Well, Christmas is less than a week away! So I think it's time to post the final chapter of this story. It's been fun.

A quick update, for anyone that might be interested: I am currently working on Gordo's Girls, which chronologically fits into my "Gordo Series" (as Black Knight likes to call it!) directly after Love Finds David Gordon. Here again we will see my OC Nicole, who so many of you seemed to like last time. I won't begin to post until I have all chaps written, but then I will post regularly, so like I've said in the past, you can always begin any of my stories in confidence, knowing I won't leave you in a lurch.

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He stood on the porch, rang the bell. A moment later the door opened, and there was Lizzie, looking a little surprised, her pink lip gloss smile glowing between her jingle bell earrings. "You're early!" she exclaimed.

Gordo hid his hands behind his back, grasping the square flat box, flicking at the bow with his fingertips. "Yeah," he said. "I got out of work early. So…"

Lizzie looked him over, then laughed nervously and said, "So come on in, Gordo."

Gordo stepped into the foyer, like he had a thousand times before, but now, for the first, he felt so awkward. And he didn't feel any less awkward when Lizzie's mom peeked out of the kitchen, gave him a big smile and said, "Hi there, Gordo! My, don't you two look festive!"

For a moment, Gordo had no idea what she was talking about, but then it occurred to him that while he was wore a rich green colored shirt, Lizzie looked wonderful in a bright red sweater.

"Oh…yeah," he agreed from Lizzie's side. "Hi, Mrs. McGuire."

Jo McGuire approached, grinning like mad. "I wish…I wish I had a camera," she said. "You two really do look nice together…you look exactly like…like everything this holiday season is all about…"

"Mom…" Lizzie warned.

"Oh…oh, okay!" her mother gave up. "I have another batch of cookies to put in the oven, anyway. Matt's at Lanny's house, Lizzie, so don't worry, he won't be bothering you. And neither will I," she added with a wink.

"Thanks, Mom," Lizzie said, rolling her eyes.

When Jo McGuire went back into the kitchen and they were once again alone, Lizzie looked at Gordo and giggled nervously. "Moms…"

"Yeah," Gordo agreed. "Moms."

"So," Lizzie said, "are you hungry? Do you want something to eat? Something to drink?"

"No, " Gordo lied. Then, more truthfully, "I just want to see what you got me."

Now Lizzie smiled mischievously. "What I got you…?"

"Yeah, McGuire. What did you get me?"

":I think the real question is…what did you get me?"

At this point Gordo could no longer resist. He brought forward the small box from behind his back, and as anticipated, Lizzie cooed, "Oh! It's that wrapping paper, I love that wrapping paper! Gordo, this is so beautiful. And look at the bow! What a cute little bow."

"Yeah…" Gordo agreed, gratefully thinking, Thanks, Mom…

"Come on," Lizzie said, taking Gordo's hand and dragging him through the living room, out the patio doors and on to the back porch. They sat down on the steps of the deck, and Gordo said, "Why are we out here?"

"Why not?" Lizzie said. "It's a glorious day, don't you think?"

"It is," Gordo nodded. He wondered, though, if Lizzie dragging him to this relatively isolated place in any way indicated a desire to be alone with him. Or was he reading too much into her actions?

When Gordo looked at Lizzie smiling at him, he could see a slight breeze blowing through her hair. She looked so beautiful, and he was feeling nervous enough that when she finally said, "Who should go first?" his automatic response was, "You. You go first."

"Oh…why?"

"Well…ladies before gentlemen, I guess."

Truth be told, he was starting to lose his nerve, trying to delay the moment.

"Oh, okay," Lizzie said. "Wait here."

She went inside, but only for a moment, and quickly reappeared, carrying a red envelope. She sat down next to him again, handing him the envelope.

"Here," she said, taking a deep breath. "Merry Christmas, Gordo. I mean, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays and all that. Right?"

Gordo nodded, taking the envelope. On the outside, he saw his name "Gordo" in Lizzie's large round handwriting, but he almost could not read it. There was something strange about it, almost like another language, and then he realized why… The o's were not o's exactly, they were…hearts. He stared at the hearts, and at last his own heart began to hope.

He looked up at Lizzie and she was watching him expectantly, biting her bottom lip. "Go ahead…" she whispered.

Gordo opened the envelope, being careful not to tear the hearts, and he pulled out the card, gazing for quite a while at the glossy picture of the cat and dog curled up inside the Santa hat. It was a good picture. As a photograph it was well arranged, sharp, colorful. The expressions on the face of the puppy and the kitten were almost too perfect to be real.

Gordo laughed shortly. "Heh! Cute."

This picture worked on so many levels. But the only question in Gordo's mind at the moment was whether or not it was working on the deepest level. Did this picture mean what he thought it meant? Well, there was only one way to find out, wasn't there?

He opened the card and heard Lizzie gasp as a colorful piece of paper within threatened to slip away. But Gordo caught it in his hands, asking, "So what's this…?"

"Read it, silly."

Gordo held the card in one hand, the paper in the other, and read out loud, "This coupon good for one…dinner…DATE…"

Suddenly he looked up at Lizzie, and at that moment, seeing the look of expectation on her pretty face, all remaining doubts were burned away. He looked again at the large word in her own bubbly handwriting. DATE. He looked back at Lizzie and felt a shiver and a tingle, bordering on goosebumps. He offered a crooked smile, then went back to the coupon, repeating, "DATE…at Outback Steakhouse…"

Gordo suddenly remembered, "Hey! There was a coupon in the mail today. A free Bloomin' Onion. I love the Bloomin' Onion."

"I know," Lizzie said.

"Would it still be a date if I gave you the coupon?" Gordo wondered. "Because if it would, then I'll give you the coupon. But if it wouldn't…then forget it. I won't give you the coupon."

"I don't think it much matters," Lizzie said. "I think all that matters is that we go together, just you and me…"

"Just you and me…" Gordo repeated. Then he smiled at her again, and she smiled back, and in that moment there was so much unsaid, yet so much understood. At least, it was the beginning of an understanding.

Then Gordo said, "Lizzie, I…I…"

"I know, Gordo."

"This is the best present you could have possibly given me. I can't wait to go out on our…date…" He looked down at the card again, and now for the first time he read the inscription inside, and added, in a soft, almost magical voice, "…and have all my dreams come true…"

"And have a Bloomin' Onion," Lizzie added playfully.

"Yeah, that too," Gordo said, and his stomach growled again.

Lizzie giggled. "I thought you said you weren't hungry!"

"Well, maybe a little."

"Come on!" Lizzie said. "My mom is baking cookies, I'm sure you can smell them. Let's---"

Gordo grabbed her arm as she began to stand up, pulling her back down beside him. "No, no, not yet," he reminded. "First…" and then he reintroduced the pretty little package from the other side of the steps.

"Oh!" Lizzie exclaimed. "I almost forgot!"

"Here," Gordo said, handing her the present, his heart beating so wildly.

Lizzie took the box in her lap, looked at it for a while, turning it over, admiring it. "Too pretty to open," she decided at last.

"Lizzie…"

"Oh, okay, you talked me into it!"

She peeled off the little gold bow and stuck it to the knee of her blue jeans. She tore at the wrapping paper, but not too fast, just slow enough to drive Gordo crazy. Then the box was free, and when she saw the word "Gordon's" on the top, she looked at Gordo and giggled.

"I know," he said, rolling his eyes, remembering his mother's behavior the night before.

Lizzie sat still for a moment, looking at the box, taking a deep breath before she removed the cover. And when she did... she gasped.

"Oh, Gordo…"

He beamed.

Lizzie looked at her gift, a delicate charm bracelet with a single charm, a simple heart elegantly engraved with her name, "Lizzie." Then she looked up at Gordo in amazement and asked, "Is it…is it real? I mean, real gold?"

"Of course it's real," Gordo explained. "That's the whole point. Don't you remember that time, when I was over here, and you and your mom started talking about your Great Grandma's ring? And your mom said you would get it someday, but not now, and you asked why not, and she said because you weren't old enough or mature enough to have real jewelry. She didn't think you were responsible, and that made you so mad you almost cried. Do you remember?"

Lizzie was almost crying now, but not because she was mad. "Yes, I remember."

"And it bothered me," Gordo went on, "because I could see how much it meant to you, and I totally think you're responsible enough to have real jewelry. I know you have a bracelet like this in silver, and you really like it, but I wanted you to have one in gold…real gold…"

"Oh, Gordo!"

"Not just the kid jewelry you have now, not the kind you get from Claire's Boutique in the mall. This is the real stuff, Lizzie, 14 carat, and that ruby by your name, that's a real ruby---"

"Gordo!" Lizzie gasped. "This must have cost you a fortune."

"Not a fortune," he said. "But please, don't try to return it Claire's. Believe me, they'll never give you back what I paid for it."

"Return it?" Lizzie exclaimed. "I'm not going to return it! I'm going to wear it. Each and every day, and never take it off. Help me put it on, Gordo."

Lizzie took the bracelet out of its box, undid the clasp, and offered Gordo her wrist on top of his knee. He struggled with the clasp, still a little nervous about everything that was happening, and feeling exceptionally clumsy with the tiny hook and eye. As he fumbled to make the two ends come together, he soon began to laugh, and Lizzie laughed too, and eventually they put their foreheads together, laughing over this seemingly impossible task.

"No, wait, wait," Gordo said. "I'm not giving up. I'll get this yet. Give me one more chance, Lizzie. One more…"

"Gordo, you take as many chances as you need," Lizzie answered. "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

He looked up at her and smiled. Suddenly he realized that he was on the home stretch. There was only one more thing he wanted to say, and so far everything had gone so well, even better than he had expected. Not only did Lizzie love the gift, but she had asked him out on a date! They were going out on a date, she was wearing his bracelet, and she very clearly had just said, "I'm not going anywhere." His heart felt warmed as he took a deep breath, concentrated on the tiny clasp, and…there it was!

Lizzie squealed in delight, holding up her hand and admiring her new bracelet.

Gordo took a deep breath. Okay, this was it, the moment when he was not going to chicken out. He had rehearsed this speech so many times, now all he had to do was say it.

"And you know," he began, "the really nice thing about a charm bracelet is that now, every time there's an occasion, like your birthday, or…or Valentine's Day…or even if there's no occasion at all, maybe just because I want to, I can get you something to add to the bracelet, some new piece of gold, so that every time you look at it, and you see all those charms hanging there, it will make you think of me---"

"Oh, Gordo," Lizzie said, turning towards him. "I don't need to look at charms, or anything else to think of you. I think about you almost all the time as it is."

"You do?" He hadn't meant to sound so surprised. He hadn't really planned any response for this, so all he could do was sit there speechlessly and watch Lizzie nodding at him.

"I do," she said quietly. "I think about you a lot, Gordo."

Gordo swallowed down the lump that was forming in his throat. "And…and I think about you a lot too, Lizzie," he finally thought to say, speaking directly from his heart. "And I mean…a lot."

She kind of giggled, and Gordo saw her skin blush a slightly less shade of red than her Christmas sweater. "Me too," she said.

Now Gordo blushed, and they were both sitting there blushing, and feeling all tingly inside, looking at each other and smiling. If anybody had seen them there like that, they would have both felt really embarrassed. But Lizzie's mother could be heard singing in the kitchen, wisely giving them their privacy, and Matt was nowhere near the house, and Miranda would not arrive for almost a half hour. They had this magical moment in time to be alone together, both finally coming to the full realization of how silly they had been to ever doubt that this was going to happen. And now that it was happening it seemed ridiculous that they had wasted so much time.

But really, there had been no waste of time. Everything that came before had led them directly to this perfect moment, which was their perfect gift to each other. Gordo reached out and touched the tiny golden bow stuck to the knee of Lizzie's blue jeans. Lizzie turned towards him now a little more, just enough to let him know it would be all right if he wanted to kiss her. And finally, finally, Gordo felt it was the perfect time to do what he had wanted to do for so long.

As he'd imagined so many times, he leaned in closer, and as he did, he realized Lizzie was also leaning closer to him. And now at last the freckles in their eyes were mirror images, perfectly aligned. Their lips lightly touched. Gordo tasted peppermint lip gloss. Lizzie sensed cinnamon toothpaste.

They surprised themselves and both pulled back, catching their breaths with a little laugh. Gordo looked at Lizzie and moved his fingers from the bow on her knee to softly graze the beautiful bracelet at her wrist. Lizzie moved her hand up to the side of Gordo's face, gazing into his eyes. Then at the same moment they both stopped laughing, closed their eyes and tried again.

And this time they got it right.