Chapter 5 Maren
Maren
Iwake up to winter sunlight streaming through unfamiliar windows and a warm, solid body pressed against my back.
For a disoriented moment, I don't know where I am. Then Henry's arm tightens around my waist, pulling me closer, and everything comes rushing back.
I'm in his bed. In his room. We made love last night and then fell asleep tangled together in his California king with the expensive sheets and the view of the snow-covered forest.
"Morning," Henry murmurs against my neck, his voice rough with sleep and impossibly sexy.
"Morning." I turn in his arms to face him, and god, he's beautiful like this—hair mussed, jaw shadowed with stubble, eyes still soft with sleep. "Did you sleep okay?"
"Best sleep I've had in years." He pulls me closer and kisses me slowly. "Having you in my bed is..."
"Everything?" I offer, echoing his words from yesterday.
"Yeah. Everything." His hand slides down my side, over my hip. "You know what else would be everything?"
"What?"
"Waking up like this every morning for the rest of my life…
I know we need to take things slow, figure out logistics, tell my parents.
" He cups my face. "But I'm in this, Maren.
Completely. I want this to be real. I want you to move in properly.
I want to marry you someday. I want Lilliana to call you Mom if that's what she wants. I want everything."
Tears prick my eyes. "I want that too. All of it."
"Good." He kisses me again, deeper this time. "Because I'm never letting you go."
His hand slides lower, between my thighs, and I gasp into his mouth.
He rolls me onto my back and settles between my thighs. "I need to be inside you again. Need to feel you."
I'm already wet just from his words, from the weight of him, from the promise in his eyes. "Then take me."
He doesn't need to be told twice. He's already hard, and he slides into me slowly, deeply.
"God, you feel good," he rasps. "So perfect. Like you were made for me."
He starts to move, slow and deliberate. This is us taking our time, savoring every moment, every touch.
"Look at me," he murmurs, and I meet his eyes.
The intimacy of it—holding his gaze while he's inside me, while he's moving in me—makes my chest ache. This is what making love is supposed to feel like. This is what I've been missing my whole life.
"I want to marry you someday," he says again, his voice rough with emotion. "Want to make this official. Want you to be Lilliana's mom in every way that matters."
"Ask me," I whisper, even though I know it's too soon.
"Not yet." He leans down to kiss me. "But soon. When the time is right. When we've had a chance to really be together, to make sure this is what you want."
"I already know what I want."
"Then you'll still know in six months. Or a year." His thumb finds my clit, circling slowly. "But right now, I just want to make you come."
The combination of his words, his touch, the slow drag of him inside me—it's too much. I tip over the edge with a soft cry, clenching around him, and he follows seconds later with a groan.
We stay like that for a long moment, just breathing together, hearts racing in sync.
"Best way to wake up," I whisper.
He laughs and kisses me. "Agreed."
Around noon, Henry's phone rings. His parents, saying they're finally able to make the drive up now that the roads are clear. They'll be here in two hours to pick up Lilliana for that belated Christmas visit.
"They're going to meet me," I say, nervous. "As your girlfriend."
"Is that okay?" Henry asks, pulling me aside while Lilliana plays with her Legos.
"Yes, just... nervous. What if they don't like me? What if they think I'm too young, or not good enough?"
"Stop." He cups my face. "They're going to love you. My mom's been not-so-subtly hinting that I should ask you out for weeks."
"Really?"
"Really. She met you once and decided you were perfect for us." He grins. "She's very perceptive."
When his parents arrive, I'm a bundle of nerves despite Henry's reassurances. But the moment I open the door, his mother, Jane, pulls me into a warm hug.
"Maren! It's so good to see you again." She steps back and looks between Henry and me with a knowing smile. "So. You two finally figured it out?"
Henry's father, Robert, laughs. "Jane's been taking bets on when you'd make a move. She said Christmas. I said New Year's. Looks like she wins."
"You were betting on us?" Henry sounds appalled.
"Of course we were," Jane says, as if this is obvious. "It was clear you two were perfect for each other from the start. I'm just glad you finally did something about it."
She pulls Henry aside and I hear her whisper, "She's lovely. Don't mess this up."
"I won't, Mom."
"Good. Because that girl looks at you like you hung the moon, and Lilliana adores her. If you let her get away, I'll disown you." She sounds like she’s only half joking.
I hide my smile and help Robert carry Lilliana's bags to their car for her Christmas holiday sleepover.
"He loves you, you know," Robert says quietly. "My son. I haven't seen him this happy in... well, ever, really. Thank you for that."
My throat goes tight. "I love him too. And Lilliana."
"We can tell." He smiles warmly. "And for what it's worth, we're thrilled. Jane's already planning the wedding in her head."
"Robert!" Jane calls from the porch. "Stop embarrassing them!"
He winks at me. "Welcome to the family, Maren."
After they leave with Lilliana, the house feels too quiet. Henry and I stand in the driveway watching them drive away until the car disappears around the bend.
Then we're alone.
Really alone. For the first time since this started.
"So," Henry says, sliding his arm around my waist. "We have two days. Just us. What do you want to do?"
I turn in his arms and give him a wicked smile. "I can think of a few things."
He raises his eyebrows. "Oh yeah?"
"You said you wanted to fuck me in every room of this house, didn't you?"
He groans and lifts me up, my legs wrapping around his waist. "I did say that. And I'm a man of my word."
He carries me back inside, kicking the door shut behind us, and we spend the rest of the afternoon making good on that promise.
We christen the kitchen first—he bends me over the marble island and takes me from behind while I try not to leave handprints on the expensive surface. Then the couch in his office, the shower in his bathroom, even the floor in front of the fireplace.
By the time evening rolls around, we're both exhausted and starving and thoroughly satisfied.
We order Thai food and eat it on the floor in front of the Christmas tree, wrapped in blankets, talking about everything and nothing. About the future, about logistics, about how to make this work.
"You should move your stuff into my room," Henry says. "Like, today.”
"Yeah. I want to be here," I say softly. "With you and Lilliana. That's all I want."
He pulls me closer and kisses the top of my head. "Then that's what we'll do."
We're quiet for a moment, and then I ask the question that's been nagging at me. "What about my job? Am I still your nanny?"
"No," he says firmly. "You're my girlfriend. My partner. Someday, my wife, if you'll have me. But you're not the help, Maren. You never were, really."
"But I still need to work. I need to send money home."
"About that." He shifts so he can look at me. "I want to help your parents."
"Henry, no. We talked about this."
"I'm not giving you money. I'm giving them money. A gift. Anonymous, if you want. They don't even have to know it's from me.” He squeezes my hand. “You've been killing yourself trying to save them, sending every spare dollar home. Let me help. Please."
Tears sting my eyes. "That's too much. I can't ask you to."
"You're not asking. I'm offering. And it's not too much. It's nothing to me, Maren. But it's everything to them. And to you."
"Why?" I whisper. "Why would you do that?"
"Because I love you. Because your family's important to you, which makes them important to me. Because I can, and it would make you happy." He brushes away a tear with his thumb. "Let me do this. Let me help."
I think about my parents, about the weight they've been carrying, about the house they're about to lose. About how this would change everything for them.
"Okay," I finally say. "But I'm paying you back. Someday."
"No, you're not. But we can argue about that later." He kisses me softly. "Right now, I just want to hold you."
We curl up together in front of the fire, the Christmas lights twinkling around us, and I think about how much my life has changed in just a few days.
A few days ago, I was the nanny. The employee. The girl sending money home and eating ramen so she could save a few extra dollars.
Now I'm his girlfriend. His partner. Someone he wants to marry someday.
"What are you thinking?" Henry asks, his fingers trailing lazily up and down my spine.
"That I'm really lucky."
"I'm the lucky one." He pulls me closer. "You could have anyone, Maren. You chose me."
"Of course I chose you." I press a kiss to his chest. "You're everything I want."
"Good. Because you're stuck with me now."
"I think I can live with that."
I came here to be a nanny. To earn money, to help my family, to survive.
Instead, I found everything I'd ever wanted.
A home. A family. A love that feels like forever.