Cate stirred the batter in the bowl in front of her without seeing it, smelling it, or even being certain what the final product was supposed to be. In her defense, after she’d come home last night and finished her cry in the shower, she’d done the only thing she could; namely, pulled up her big girl panties and taken out every baking dish, mixing bowl, and ingredient in her pantry.

For the first time ever, it hadn’t been enough to take the edge off her heartache.

Lowering the bowl to the scuffed Formica in front of her, Cate blew out a shaky breath. She’d mentally replayed her conversation with Owen so many times, she practically had it memorized. Yet, somehow, the words stung equally hard every time she heard them in her mind.

Family and farm is my legacy, Cate…

Of course, she’d known that. For God’s sake, it was why she’d resisted her attraction to him so hard in the beginning. She should’ve listened to her common sense from the beginning, but, instead, she’d trusted her stupid, needy heart. She’d believed she and Owen had a chance, just the two of them, and that it would be enough. But she should’ve known better—had known better from the start.

A man like Owen Cross wasn’t for her. And now she had the broken heart to prove it.

Swiping her tears away with the back of one hand, she reached out to open the drawer holding her dish towels with the other, catching a glimpse of the blue and purple trivet peeking out from beneath the terry cloth.

“Oh,” Cate whispered. Her guilt roared to life, just as it always did when she was inadvertently blindsided by a memory of Lily. Funny, this time, something even stronger rose up from her chest to meet it.

That something was forgiveness.

Cate took the trivet out of the drawer, cradling it with steady fingers. She’d spent a lot of time hiding from her guilt, and even more time punishing herself for it. She might not have planned to ever be a parent, but she’d loved her daughter from the minute she’d first held her, and she’d been a good mother.

She wouldn’t ever forget Lily—God, she wouldn’t ever want to. But it was time to begin forgiving herself. It was time to fulfill her own legacy and start the business she’d wanted for so many years.

Even if she had to do that without Owen in her life.

A sharp, rapid-fire knock sounded off from her front door, startling a soft curse out of her and prompting her to put the trivet on the counter with care. She wasn’t expecting anyone, and it wasn’t as if she’d get any sort of delivery at—she peered at the clock on her stove—eight o’clock on a Sunday morning. Who the hell could be banging on her door?

“Cate? It’s me. Owen,” he clarified, his voice trapping her breath in her lungs all the way through the wood and steel. “Please, open the door.”

Every instinct she had screamed at her to do exactly that. But she’d meant what she’d said to him last night. She couldn’t give him what he really wanted, and she’d never ask him to compromise on having exactly what he deserved.

Cate rested her hand against the door, fighting the tears in her eyes as she stayed silent. A beat passed, then another, before Owen’s voice came again.

“Come on, sweetheart. I know you’re in there. I’d know the smell of your oatmeal raisin cookies anywhere.”

Her heart twisted behind her T-shirt, pumping faster when he continued. “I came here to tell you something, and if I have to do it through the door or in the middle of town square or, hell, in the middle of Times Square, then so be it. I love you, Cate. No”—he paused—“it’s more than that. I don’t just love you. I want to wake up next to you every morning. I want to stand by you as you start the best cake catering business in the Shenandoah Valley, and I want to lean on you for support when things at Cross Creek get tough. I want you beside me at our family dinner table, and I want to fall asleep in your arms every night. I wasn’t wrong about my legacy. I want a family. God, I need it more than I need to breathe. But I was wrong about what that family looks like. I don’t need kids to be happy, Cate. I only need you.”

Hope flickered in her chest, but oh, God, she had to be sure.

She opened the door a crack. “Owen, I meant what I said last night. I’m not ever going to want kids. You have to be certain—really certain—you’re okay with that.”

A half-smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, sending another curl of hope through her belly. “And I meant what I said last week. Perfect is in the eye of the beholder. For Eli and Hunter, that means having kids, but to me, perfect is having you.”

Oh. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I didn’t mean to hurt you, or make you believe something that wasn’t true,” Cate whispered, but Owen shook his head.

“I didn’t give you much chance to tell me before I went from a dresser drawer to proposing,” he said. “But I mean it, Cate. All I need is this. Just me and you.”

The tears that had formed in her eyes spilled over her cheeks, and she pulled the door open at the same time Owen rushed through it. “Well. I guess you have a way with words after all, Casanova.”

“I love you, Cate McAllister,” he said, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. “And I’m never going to stop. How’s that for a way with words?”

“Seeing as how I love you, too, I’d say that’s perfect.”

And as she pressed up to kiss him, Cate knew they’d found the perfect family. Just the two of them.

Together.