Two months later, I feel as if Alex and Faye have always been in my life.

As I should have predicted, things have not gone slow, but not for a lack of trying on Alex’s part. As it turns out, I didn’t like slow as much as I thought.

I’m living in the main house and still trying to convince Jacob to move into the cottage. He’s hesitant after my Colorado bolt, but he’s warming to the idea after weeks of being thirty minutes away from his roommate and best friend. We still see each other, but it’s not the same.

I walk into the kitchen after work one Friday afternoon and find Alex wearing an apron that says Kiss the Cook. Faye is in her high chair with a handful of Cheerios and a spoon that she is banging like a maniac while Alex mixes something in a big silver bowl.

“What’s going on in here? Is Greta sick?” I ask putting my bag on a bar stool at the island before making my way around to kiss them both.

“Somebody has a birthday tomorrow, and I’m baking her a cake.”

I’d almost forgotten my birthday what with all the changes going on in my life. Alex and Faye aren’t the only things I’ve been concentrating my attention on lately. I opened two new Bark Avenue Bone Bakery shops thanks to Alex’s financial backing.

“How’s it feel to be twenty-eight years old?”

“I don’t know, I’m still twenty-seven. If I had to guess, though, I’d say it’s going to feel the same.”

“I have a surprise for you. It can’t wait until tomorrow.”

“Oh really? What kind of surprise can’t wait one day?”

“Let me get this cake in the oven, and I’ll show you. Will you let the dogs inside? They’ve been out for a while, and it’s going to snow.”

“Sure.” I give him a suspicious side look on my way to the back door and open it to find four bouncing fur balls excited to see me. “Hey guys, wanna come inside?”

They whine in unison, and Cole barks when I step aside to let them in. They race to the water bowl on the floor next to the sink and nudge and push each other for a drink.

Lady has grown so much in six weeks. It’s amazing how tall she is. It won’t be long before she will be mistaken for any of her siblings.

“Lady, come here, girl,” Alex calls, and she abandons the water bowl. He wipes his hands on a towel and crouches down to pat her on the head. “Well, what’s this?” he says touching her head sounding concerned.

“What? Is she okay?” I say rushing to his side.

I crouch down to look her over and see a blue bow tied around her neck. “I didn’t notice this when she came inside. What do you have, girl?” I ask pulling her close.

She licks my nose, and I giggle. “What kind of blue would you say this is?” Alex asks.

“I don’t know, a Tiffany’s blue, I guess.”

“Ah, very good, that’s exactly right. Why don’t you take a closer look?”

My heart drops into my belly where a swarm of bees and butterflies start to dance. I follow the ribbon slowly around Lady’s neck until I come to something metal and my heart stops. “Alex,” I gasp and cover my mouth with my hand.

He takes over removing the ribbon and slipping a ring off of it. He adjusts himself so that he is kneeling on one knee. “Olivia, you have made the last three months of my life perfect in so many ways, I simply cannot take it slow anymore. Will you do me the incredible honor of becoming my wife?”

Hot tears fill my eyes and spill down my cheeks when I nod up and down. “Yes, yes, yes.” I lean forward on my knees and throw my arms around his neck causing poor Lady to yelp and skitter away.

“Oh, poor pup can’t handle all that love,” I hear my mother say.

“Mom?” I pull away from Alex, and he wipes my tears with his thumbs. “That’s my other surprise.”

In the doorway, my mom is sitting in an ultra-high-tech wheelchair that holds her securely from sliding out while giving her the ability to move with the finger on her left hand that still functions. I priced one just like it a year ago when she fell out of her standard wheelchair at the nursing home.

“Mom, how did you get here?” I say between sniffles. I’m overwhelmed and emotional and confused.

“Your fiancé made arrangements.” I look into his eyes and fall even more in love with him.

“You brought me my mom?”

“Yes,” he says and looks at my mom. “Do you want to tell her the rest?”

“I’m staying in a fancy extended care center nearby. You’re looking at Seattle’s newest end-stage MS patient.”

“You moved to Seattle? I thought you said you’d die before you lived in the wettest state in the country.”

“And you said you hated rich men, but you’re marrying one.”

I look at Alex, and he shrugs. “She’s got you there.”

“You’re amazing, you know that?”

“Yes, I do. Can I put this ring on your finger now?”

“Yeah, put it on, Livy, let me see it on your finger,” my mom says with excitement lacing her voice.

“Have you seen it already?”

“Yes, Alex took me with him to pick it out.” The fact that he included my mother in such an important decision warms my heart even further. I feel the cool metal sliding on my finger and look down at a massive cushion-cut diamond surrounded by tiny aquamarine stones, my birthstone.

After more tears, more hugging, and more kissing, I squeak out, “I love it, thank you.”

He stands taking me with him and holds me against his chest. “Anything for you, anything, you know that. Go hug your mother, I think she’s crying,” he whispers in my ear.

He releases me and nudges me toward her. “Mom, I can’t believe you’re here to stay.” I bend over to hug her frail body lightly, so I don’t hurt her.

“Well, you weren’t coming back to Cali, so I came to you. With a lot of help from Alex, of course.”

I kiss her cheek and straighten up with my hands on the arms of her chair. “I didn’t want to leave you, Mom, and you know it. I asked you to come with us, but you said you were born in California, and you would die there, too.” I cock my head and raise one eyebrow.

“Alex is very convincing.”

I snort. “Yeah, you’re telling me. Now you see what I was dealing with early on.”

“Yep, he’s good at getting his way.”

I straighten up and look behind me at Alex casually leaning his hip against the counter with his hands in his pockets. Faye squawks drawing our attention to her. “I’m going to marry your daddy, sweetheart, is that okay with you?” I round the island to lift her from her high chair and kiss her soft, round cheek. She feeds me a Cheerio, and I laugh.

“I think she approves,” Alex says joining us and kissing his baby girl on her forehead.

“I’m glad,” I say, and he does the same to me.

“You know what?” he asks.

“What?”

“I’m glad you’re going to be my wife instead of my nanny.”

“Yeah, I was a pretty crappy nanny, wasn’t I?” I look at Faye in my arms. “I promise to be a better mommy.”

“And we will give you lots of brothers and sisters so you’ll have someone to play with,” he says.

I shake my head. “There you go again speeding down the track at one hundred miles per hour.”

“I like life fast with you, what can I say?”

“Nothing, you don’t have to say anything. I like life fast with you, too.”