One Year Later…
“No! Not Moman. Ro-man. Let’s say it again.” Roman’s manly voice echoed through to the kitchen where I was helping his mother prepare the ham for dinner.
I couldn’t help but smile, hearing him talk to his niece. Just a year ago, he hadn’t even wanted to hold her, and now, he was sitting underneath the Christmas tree, having a serious conversation with the toddler.
Well, it was serious to him.
He didn’t want to be known as Moman for the rest of his life.
“Are you sure you don’t want to move to the West Coast?” Lailah joked, tossing a salad beside me. “We could use another babysitter.”
The two of us laughed as we finished the fixings for dinner.
Jude and Lailah had been in New York for a week or so, making their yearly trip once more. I’d spent so much time with Lailah during last Christmas before we’d left to fly to Nebraska that I had been counting down the days until they arrived again.
She and I had grown incredibly close over the last year, calling each other to talk at least once or twice a week, and as our relationship had blossomed, I could see a marked change in Roman and Jude. Although Lailah had said there had already been some serious mending between the two of them in the last year or so before I’d arrived, it had only blossomed even more.
Before, their relationship had seemed one-sided, mostly thanks to Jude constantly reaching out, but now, Roman was making a solid effort. I’d like to think I had some credit in that change, but honestly, I thought he’d come to the realization that family was more than a name all on his own.
For so long, he’d based all his family values on what he’d observed and learned from his father. Once he’d figured out how to let go of that past, Roman was free to move on with his future, including his brother.
“When do your parents arrive in town?” Mrs. Cavenaugh asked as we all began to sit around the table for dinner.
“Tomorrow,” Roman and I said in unison.
“It’s their first time in the city, so they’re incredibly excited,” I added, feeling a flutter of anticipation in my belly. “My best friend is coming as well.”
“Roman said she was transferring. NYU, is it?” she asked.
I instantly nodded. “She loved the city so much that she decided to move here. The exceptional schools and good company didn’t hurt either.”
“Well, they will all have one of the best tour guides around,” Roman said, leaning over to kiss my cheek.
“Well, that is true.” I laughed.
“Did Cara tell you she got a raise?” Roman said proudly as everyone was passing food from one person to the next.
“It’s not a raise really,” I said, slightly embarrassed.
“It is so. Is your check larger each week?”
I nodded.
“Well, that sounds like a raise to me.”
I shook my head, lifting my napkin to my lips. “As curator, it’s part of my job to bring in money for the museum. I knew that when I took the job, but I guess I didn’t realize it would be such a large part. Luckily, I happen to be good at it.”
“Really good,” Roman added. “She brought in so much this year that the board gave her a pay increase.”
“That’s marvelous!” Mrs. Cavenaugh exclaimed.
Everyone clapped, making my cheeks flame.
Happy, content conversation continued around the table while everyone ate.
Cavenaugh Investments was thriving, thanks to the hard work of the brothers. The West Coast division was growing rapidly, and because of the major improvements Roman had made to employee compensation, they were now one of the most sought-after companies to work for.
And Roman was loved.
Not only for the changes he’d made for the employees, but also for the man he was.
And all he’d had to do was simply be himself.
Following the Cavenaugh family tradition, after Christmas Eve dinner, everyone gathered around the Christmas tree and exchanged gifts.
“Why Christmas Eve?” Lailah asked. “I’ve always wondered why we don’t wait until the morning.”
Mrs. Cavenaugh smiled, looking at her grown boys. “I had a very smart boy who came to me one year and argued that it was unfair that Santa got all the attention Christmas morning while the family gifts were sometimes forgotten about. When I tried to tell him that Christmas wasn’t about presents, he fired back and said, ‘I know, Mommy. It’s about family, which is why I want to spend as much time with you as possible.’
“So, I agreed that we could open a few presents the night before. After a year or two, it was a bit more, and by the time his younger brother caught on, it was all of them.”
Turning toward Roman, she smiled. “You always were innovative.”
“I just like getting what I want.” He laughed as his green eyes found mine.
Everyone watched as Meara opened her pile of gifts from the family, oohing and aahing over the building blocks and cute clothes. Lailah joked that they’d have to build a second house just to fit all of Meara’s stuff.
As the adults began opening gifts, my heart did a flip-flop in my chest.
Sitting back, I spied Roman fingers touch each neatly wrapped gift but mine. He politely thanked his mother for the leather laptop bag and Lailah and Jude for the gift card to get detail work on Lola.
As his hand rested on my neatly wrapped gift, he paused.
“You haven’t opened any, Cara,” he said as his gaze found mine.
“I was just watching for a while. You know how I love to be last,” I said, my fingers shaking.
“Open one.”
“Okay,” I agreed, grabbing the first one I found.
“Not that one.” He smiled. “Or that one.”
He continued this game until I found him in front of me, holding out a tiny velvet box.
“This one.”
“Roman,” I whispered, seeing him drop to one knee.
“Just breathe, Cara.” He smiled.
I took the box with my shaky hands and opened it. Inside, I found my hopes and dreams, a future and a family.
“There was a day when all I wanted was to be remembered for how well I ran my father’s company. It was my only ambition. But then a young woman from the Midwest showed up and changed my entire life.”
I laughed softly as a single tear fell down my cheek.
“Someday, someone is going to look through a dozen boxes of photos from our life and find a picture from this night. They’re going to see the joy on my face because I was about to ask the love of my life the most important question a man could ask. They’re going to know our lives were filled with love because of the family that surrounded us, and we will be remembered, not because of the name we had or the money we made, but because of the epic love story we created. Starting now.”
There wasn’t a dry eye in the house now, including the big, beautiful man kneeling before me.
“Cara, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife? Will you marry me?”
“Yes!” I cried, jumping in his arms.
Everyone cheered as he stood, twirling me in his arms.
“But wait!” I yelled. “You didn’t open my present!”
“Babe, no offense, but can you really top this?”
I gave him an impish grin. “Open it.”
He set me down and grabbed the large flat box, and his skeptical eyes returned to me. Everyone else in the room was just as curious.
I hadn’t even let him put my ring on yet.
Still clutching the velvet box in my hand, I watched him rip the paper away, revealing a plain shirt box. His eyebrows rose in amusement as he lifted the lid.
Inside, he found a T-shirt.
“A shirt? You paused my perfectly planned engagement for a T-shirt?”
“Just read it. And, really, you took the words right out of my mouth. ’Cause perfectly planned couldn’t be any truer.”
He lifted the T-shirt out of the box, and I watched as he read the words, World’s Best Dad. His eyes scrunched together before they darted back at me.
“You mean…”
“Yep!” I lifted my shirt where, for extra effect, I’d drawn a little arrow pointing to my tiny womb along with the word, Baby.
His eyes welled up with tears. “Can I put this ring on your finger now?”
“I think you’d better. Otherwise, my father might shoot you tomorrow.” I smiled.
Placing the dazzling diamond ring around my finger, his hand curved around my belly where our tiny child grew.
This is where our future began.
A lifetime of memories, without hollow holes, or worthless regrets.
And it all started now.