss it.  A grin suddenly wreathes my own face to see this sweet girl so happy.

He pulls the prettily wrapped box from his pocket and holds it out towards her.  He’s wrapped it in shiny crimson paper and tied a matching bow around it.  She reaches out and accepts it as her eyes grow large with wonder.

She’s been in love with Kookie for over a decade.  I bet she long ago gave up on ever receiving a Christmas present from him.  With delicious anticipation, she’s probably wondering what on earth he decided to get her.  She pulls on the ribbon, and the bow falls apart.  Then she slides her finger under the tape holding the paper together.  Once she’s removed all the tape, the paper falls away to reveal a lid covering a small white box.  She lifts the lid and gasps.

“Kookie!” she breathes with wonder as her fingers delve inside the box to unearth the charm bracelet.  She smiles suddenly.  

I turn my attention to his face.  He’s completely taken with her.  An expression of such vulnerability rests upon his features for a moment that I find myself breathless.  He’s worried she’s not going to like it.  But I know that isn’t even a possibility.  Emmie would love anything Kookie gave her.

She holds the bracelet up in the air between them as her eyes study all the charms he bought for her.  

“I made it myself.  Mom and I went to Michael’s, and I picked out those charms special just for you,” he mumbles nervously.

Her eyes travel to meet his momentarily.  “I love it, Kookie!”

“You do?” he asks, genuinely surprised.  “Do you understand what the charms represent?”

“I think so.  But why don’t you tell me?” she invites him.

“Well, I think this one is self-explanatory, right?” He fingers one of the charms.

“It’s a green hoodie,” she breathes in awe.

I cover my mouth with my hand as I laugh.  Because this charm is news to me.  Where on earth did he find it?

He searched for one jokingly while we were at Michael’s, but the store had nothing even remotely close to an olive-green hoodie.

Kookie solves the mystery for me.  “It was originally a silver sweatshirt charm.  I finally found one online.  But I painted it olive green to match the hoodie I gave you.”

I can see her expression melting.  What guy does this for any girl – but especially for a girl whom he’s known since kindergarten yet never really noticed till recently?

Then Kookie touches the next charm.  

“A musical note?” she easily identifies it.

“For our shared love of singing.”

“And the courage you gave me to pursue it,” she murmurs as her eyes caress his.

More melting.

“Is this a roller skate and a…Band-Aid?”  She glances up to meet his eye.

He nods briskly.  “Do you remember?”

I’m pretty sure tears are filling her eyes now.  “Yes,” she whispers barely audibly.

“You skinned your knee when I talked you into wearing my roller skates.”

“So you cleaned it for me.  And gave me a Band-Aid.”

They’re staring deeply into each other’s eyes now.  Does Kookie have any idea how amazing this gift is?  If he hadn’t already won her heart, this bracelet would have done the trick for him.

“Is this a…pumpkin?” she giggles.

He smiles.  “I know it’s probably not a good memory.  You did throw up twice.”

“All over you.  On the way to the pumpkin patch.  I still feel bad about that.”  She holds up the next charm.  “A bee?”

He grins crookedly at her.  “You beat me in the fifth-grade spelling bee.”

Her lips twitch.  “You wanted to remember that?”

“I wanted you to remember it.”

Her expression melts again.

“You’re brilliant, Emmie.  Believe in yourself.”

She doesn’t know what to say to that, so she turns her attention to the next charm.  “A pair of glasses?”

“I broke yours.  Remember?”

“What I remember is that you saved me from having to play dodge ball anymore that day.”

They beam at each other.

She squints as she examines another charm.  But she can’t quite make it out.  “What’s this one?”

“A canoe.”

She giggles.  “We both got soaking wet.”

“Just like that night.”  He pulls up another charm.  “A raindrop.  Because I followed you home from the dance in the rain, and we got drenched.”

“After you almost kissed Melody,” she finds the courage to murmur as she studies the floor.

Kookie watches a spasm ripple across her face.  “I’m sorry, Em.”

She meets his eyes.  “What?  Why?”

“That I was such a dunce for so long.”  He inhales sharply before blowing out a deep breath.  “The raindrop is the sign of my epiphany.”

I’m stunned.  For I just recognized the echo.  Jin walking through the pouring rain in his Epiphany music video.  But, of course, that was in the other universe.  Kookie doesn’t know anything about that.  Not here.  In this time.

She wrinkles her brow as she gazes into his dark eyes.  “Your epiphany?”

“Mm-hmm.”  He’s staring intently down at her.  

Suddenly, his hand comes up and his fingers reach for a rebellious lock of her hair.  It’s escaped her ear and floated across her cheek.  His fingers coax it back into its rightful place.  They skim her skin as they do, and her eyes grow wide behind the lenses of her glasses.  Then they flutter shut for just a moment.  A sweet smile teases Kookie’s lips.  Then the pad of his thumb brushes her cheek, and her eyes open in surprise. 

“What epiphany?” she breathes.

She may be breathing, but I’m holding my breath.  Is Kookie finally going to tell her how he truly feels about her?

“That I love you,” he murmurs.

She gasps.  As I swoon.  Ah!  My romantic son!  Stealing my heart right along with hers.

“You do?” she queries with wide eyes and a vulnerable countenance.

“Very much,” he whispers in a husky voice, nodding his head.

Something deep and intense ripples across her face.  “I love you too, Kookie.”  Then she glances at the ground.  “Though that’s probably been obvious to you for years,” she mumbles.

He doesn’t respond, so she looks up at him.  Then she frowns.  “Did you know, Kookie?  That I loved you?  All these years?”

After a moment, he gives an imperceptible nod of his head.

Her eyes grow wide.  She’s a little horrified.  “You knew?” she croaks.

“Emmie…you’ve always been adorable to me.”

Now she’s the one who can’t breathe.  She’s simply staring up at him with a priceless expression on her face.  I wish I had my camera right now.  I’d snap a picture.  Instead, my memory snaps a keepsake of this precious moment.  Which is why I will always remember their first kiss.

Kookie’s smile fades as he leans towards her.  Her eyes flutter shut as a pleased shock ripples across her face.  At the last possible moment, his own eyes close.  Right before his lips brush hers softly.  On Christmas Eve.  In our living room.  Where I’m hoping to one day bounce my grandbabies on my knees.  Kookie and Emmie’s children.  

Could it really happen?  That the girl I have loved like a daughter for nearly her whole life ends up marrying my eldest son?  And gives me some beautiful little spitting images of two of my most favorite people on the planet?

Right now, I’m hoping so.  And witnessing the evidence that it is now a distinct possibility.  No longer just a secret desire of my heart.

Kookie lifts his head a moment later, and Emmie looks like she’s been kissed by a star.  Her whole face is glowing.  Her eyes are still closed.  He gazes down at her with a rapt expression on his countenance for a moment.  It fades a little as she opens her eyes.  She blushes.  Adorable.  She is completely adorable.  They both are.

She suddenly remembers the weight in her hand and glances down at the bracelet.

“What’s this?” she asks a moment later.

He grins.  “A squirt of whipped cream.”  

The pad of his index finger suddenly slides down the tip of her nose.  Her eyes cross as she looks up.  His white teeth are dancing in his face now.  Reluctantly, he removes his finger from her skin.  He peers down at the bracelet.  He reaches out and pulls it out of her hand.  

He fingers the next charm.  “And this one is a cup of hot chocolate.”  He lifts his gaze to hers and flashes that irresistible grin again.  The one that makes his eyes quarter moons.

“Hot chocolate and whipped cream,” she whispers.  “The perfect combination.”

His smile slowly disappears.  “Just like us.”

Her eyes widen in surprise and elation.  “What are you saying?”

He bites his lip as he’s suddenly overcome by a wave of shyness.  He’s staring at his toes again.  But he forces the words out.  “Emmie, will you…will you be my girlfriend?”

She gasps.  And his eyes careen into hers once more.  She nods her head ecstatically.  I can see that she’s bouncing up and down inside.  Some of that frenetic energy is communicating itself through her limbs and even her toes right now.  Her tightly strung body seems to be vibrating.

The sun instantly breaks forth from Kookie’s mouth and lights up his entire countenance.  “Can I help you put it on?” he offers, lifting the bracelet.

She nods and holds out her wrist.  As she glances down at the bracelet that Kookie designed for her, she whispers in awe, “You immortalized all the defining moments of our childhood together.”

He grins up at her as he bends over her wrist.  “And a few from this year too.”

A raindrop.  A green hoodie.  Hot cocoa and whipped cream.  Iconic reminders of the night when Kookie finally realized that he’d fallen in love with his oldest friend.