“You know you’re going to have to marry me, right?”
Eyes still closed, my mouth curled into a smile. “As proposals go, I give that a four.”
He laughed quietly. “Just making a general statement. You’ve ruined me from sleeping alone.”
“Good.” I turned to my side, and he folded his body around mine, burying his nose in the back of my neck. “Because yeah, I’m going to have to marry you, Aiden Hennessy.”
We slept like that, soundly and deeply, until I felt a light stroke on my arm.
When I blinked, I saw a small body standing on my side of the bed. My stomach seized instantly at how she might react.
Anya grinned down at me. “I knew it was you,” she whispered.
I sat up, glanced over at a still-sleeping Aiden, sprawled on his back with a hand laying on his chest.
My heart raced as I swung my legs over the side of the bed, and she climbed up into my lap.
“You knew it, huh?” I asked her quietly.
Anya nodded, playing with the end of my braid where it hung over my shoulder.
“Want me to bring you back to bed, sweetheart?”
She nodded again, and without waking Aiden, we walked upstairs, and once in her room, I held back the covers on her bed. She pulled the blankets up to her chin and looked over at the picture of Beth. “It’s behind there,” she said. “You can take it out.”
Carefully, I picked up the frame and studied her face. She was pretty. A big smile and laugh lines that told me she’d done both things often.
“Behind the picture?”
Anya nodded.
I pulled the back of the frame off, and a folded-up piece of paper was wedged behind the image of her mom.
When I opened it, it was hard to make sense of what I was seeing. Anya pointed at the side, letters I couldn’t really make sense of.
“She told me I’d know,” Anya said. “Even if you didn’t match the list, I’d know.”
My throat thickened, and I smoothed her hair back from her forehead. “Yeah?”
Anya blinked slowly, sleep pulling at her. “I wrote it on the side of the paper, but I don’t think Daddy could read that part. Mommy said I’d know because she’d make us all happier. And that’s you.”
A tear slid down my cheek as I leaned down to place a featherlight kiss on her forehead. Her arms snaked around my neck in a tight squeeze.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you, too.”
I stood from the bed and turned, stopping short when I saw Aiden watching us from the doorway. He’d tugged on some cotton sleep pants, arms crossed over his chest, and a small smile playing over his mouth. His eyes were red.
“We’re busted,” I whispered.
He held out a hand, and I took it.
“Ready to go back to bed?” he asked.
I nodded.
I was ready for all of it with him. With her. Most of all, I was just ready for our life together to start, and as I fell asleep in his arms, I had a feeling it just had.
Epilogue
EPILOGUE
Isabel
Six months later
“I t’s not very pretty.”
Under my breath, I laughed at Anya’s dubious expression. We sat on the bed in my bedroom with Aiden, and in front of her was the pink enamel lockbox I’d found online.
“It’s pink, though, so that’s something.”
She gave me a look. “I might have a new favorite color next year. What am I going to do with all my secret stuff then?”
I hummed. “Well, maybe we can spray-paint it if that happens.”
She eyed mine. “You never changed yours?”
With a shake of my head, I fished the key out of the small bag and jiggled the lock until I could finagle the box open. “It was a gift from my nan—Logan’s mom. She knew I needed a place that was just mine to keep all my special things that should be kept safe.”
“What’s in it?” Anya leaned forward.
I showed her each item, explaining where they came from, why I felt they were important. When I got to the letter I’d written to her dad, I paused before pulling it out.
“Now this is something I’ve never shown anyone,” I told her.
Her eyes widened. “Really?”
Next to me was another envelope I hadn’t shown anyone, but we’d get to that eventually.
Very carefully, I picked up the folded paper and shook my head at the sight of my neat penmanship, the doodles of purple ink along the side.
“I wrote this letter when I was a teenager.”
She shifted to her knees, teeth tugging on her bottom lip in her interest. “You never sent it?”
Pulling open the paper, I shook my head. “I decided it should just stay a secret.”
It was a risk to show her. But over the last year, this young lady had become my built-in sidekick, my ride or die, outside of her dad.
When I handed her the paper, the diamond on my engagement ring caught the light.
Anya took the letter, her eyes widening on the first line.
“It’s for my dad,” she whispered.
I nodded.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.