“Well, Grace and I will probably just make it a small do,” Logan announced, causing the whole two tables to quiet.
I stiffened and felt Chloe’s hand grip my knee in reaction to the announcement.
Maia gasped. “Are you getting married?”
“At some point,” Logan said, looking confused by everyone’s sudden alertness.
“But have you proposed?” Shannon leaned across the table, eyes bright with excitement.
“At some point I will.” He stared across the table at me, apparently looking for help.
I could only stare back in shock.
He had not mentioned marriage to me.
“Why does Grace look like she’s just hearing this for the first time?” Olivia asked, amusement in her expression.
“Because she is,” Chloe answered beside me. She would know, because she’d be the first person to hear about it.
“Och, Logan,” Jo snapped at him. “You can’t go announcing these things without talking to the bride-to-be first.”
“Bad form, mate.” Nate shook his head.
“Well…” Logan looked at them all and then at me before coming to the realization that he’d gone about it all wrong. “Fuck.”
“Logan MacLeod, there are children present.” Elodie harrumphed.
“Apologies,” he said, almost sheepishly.
I laughed at the fact that no one else, absolutely no one else on the planet could intimidate Logan, but Elodie Nichols could make him feel like an errant schoolboy.
Our eyes met as he turned toward my laughter. His eyes asked me if we were okay. I smiled. “You just better make sure it’s one hell of a proposal.”
Everyone snorted and chuckled as Logan’s gaze, his promise to do just that, seared from his eyes into my very soul.
“Way to hijack my wedding, folks,” Shannon teased.
It snapped Logan and me out of our moment, and I put an arm around her, hugging her in apology. She waved me off, laughing, apparently too excited at the prospect of us becoming sisters to care.
As conversation moved on to other things, Maia rushed around the table to me, bending down to look me in the face. For a moment we just gazed at each other, and I felt everything she was feeling without her having to say anything. I reached up to touch her cheek, and her eyes brightened with tears.
Just like that my eyes filled up too.
Because we suddenly knew.
She and I… we had Logan and we had each other.
And that meant we were finally going to be okay.
I glanced over at Logan to find him watching us intently, like he knew what had passed between us. His eyes darkened with deep-felt emotion. His lips parted and he mouthed, I love you.
And as I mouthed them back, in that moment – in that moment I would never forget – I felt the rare sweetness of absolute rightness… of absolute contentment.
Of absolute family.
EPILOGUE
Four days later in Italy
Shannon
“I
t was good of Joss and Braden to give us the villa again,” Cole said as we floated in the pool together. Spring in Lake Como was genuinely a mild affair, a bit like an early British summer, but today was an unusually hot day for the season and we were taking full advantage of it.
I bobbed gently against him, my legs wrapped tight around his hips, my arms around his neck. “I’m so glad we came back here.” It had seemed like the perfect choice for our honeymoon.
Cole’s hands kneaded my bottom, his low-lidded gaze making me tingle. “Me too. I have particularly good memories of this pool.”
I laughed. “It’s broad daylight. I only let that happen last time because it was dark.”
“Does that mean you’ll let me take advantage of you in the pool tonight, then?”
“Oh, you’ll have to get me drunk first. I mean, look at you,” I teased, smoothing my hands over his strong biceps. “Blech.”
He shook with laughter. “I know it’ll be a hardship for you, shortcake, but do it for me.”
“Oh, all right, then.” I laughed as he peppered my face with kisses and pretended to grope me.
“You’re wearing too many clothes,” he huffed.
“I’m wearing a bikini.”
“Yes. Too many clothes.”
Giggling, I held on tighter to him, urging my body closer to his as the water tried to gently separate us. “I think we should come back here for every big anniversary.”
He slid his arms around my back, drawing me up against his chest so our lips were just an inch from one another. I stared into his beautiful green eyes, and like always, I felt contented with the soul-deep knowledge that I’d found my best friend and my family in this man.
“I think that’s a great idea,” he said softly, brushing his mouth over mine. “And when we have kids and they’re older, we should bring them here too.”
“How many do you want?”
He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter to me. I’ll be happy if we have one or five, boys or girls… As long as they have a piece of me and a piece of you in them, that’s all that matters.”
“Do you have to be so perfect, Cole Walker?”