The Accidental Wife by Sara Islam

Before | knew it, it was Christmas. | was excited for this one, because that was going to be the first Christmas |

got to spend with my daughter. It had also been six years since 1 last spent Christmas with Emily, so to say that |

was excited would be an understatement. The past six Christmases had been the sfor me. | spent them with

my family, and we exchanged gifts, but | had always felt that something was missing. Emily was missing. | was

pathetic

as | ended up buying her a gift each Christmas when | didn't even know if | would ever see her again or not. Each

Christmas, | remembered my first Christmas with her and the way she looked when she realized that I got her

the sewing machine she had been saving to ge This time, | knew how I felt, and | wanted nothing but to make

her mine. | wanted her to have my last nagain. | wanted to see my ring on her finger. | was giving her time

though, | was sure of my feelings. | was in love with her and wanted to grow old with her; however, | didn't want

her to feel rushed. | wanted to give her all the tshe could ever need,

| didn't know which reaction | was supposed to expect from her. | was aware that what | planned on gifting her

was huge, but she deserved the best.

"You look good in your ugly Christmas sweater!" She grinned, looking at me. She had a red sweater on with

white and green reindeers. What made her extra cute was the reindeer ears she had on. If somebody didn't know

who she was, they would never guess that she was a multimillionaire who owned one of the most successful

fashion brands.

"So do you." | kissed her nose and adjusted the reindeer ears she had over her head. The two of us brought the

snacks from the kitchen to the living room where everybody was. As usual, we were at my parents' place and the

whole family was present. "It's good to finally have you here again on Christmas Harper smiled at my girl who

blushed as she took a seat beside her on the couch.

"Are you ready to exchange the gifts?" Mum exclaimed, earning cheers from her grandchildren.

"Are you

Ansel, Harper's husband, got up from his place and made his way to the Christmas tree to help Mum hand over

the gifts.

"This is for Julian," Mum said, handinga medium-sized box. "It's from Harper and Ansel. The children of our

family knew that adults got each other's gifts while Santa got them gifts, so we freely said in front of them who

got the gift to whom. "Thanks, guys," | said, smiling at them as | took the gift from Mum. | found many things

when | opened the box. Gold cufflinks, a bottle of my favorite champagne, Two VIP tickets to the next gof

my favorite football team and my favorite candy. We all exchanged gifts with each other, and Rosie was over the

moon when she found out that she was going to attend the next concert of her favourite artist. It was Emily's gift

to her, and Rosie was ecstatic because it was also an over-the- sea trip. | liked the fact that Emily ended up

buying a third ticket even though when she made the purchase we weren't dating at that time. She wanted that

trip to be a familial one and | was as excited as my daughter.

"This is yours, Emily." Ansel handed a small box to Emily. | knew that it was my gift.

"Is this your gift to her!" Nosy Harper asked me, and | nodded.

| still couldn't wrap my mind around the gift she got me. She still remembered how much | wanted to go

ziplining, so she booked it for us. In Zanzibar. | told her about that a long tago, exactly when we were

married. | was stunned when | realized that she hadn't forgotten.

| watched as the woman | was dying to call my wife carefully remove the wrapping. She opened the box and

found inside skeys.

"What are those?" she askedwith a small smile on her face.

"That requires a car ride. Are you up for it!" | asked her and she nodded. | loved the enthusiasm | saw in her

eyes. | got up from my place and gently pulled her hand as she stood up. "When will you be back?" Dad asked

us.

"Not really sure," | replied. | couldn't give him a straight answer. We might take an hour or five. | wasn't sure

what to expect. | was about to take Emily to a place | was certain she missed a lot and | didn't plan on leaving

unless she wanted to. -Should

we take Rosie?" Emily asked.

"Leave her here to play with her cousins. We aren't going anywhere," Mum replied on my behalf.

The two of us headed to my car and | started driving.

"Oh my God! Are we presentable enough to go in our ugly sweaters?" | laughed at her question

"Nobody is going to be where I'm taking you but us," | assured her.

"| wonder where you're taking me." | knew how curious Emily was. She was probably dying to know what | was

keeping from her. "Givea hint!" | glanced at her and loved the way her eyes sparkled. True happiness looked

perfect on her. TUGAS JUNT

Chapter 65

| hummed, then smirked as | stole another glance at her. "You've been to that place before, but you haven't been

there in so long."

When we stopped at a traffic sign, | looked at her. She was thinking hard, trying to guess where | could be taking

her, but | was certain that it would never cross her mind.

"I can't really guess," she whined, throwing her hands in frustration.

"You're about to find

out in exactly ten minutes, | told her.

In less than ten minutes, we finally reached our destination. | parked the car and looked at her face. She was

staring at the house before us in pure awe. | saw the way her eyes glistened, and | wasn't sure how to interpret

that reaction.

| knew that she was going to get emotional; however, | wasn't sure if those tears were out of sorrow or joy. When

Emily disappeared, | vowed to give her back all that was stolen from her, so here | was fulfilling the vow. She

once toldthat she never wanted to leave her