Chapter 33

Autumn

It had been six months since Emmett and I started living together and five and a half months since we’d convinced Paul to come and live in the guesthouse.

Penelope had adjusted well to her new family, despite the fact that her father hadn’t come around and had only called her once, which was on her birthday. Emmett had told me all about it since that was the day he’d taken her fishing. She’d told Jason thank you, but that she was trying to fish and he was going to scare them away. I highly doubted she’d ever hear from him again, but in case she did, Emmett and I had vowed to let her handle it and not put up too much of a protest.

We knew it was already too little, too late on his part, and he was the one missing out.

As it turned out, my birthday didn’t earn me a fishing trip, but as Pen and I stood in front of the tall mirror I kept in the corner of the master bedroom, I was much happier with the fact that he was taking us both out to a fancy dinner.

Pen was beside herself with excitement. “How do I look, Mama?”

“You look beautiful, baby.” I had braided her hair and wrapped it up to crown her head, and then I’d let her wear a little makeup, not too much, but just the right amount to make her feel special. We both wore the dresses that Emmett had bought for us.

“You look beautiful too, Mama.” She turned to the side and looked at her shoes, which had a very short heel. “This will be the first time I’ve ever been this dressed up just to eat a meal.”

“I know what you mean. It seems silly in a way, but I wanted us to look our best. Emmett has really been excited about this dinner with us.” I had a feeling that he had something special in mind, but I wasn’t sure what it could be.

Things were going well with the Helix project, and he’d already impressed a fair amount of people, which pleased my father. I wondered if he was going to announce a promotion. The only other thing I could think of was a proposal, but I couldn’t see him doing that so soon in our relationship. We’d talked about waiting a year, not only for us to be sure that working and living together wasn’t going to be too much, but because we wanted to give Penelope time to adjust to things.

“He’s going to think we’re real-life princesses going to a ball like in Cinderella.” My daughter had watched too many fairytales, but secretly, I felt like a princess, too.

There was a knock on the door, and my heart went into overdrive as he called to us. “How are my girls doing in there?”

“We’re good,” Pen called. She walked to the bed and grabbed her little sequined handbag. “Are you ready, Mama?”

“I just want to put on my pearls, and I’ll be right there.” I had always worn my mother’s string of pearls to special occasions, and I didn’t feel comfortable without them. Something about being dressed up, I felt naked without them.

Pen walked out, and when she opened the door, Emmett stuck his head inside. “Wow. The last time I saw you all dressed up like this, I was about to walk you down the aisle.”

“Don’t remind me. I should have just spoken my heart, and we could have saved a lot of time.”

“But then we wouldn’t have Pen, remember. I think we came out better in the end.” He had a point, one I’d made to him a while back.

“You’re right. I’m ready. I hope this place still has our reservation.” I gave him a hopeful look, and he smiled his devilish grin.

“I don’t think that will be a problem.”

“No? It’s happened to us before.” It had happened once after we’d stopped off on the way home from his pinning ceremony, but we’d made the best of it and came back home to cook a nice meal together.

“This is different. Besides, I think the other time turned out for the best, don’t you?” He leaned close and whispered in my ear. “At least, I liked it better.”

I thought of the time the two of us had come home and made love on the kitchen floor, and then every other flat surface in the house. I still couldn’t sit at the formal dining room table without blushing.

Chills went down my spine as his breath hit my ear. “Don’t get me wound up or we’ll be the ones to cancel. I don’t think Penelope would understand.”

“No way I’m letting that happen. You two are so pretty. I’m going to show you off a bit.” He took my hand and then led me out to find Pen who was adjusting her shoe strap at the bottom of the stairs.

We walked outside and found LOC’s limo waiting in the drive. “You thought of everything. Thank you.”

“That’s a big car, Mama. I don’t think we’ve ridden in one of these before.”

I wanted to correct her and tell her that she had at my mother’s funeral, but then she wouldn’t have remembered it anyway.

We got in the car, and then our driver drove us across town to the restaurant, which looked completely dead for a Sunday night.

“Oh no, I think they’re closed,” I said. “Did you check to see if they were open on Sundays?”

“I made a reservation, so trust me. They’re open.” I was still afraid that they wouldn’t be open when we got to the door, and sure enough, the sign on the door read that they were closed on Sundays. But as we approached the door, Emmett opened it up and went inside, and there was a hostess waiting to show us to our table.

“Emmett, we’re the only ones here.”

“That’s because I wanted to spend my night with my best girls and no one else. I rented the place, and the chef is here with a skeleton crew to make this special for you.”

“That’s amazing. I’ve always loved this place, but I could never stand the crowd.”

“Now you don’t have to worry.” He shrugged and pulled out my chair for me. Then he pulled out Penelope’s, and she looked around the room at the lighting and sparkling fountains.

“This place is really neat.” She folded her hands in her lap as if she were afraid to touch anything.

“It’s so sweet of you, Emmett. Thank you. I can’t think of a better birthday than this, being with my two, favorite people.”

“And I with mine,” he said, making my heart melt. He’d been such a blessing in our lives. I couldn’t imagine my life without him.

We ordered our food off the menu, and Emmett talked me into letting Penelope have a tiny sip of our champagne, which tickled her nose. Then, when the food came, she tried calamari for the first time too and loved it.

Pen took a big bite. “Is this really squid?” She wasn’t sure if she believed Emmett or not, but I assured her it was.

I was really proud of her for acting like a young lady, and it was touching how much she was growing up before my very eyes, even though she was just seven. It made me long for the future but want to hold onto the present before she was all grown up and ready to leave me.

“Sure is. It’s delicious. Everything is.” I got my fill of dinner, and then, when it was time for dessert, the hostess brought out a small cake which was elaborately decorated with edible pearls and lace and my initial on top with a single candle.

“It’s too pretty to eat, Mama.” The cake was definitely a work of art.

“But we’re going to anyway.” I wasn’t going to miss out on what could have been the best cake I’d ever eaten. And when I cut into it, I realized it was coconut, which was my favorite. “You thought of everything.” I couldn’t get over how perfect everything was, from our table, and the lovely rose centerpiece it had on it, and the beautiful dinnerware which wasn’t something I’d think you’d get on any other night there.

As I took a bite of the cake, the flavor was pure bliss, and the texture was heavenly. Pen took a bite too, and she loved it so much her eyes widened. “This is good!” She hurried and took another bite. “Can we take what’s left home with us?”

“Of course, we can.” I laughed.

“There’s one more thing.” Emmett reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a tiny wrapped box. “This is the only thing I could think to give you, and I really hope you like it.” He handed it to me, and the ribbon was wrapped around it so tightly that it took a little time to open it.

“I don’t know if I can get this,” I said.

“Here, let me help you.” He got up from the table and came over to kneel down. He took a knife off the table and cut the ribbon.

Pen leaned on the table and smiled big, covering her mouth as if to keep from laughing, and when I turned back to Emmett, he was still kneeling.

I opened the box and inside was the prettiest diamond ring I’d ever seen. As I covered my mouth, he took my hand and kissed it.

“Autumn, I have loved you my entire life, and I can’t think of anyone I could ever love more than you or anyone else I want to spend my life with. I love you and Pen, and I know we wanted to wait for her to have time to adjust to the idea, but I talked to her, and I asked her what she thought about the two of us getting married.”

“I want you to say yes, Mama! I love Emmett, and he loves you for real.”

“I really do. I even talked to your father, and he said he’d be proud to give you away to me. He said it’s about damned time I asked you. And Paul, you know he’s all for it. You’re already like a sister to him. He said you should just go ahead and make it official.” He smiled so big that I fell into his arms, knowing there was no way I’d refuse him and he was silly to think I might.

“Yes, of course, I will!” I kissed him deeply, and the staff of the restaurant clapped and cheered from the wings. I looked up and held my hand to my heart as the blush rose to my cheeks. It was a bit unexpected, and I hadn’t noticed them watching.

“I told you I was going to show you off a little.” He flashed me a wink, and I knew I was going to be the happiest woman for the rest of my life.