NATE

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Normally, I have a superior poker face. I don’t often have to use it outside of work, especially since Emme and I have been together, but every now and again, it comes in handy. Like when I want to surprise her.

Like tonight.

“I’m going to go pick up the food, okay babe?” I grabbed my keys off my new kitchen counter and went over to the couch where she was sitting with a freshly bathed Paisley on her lap. It was my first weekend in the new house—the Dutch Colonial I’d loved on sight—and Emme and I were going to celebrate our favorite way. Some takeout, some cocktails, some Bond.

“Okay.” She stood up, moving my daughter to one hip. Seeing them together always made me want to fall to me knees and thank God things had turned out the way they did. “Should I feed her?”

“Sure. Sorry everything is still such a mess in the kitchen. I swear I’m going to get it all put away this weekend.”

“I’ll help you. Maybe we can even get some boxes unpacked tonight.”

“Maybe.” There would be no fucking unpacking of boxes tonight, but she didn’t know that. “Be right back.” I went out the side door and got into my car, glad she couldn’t see the giant smile on my face.

I was also glad she was so trusting. Ever since I’d bought the house, I’d been saying things to her like, I’ve got everything I want now or My life feels so complete now that I have the house or I hope nothing ever changes with us. She believed me every time, and she always smiled and said she was glad, but I could see the question in her eyes… Does this mean you still don’t want to get married? Like, ever?

She never asked it, though. And I never brought up the subject, either, even though I’d been thinking about it every day since I brought her to the house and we walked around in it together. The gut feeling I got seeing her move through the empty rooms with a smile on her face was almost eerie—I knew in my heart we would live there together. We would make it our home. We would be a family.

And not only did I want it all, I wanted it all sooner rather than later.

So all that crap about feeling complete was all just part of the setup—I wanted her to be totally shocked tonight.

Stopped at a red light on my way to the restaurant, I glanced beside me at the passenger seat, where a little white bag rested. Inside were two fortune cookies.

And one ring box.

EMME

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“Seriously, Paisley. What’s he thinking? Why can’t I tell?” I looked down at her face as she drank her bottle. “Do you think he’s still totally against marriage, or do I have a chance?”

I had taken to talking to Paisley about it, since my sisters were tired of hearing me worry that Nate might never change his mind if I wasn’t going to ask him about it, and I had promised myself I would not bring it up to Nate for at least six months. I didn’t want to pressure him. We were doing so well, and he was so open about his feelings now. By being patient, I was trying to prove to everyone and to myself that I could be patient and trust in the universe.

“See, I’ve thought a lot about this, Pais,” I went on, sitting her up to burp her. “We had geography on our side all the time—the apartments right across from each other. And timing, too. He happened to be getting home from work at the exact moment I locked myself out. That’s how we met, you know.”

She burped.

“Good girl.” I laid her back again so she could finish the bottle and kept babbling. “And how about his running into my sister at the grocery store the night we got back together? What if he’d gone to a different store? What if Stella hadn’t decided to pick up pork chops for dinner? What if her last patient hadn’t canceled and she’d gotten out of work an hour later? All that is luck, isn’t it? So maybe the universe really is on our side. Maybe Maren is right and everything happens the way it’s supposed to and I just need to wait and trust.” I sighed. “I really love him. So that’s what I’ll do.”

Nate came in about thirty minutes later. “Let me put the food in the oven to keep it warm, then I’ll get her to bed and make us some celebratory cocktails.”

“Okay.” I stood up with Paisley in my arms. “Want me to unpack something? A kitchen box?”

“Nope. Just relax.” He came from the kitchen into the family room and took his daughter from me, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be right down.”

My stomach flipped over the way it always did when I saw him display affection for his daughter. Earlier, I’d watched him give her a bath in a real bathtub all on his own—I hadn’t even lifted a finger. All I could think of was the night she first arrived and he fainted.

Someday, I was going to get him to admit that.

“Night, peanut,” I called to the chubby little dumpling he held against his chest.

While he was upstairs with her, I opened my laptop and returned some emails. I also called Coco and left her a message—I’d decided to turn down the job offer up north, but she was actually considering it. Apparently, Nick was interested in some restaurant properties in that area, so the move made sense for them. She and I were going to have lunch tomorrow and discuss my buying her out. It made me nervous, thinking about running a business all on my own, but excited, too.

When Nate came downstairs, I put my laptop and phone away. He switched on the monitor on his way to the kitchen. “Up for a martini?”

“Absolutely,” I said. “Want help in there?”

“Since when do I need help making cocktails?” he called. Next, I heard ice clinking into the metal shaker.

The family room and kitchen were open to each other, part of a new addition off the back of the old house. I loved Nate’s house. From the moment I saw it, I knew it was the right one for him. Beautiful old street, great neighborhood, kids riding bikes up and down the block, plenty of room in the house for him and Paisley, and even room to grow if he decided he wanted a bigger family.

I really hoped he did.

“Are you hungry?” he asked, shaking up the vodka and the ice.

“Yes.” I took off my heels and wiggled my toes. “I skipped lunch today.”

“Good, because I have a little treat for you before dinner.” A moment later, he brought me a drink and a little plate with two fortune cookies on it. He set both on the table.

I rolled my eyes. “Are you going to tease me about taking these things seriously again?”

“Not at all. I think you should take it very seriously.”

“No, you don’t. You just want to laugh at me.” I looked at them—one was half dipped in dark chocolate, the other was half-dipped in white. “Are these from The Peterboro?”

“Nope. I got them made especially for you. Did you know it’s our anniversary today?”

A funny little shiver moved through me. I looked at him, but his expression gave nothing away. “It is?”

He nodded and sat down beside me. “Exactly three months since the night at the winery.”

“Awww.” I gave him a quick kiss. He still wore his dress pants and shirt, although he’d cuffed up his sleeves before Paisley’s bath. He’d also ditched his tie and loosened his collar. Sexy as hell, even half undone. “And I’m supposed to eat them before dinner?”

“Yes. Or at least open them.” He handed me the dark chocolate dipped. “Here. This one first. I’ll go get your drink.”

With my belly fluttering, I cracked it open. Setting the pieces back on the plate, I pulled out the little paper. It said, Only you.

“Awwww.” I smiled at him as he set my drink on the table and sat next to me. “So sweet.” I set the little piece of paper down and picked up the next cookie, although I knew what it was going to say, because it was the second half of something I asked him to tell me all the time. I cracked it open over the plate, and pulled out the paper.

Then I gasped. Because it didn’t say what I thought it was going to say. It said, Will you marry me?

And Nate was getting on one knee at my feet.

My jaw hung open. My heart clamored in my chest.

He pulled a ring box from his pocket and opened it up. “Always you,” he said. His voice cracked. His eyes were shining. But he smiled at me and everything, everything fell into place.

I shrieked and threw my arms around his neck before bursting into tears, clinging to him like he’d just rescued me from drowning.

He laughed. “Is that a yes?”

But all I could do was sob.

“Want to at least try the ring on?”

The ring! I hadn’t even looked at it.

Sniffling, I let go of him and he held it out for me again. “I asked your sisters’ opinions, but if it’s not what you want—”

But I was already blubbering again. I see a lot of rings in my business, but this one took my breath away—a two-carat elongated cushion-cut solitaire with a narrow pave band in white gold. “It’s p-perfect,” I managed. “Ab-abso-lutely p-perfect.”

“I’d like to take more credit, but your sisters said you’ve described your dream ring to them so many times they had it memorized.” He took it from the box and slid it onto my finger.

I laughed through my tears. “It’s true.” It took me a few more minutes, but eventually I calmed down enough to speak. “Oh my God, Nate. It’s real. It was a dream, but you made it real.”

“It’s real.”

I looked at my hands in disbelief—one held a tiny slip of paper with Nate’s proposal on it, the other wore a ring he’d just slipped on my finger. I dropped to my knees and threw my arms around him again, pressing my body against his from knee to chest, burying my face in his neck. I closed my eyes, breathed him in, and saw it all unfold. This man would be my husband. This house would be our home. This life would be ours to share.

“You really want me to be your wife?” I asked, tipping my head back to look up at him.

“Of course I do.” He kissed my lips. “But that’s not all I want. I want you to help me raise Paisley. And I want to have children with you. And I want to spend every day dedicated to our family and our home and our dreams.”

“I want that, too.”

He grinned. “Then can I please get a yes? Because I don’t think you’ve actually said it yet. What do you say, Calamity, will you marry me?”

I smiled up at him, my wish come true. “Yes.”

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