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Chapter 16
December 23rd 2005

They enjoyed the rest of the day, taking a tour of the Louvre, walking the grounds around the Eiffel Tower, before taking the trip to the top. Brian was afraid of heights so he stayed at the bottom with baby Winifred, waiting in the gift shop under the building.
“It’s incredible up here!” Win shouted as she looked out over the lit up city. The night had come quickly and the entire structure blazed with lights and the city sparkled below them as if glitter had been scattered all over. Latecia twirled in excitement getting to see the view.
“It’s wonderful, it sure is,” Brianna remarked, leaning on the railing and looking out over the city. AJ took a picture of Win leaning out over the railing, her arms outstretched, taking in everything she could with all her senses.
“You feel like flying up here!” she laughed as AJ leaned on his elbows next to her on the railing. She did the same, pressing her shoulder to his.
“AJ, do you realize how beautiful you are?” Win asked, putting a gloved hand up to his face.
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that question?” he smiled.
“It’s so exhilarating up here. It’s like getting up on top of the world, above your problems, above everything that is wrong with the world. And you’re up here, you must be an angel AJ, you must be. You look so damn at home in the clouds and the stars. Up here where the wind is blowing and the snow falls. You got to be God’s most beautiful angel, and you’re standing here beside me, looking at me with brown eyes so sad that it makes a person want to cry and love you all the time.”
‘Wow, where did all that come from?”
“Maybe I’m turning into a poet, you never know,” she grinned at him, kissed him on the lips then turned to look at the view again.
“This is it, AJ, right here, this spot. It’s too magical to not want to do something magnificent and grand, something that your rationale would tell you is impulsive and rash. Have you ever just wanted to do something that makes you feel like you’re really alive, really living instead of just playing the part? Something so crazy, that you don’t even feel the breath of change in you until it’s happening?” She turned to him again and he was watching her with his head cocked.
“What did you have in mind?” he asked.
“AJ, if I knew the answer to that, I wouldn’t need my angel,” the snow was falling steadily and it fell in her hair and caught on her eyelashes. She looked like an iced cake, a perfect figurine in snow globe, lips rosy in the lights and smile radiant from her inner glow.
“So you want me to figure out something to do then?” he asked.
“Why not?” she turned to him again, serious this time. He felt his stomach jump and he realized what she might be talking about. His grandfather’s words boomed in his ears so loud he thought the entire continent could hear them.
“I would think about popping the question soon my boy, very soon. Do not let her get away.”
“Daddy! Lets go sing Christmas carols with Uncle Brian!” Latecia shouted, running at him full force and hitting him in the back of the knees.
“All right baby girl, lets go then.” AJ turned to see Win staring at him. She had a sweet smile on her face as she pulled her hat back on and readjusted her stole. He watched for a sign of something and saw her wink. It kindled the smallest flame in his heart, and he was glad to receive it. After all, it was Christmas, and if there was one gift he wanted, it was Win, and all that she entailed.
He stooped to pick up Latecia, Brianna following him and Win to the elevator and off the viewing platform. On the way down Win leaned into him and kept a hand on his back, pressing gently so as to remind him she was there. But he couldn’t have forgotten. She dominated his thoughts all the time. His thoughts were divided in two, one half for Latecia, the rest was all Win. He loved her for it. He loved that smile that left an imprint in his heart. He loved her for being his family. He loved her because he knew, for the first and last time in his life he had found true love. The kind that knew no physical understanding. The kind that took place only in subtle touches, knowing glances, connections of thought, no words involved. And that’s when AJ McLean fell, irrevocably and irreversibly in love with Winifred Caldon, when he knew it, admitted it and was not afraid of it.