Epilogue
ONE YEAR LATER
Bella smiled down at James, who was sitting in his high chair with his one-year-old smash cake on the tray table in front of him. Bella had made the cake herself, using baby-friendly ingredients and flavors she thought James might like.
For his part, James was grinning a huge grin, showing his tiny teeth, his green eyes glowing with happiness.
His round pink cheeks were smudged with vanilla cake and frosting — even his truck-patterned onesie was covered in more frosting.
Not much of the cake appeared to have made it into his mouth, but he didn’t seem to care.
Bella didn’t care either.
“He looks happy.” Luke came up behind her and put an arm around her waist.
“He does. But we’d better get him cleaned up in time for presents.”
“Let me.” Luke lifted James out of his high chair. “Hey, little man. Shall we go wash up?”
“Ba ga,” James babbled, rubbing frosting into Luke’s face. Luke grinned at his son.
“Thanks, little man. Now I look even more handsome.”
James chortled as though he understood the joke, and Luke carried him into the next room.
Bella watched them go, her heart full. Since James had been born, Luke had proven himself to be a wonderful parent.
He was calm, confident, and easygoing, even when he was covered in spit-up or running on three hours of sleep.
If it were possible, Bella had fallen more in love with him every day.
“You look happy.”
Bella turned to see Stacy standing beside her. Her friend was grinning and holding hands with her now-husband, Michael. Her stomach showed the curve of six months of pregnancy with her own son, who would be arriving in early fall.
“I am happy.” Bella smiled at her friend. “I have a wonderful one-year-old baby boy, a great guy who I love, and a flourishing business.”
“The business does look great,” Stacy said, looking around the space. “I can’t believe how great your new location is.”
“I can’t believe I can afford to have a location at all,” Bella mused.
It had turned out that taking a step back was the best thing she could have done for her business.
She’d hired new staff and trained them to take over for her on maternity leave.
When she’d come back, she’d kept them on.
Now, with help, Bella was able to cater bigger events and more of them, since she didn’t need to be there, doing everything, all the time.
The Cherry on Top had become one of the most sought-after catering companies in Portland.
It was an amazing feeling. Bella had even purchased this space to host small events and function as a staging area and office space for her small but very effective team of employees.
“Hey!” Callie hurried over from the far side of the room. She was practically skipping. “I just saw James. He’s adorable! How’s he getting so big?”
“I don’t know.” Bella shrugged, still smiling. “Luke and I keep telling him to slow down, but he doesn’t seem to listen. I think he’s about to start walking.”
“It’s like he’s a real little person now,” Callie mused. Bella and Stacy chuckled.
“True,” Bella said.
“And how about Luke, anyway?” Callie asked. From a nearby table, she picked up one of the mini cakes Bella had prepared for the event and popped it into her mouth.
“What do you mean?” Bella asked, grinning already.
“Well, you guys have a baby together,” Callie ticked off on her fingers. “You have a house together. You’re clearly super in love. So, like, aren’t you going to get married?”
Bella laughed. “Well, maybe someday. But right now, we’re too focused on the baby to be thinking about that. Caring for a child takes a lot of time, as does being a surgeon and a caterer.”
“So, you don’t want him to ask?” Stacy inquired.
Bella paused, then sighed. “Of course I do. But we did everything backwards. Usually you meet someone, fall in love, move in together, get married, and then get pregnant, like you’re doing.
But we met, got pregnant, moved in together, and then fell in love.
And all of this happened so quickly! So, if Luke isn’t ready for us to be married yet, I don’t mind. ”
“Right.” Callie nodded. “Sure.”
“It’s true!” Bella protested. “Honestly, having Luke deliver our baby and handle most of the nighttime feedings, and go together on trips to Seaside and Mount Hood is just as meaningful.”
A small voice in the back of Bella’s head added that it would be nice to be married, too, but she didn’t say that. She really was happy to wait.
“Bella, dear!” the familiar voice of Luke’s mother called from across the room.
“Sorry, just a minute.” Bella excused herself from her friends and went to join Luke’s parents. Luke was with them, holding James, who was now dressed in his duckie onesie since the truck one was covered in frosting.
“Look at him,” Luke was saying. “He’s already showing milestones well beyond his age. I swear, yesterday I was holding him and reading from a medical journal, and he said the word ‘coagulate.’”
“A-ga,” James put in, and everyone laughed. Bella came to stand by Luke, holding out her arms for James and smiling at Luke’s parents.
“We were just telling Luke how lucky he is to have such a sweet baby and such a wonderful girlfriend,” Luke’s mother said.
“And I said that I know,” Luke added. “I couldn’t be luckier. It’s been kind of an amazing year, hasn’t it?”
“The highlight was the baby Ewok photoshoot,” Bella said, making Luke’s parents grin.
“The highlight was you,” Luke said.
“I agree,” Luke’s dad said. “We’re so happy to have met you, Bella. And you’re so wonderful to our son.”
“He’s wonderful to me,” Bella said. Luke put his arm around her and gave her a hug.
“Ma ba,” James said, reaching up to grab some of Bella’s hair to try to put it in his mouth. Everyone laughed.
“Oh, and the food is just amazing,” Luke’s mother continued. “I’ve eaten so many of those crab puffs, I’m worried they’ll start coming out of my ears!”
“I can give you the recipe,” Bella said. “They’re quite easy.”
“I think you should just come over to Pittsburgh and make them for us,” Luke’s father said with a wink.
“We will,” Bella agreed.
“Soon,” Luke added. “But for now, I need to steal Bella for just a moment. Would you mind holding James?”
“Mind?” Luke’s mother beamed. “It’s the only thing I want. Come here, my little Ewok.”
She held out her arms, and Bella handed the baby over, then took Luke’s hand.
They walked along the edge of the space, which was filled with their friends — Luke’s colleagues, now friends, from work; Bella’s employees, now friends, from the Cherry on Top; and the babies and parents they’d met in James’s baby class.
Everyone was eating the food Bella had prepared, talking, and laughing.
The babies were playing in a cozy corner that Bella had set up for James, and as they watched, Luke’s mother carried James over to join them.
“Your parents are wonderful,” Bella said as they paused so Luke could hand her a drink. “I never imagined having parents like them in my life.”
“They are pretty great,” Luke agreed. “And they’re incredibly grateful to you.
They don’t know the whole story, but they know how closed off I got after Jenna died.
I barely saw them and only talked to them rarely after moving to Portland — until you came along and showed me that I could open my heart again. ”
Bella blushed. “It was nothing.”
“It was everything, Bella.” Luke stopped at the front of the room, by the window that looked out onto the leafy trees on the street outside. “You’re everything.”
“Luke,” Bella protested, blushing again.
“No, I’m serious. Since I met you, nothing has been the same. I’m able to talk to my parents again without worrying about losing them all the time. I’ve been able to make friends at work and with other parents. I’m not a closed-off, grumpy surgeon anymore.”
“You’re still grumpy before you have your coffee,” Bella pointed out.
“Hush,” Luke said teasingly, holding up a hand. “I’m trying to say something here.”
“Okay. You’re singing my praises, so you may continue.”
“How generous.”
“I know.”
Luke pulled a face at Bella, grinned, and continued, “More important than any of that, you gave me our son. I can never imagine, I never want to imagine, how life would be without James. He’s the sweetest little boy. The smartest, too.”
“This I can get on board with,” Bella joked. “I like talking about how wonderful James is. Did you know he loves avocados now?”
Luke laughed. “I was there when he tried them, so yes, I know. Did you know he said—”
“He didn’t say coagulate,” Bella cut in. Luke shook his head, his eyes dancing.
“You’d believe me if you’d heard it. I was surprised too, but some babies are just that smart.”
“Sure, sure.” Bella grinned. “I believe you.”
“Good.” Luke gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.
“What was that for?”
“Believing me. Now, back to singing your praises.”
“Please, continue.”
“The most important thing of all,” Luke said, “isn’t what you’ve given me — my family back, friends, or our son.
The most important part is you. You’ve brought so much light and so much happiness into my life.
I still remember the moment I saw you at that bar, wearing jeans and a shirt with your hair down around your shoulders, and thinking how beautiful you were.
I remember dipping our feet in the pool and going up to my room. ”
“And making James.”
Luke smiled. “And making James. I remember how much I missed you when we didn’t see each other for months and I couldn’t track you down — even though I felt like a lovestruck idiot since we’d only met each other once.
I think part of me knew that we were meant to be together and to have a future, and I couldn’t wait for that future to start. ”
“I understand that,” Bella said quietly. “From the moment I met you, you changed how I looked at things.”
“Exactly,” Luke said. “And then you came into my ER in a flour-dusted apron, and I was shocked.”
“You weren’t too shocked, because you asked me to move in with you right away,” Bella said.
Luke chuckled. “True. And then there was that first month, when we just played board games, and I ate your food, and we tried to keep our distance.”
“And then we got to know each other.”
“And I fell for you, more and more every day,” Luke said. “I remember feeling James’s kicks for the first time, painting his nursery—”
“Well, I painted his nursery.”
“Hey, it isn’t my fault I got an emergency page whenever we tried to start.”
“I mean, it is a little bit your fault.”
“Maybe a little. And then coming home to find you about to give birth, and delivering James. I’ll never forget that.”
“Me neither. When you came, I was so relieved. I knew everything was going to be okay.”
“And it has been. Even when things were at their darkest. Remember that diaper blow-out at three a.m. when James was two weeks old?”
Bella threw her head back and laughed. “Vividly. It haunts my nightmares.”
“Mine, too,” Luke chuckled. “And then, when he said his first word—”
“Mama was hardly a word — it was just a sound.”
“It was a word. It definitely was.” Luke smiled down at her. “My point, Bella, is that you turned my life upside down. You’re beautiful and smart and funny and strong, and without you, none of this would have been half as fun as it has been together.”
“That’s true,” Bella agreed. “Becoming parents was so much better together than it would have been alone. That’s what you’ve shown me — that it’s better to rely on people, and let them rely on you, than to try to go it alone all the time.”
“I’m very wise,” Luke said. He took Bella’s hands.
“And you’re right. We’re better off relying on each other.
The last two years with you have been the best of my life.
We’ve learned so much from each other. We’ve done so much together.
And every morning I wake up in awe of you.
How you take such wonderful care of James, even when you’re tired.
How you run your business so expertly and how all your employees love you.
And how kissing you still makes me feel like a teenager in love for the first time. ”
“I feel that way, too,” Bella agreed.
“Good. Because I’m about to ask you something.” Luke let go of her hands and took a step back. As he did, everyone in the room paused in their conversations and turned to watch. Bella’s hands lifted to her mouth. Was this really happening?
“Bella Elizabeth Nolan,” Luke said, dropping to one knee, “will you marry me?” He lifted a small black box in both hands and flipped the lid open. A diamond ring glinted inside. “Please?”
Bella was so overwhelmed that it took her a moment to form words. “Yes!” she said. “Yes, of course I’ll marry you!”
Cheers erupted from their friends and family as they threw confetti into the air. Bella laughed as the confetti rained down on them and a banner unfurled along one wall that said “Congratulations!” in huge letters.
“You were pretty sure I’d say yes, huh?” she teased Luke.
“Let’s just say I had a gut feeling.” He winked at her as he took her hand and slid the ring onto her finger. Bella grinned.
“You’ve got to listen to those.”
And then he swept her into his arms and kissed her, right in front of everyone. It was a kiss full of passion, full of love, full of promise for a future. It was a kiss that still made Bella’s knees weak, even after a year as a couple. Cheers broke out again.
When they finally separated, Luke kept his arms around her.
“My fiancée, everyone!” he said. They cheered yet again, and Luke’s mother came over with James.
“I think this little one wants to say congratulations.”
“Ga!” James said happily as each of his parents kissed him on the cheeks.
“Ga indeed,” Luke replied. Then they were both swept up into a sea of congratulations. Everyone wanted to hug Bella and admire her ring. From across the room, she met Luke’s eyes, and she just knew — they were going to have a long, happy life together.
A few minutes later, he came back to her.
“I can’t wait to marry you,” Luke said softly, kissing Bella’s cheek.
“Me neither.” She smiled at him. “I love you, Luke.”
“I love you, too.”
I hope you’ve enjoyed Luke and Bella’s story!