32. Bryan
32
brYAN
M other. My gut clenched.
“I am sorry that she spoke so rudely to you.” I chose my words carefully. I couldn’t apologize for my mother, but I could, and I would, make sure that Nova knew she belonged in my house. She belonged at my dinner table, whether she cooked the meal or Emma did upon her return from vacation.
“My mother grew up in a manner that?—”
Nova waved. “It’s okay. Bryan, it’s okay. She’s…” Nova paused and glanced at Amelia.
“She’s used to being treated a certain way and treating people with…” Nova paused again.
“She’s a snob, Nova. She is a classist snob. She thinks simply because she grew up around obscene quantities of money that she can order someone around. I’ve spoken to her about this many times. I don’t want Amelia to feel the people who don’t have the income and revenue that generational wealth provides our family are any less deserving of being treated like humans. Amelia is learning that sometimes, the hardest workers are also the poorest.”
“And how is your mother going to feel knowing the cook, not even the full-time cook but the temporary cook, has moved in? She’s gonna love that I’m a school teacher,” Nova said sarcastically with a heavy eye roll.
“I know one way to make my mother eat her words, and that is to show to her that you belong in our home as part of our family.”
Nova’s lips parted as she took in a soft gasp.
“I don’t want you to think…” I shoved my hand deep into my pocket until my fingers wrapped around the velvet box. I kept my fist closed as I pulled it out. “That my giving this to you is driven by my mother’s attitude. She literally has nothing to do with this decision, other than as a means of shutting her up. Amelia.” I held my hand out to my daughter.
She climbed off the couch and stepped between me and Nova.
“You said, shut up,” Amelia whispered so only I could hear her. “That’s a bad word.”
I laughed. “It’s not a bad word, sweetheart. It is rude. I know they don’t want you using it at school, but it is not a bad word. It’s not a curse word. But you should also never say it in front of Grandmother. Understood?”
Amelia’s eyes went wide and she nodded.
“Good, hold out your hands.” I placed the small green velvet box onto her outstretched palms. “Now I want you to give this to Nova.”
I spun Amelia around. She held her hands out to Nova, presenting the box.
My heart pounded in my throat the entire time. I hadn’t planned any of this, other than that Nova needed to officially be part of the family, and this was how I was going to do it. It wasn’t until that very moment that I knew Amelia had to be part of the plan for this to work right.
I reached around Amelia as she held the box out to Nova. I opened it so that Nova could see the ring inside.
“Will you please become part of our family?” I asked her.
Nova tentatively reached out and took the box. “I don’t understand.” She started crying again.
“Does this mean Nova will be my mommy now?” Amelia asked.
“If she says yes,” I said.
I looked deep into Nova’s eyes. Please say yes , the voice in my head begged.
“You want me to be Amelia’s mommy?” Nova blinked and wiped at the newly formed tears in her eyes.
I nodded. “If you say yes.”
“What about you?” Her eyes were locked with mine.
I could see all of her questions, all of her fears. It felt like she could see into my very soul where my fears lived.
I nodded very slowly, even though my heart was racing.
“Will you be my wife?” I asked quietly.
Nova covered her mouth with her hand, her other hand clutching the box as she started crying even more.
The uncertainty felt like knives. Was she crying because I asked the wrong thing? Was she crying because she was happy? Was she crying because I didn’t know how to read the fucking room and I had proposed after her best friend and ex-boyfriend destroyed all of her trust in humanity?
I held my breath until she started nodding her head. She flapped her hand about her eyes and her lips were spread into a broad smile.
My entire being relaxed and flooded with warmth and love.
She was crying because she was happy.
She grabbed Amelia and kissed the top of her head. “Oh, my God, yes, I would love nothing more than to be your mommy. And then she took a breath to say something to me. She just smiled.
“Are you serious right now?” she asked.
“I couldn’t be more serious.”
“But we’ve only known each other since?—”
“We met a few days ago when you came to cook for me.” I finished her sentence for her.
She narrowed her eyes, and then they went wide as I had to guess she realized what I was saying. Of course, we met that one glorious night at the hotel, but that was our secret. As far as anyone else needed to know, we met when she came and cooked for me.
“When I came to cook for you,” she agreed.
“When you know, you know,” I said.
Her hands were shaking as I reached forward and took the ring box from her. I pulled the ring from its resting place and held Nova’s hand.
“This was my grandmother’s ring.” I slowly slipped it down her finger. “It’s yours now, if you’ll have me.”
She watched as I slid the ring slowly down her finger, all the way over the knuckle. It was a perfect fit.
“Yes, Bryan, I accept.”
And then she was in my arms, her lips against mine. Amelia hugged us both and giggled. I fell back on the floor with Nova on my lap. She peppered my face with kisses.
She stopped and held her hand out to admire the ring. “This is beautiful. Will it bother your mother that I have your grandmother’s ring?”
“Wrong side of the family,” I said. “That ring is from my father’s side. It’s an antique, from the turn of the last century.”
“Victorian?” Nova asked.
I shook my head. “Nineteen hundreds, so Edwardian.” The ring had a large center stone—probably a two-karat diamond—set in a tapered oval-shaped filigree that was studded with other, smaller diamonds. It was almost shaped like an eye the way the focal diamond filled the center.
“This is so amazingly beautiful,” Nova said, her voice still quavering with emotion.
“You’re so beautiful,” I said as I dipped my head to kiss her again.
Nova started giggling. “I had a perfectly horrible idea.” She continued to sit on my lap and admire the ring.
I leaned back, content to be pinned in place by her and in no hurry to do anything else. “Perfectly horrible? Is it something you can tell me?” I cast my gaze quickly to Amelia, hoping Nova got the hint. Nothing too scandalous around my daughter. Our daughter. I was going to have to get adoption papers drawn up. They should take effect the same day we got married. My lawyer could figure that out.
“I was going to block Veronica’s number once I was thinking clearly. But I think I should send her one last picture.” She wiggled her fingers at me, causing the diamonds to flash and send sparkles of light around the room. “She just got engaged too. She woke me up to show me her ring, and then…” Nova took a deep breath that expanded her chest in a very distracting way. “And then she walked in the door with that jerk to rub it into my face. She got the man who ripped out my heart.”
Nova leaned against my shoulder. “But I got the man who held mine together when it was falling apart. I’m pretty sure I win.”
I kissed her brow. “I didn’t think you were that petty.”
“Oh, Bryan, you have no idea. I work with six-year-olds. I’ve been trained by some of the most petty, passive-aggressive parents you could ever imagine.”
“The parents?”
Nova sat up and shifted on my lap. “Never underestimate a parent when their precious baby’s entire future is at stake over a macaroni noodle craft project. They genuinely think if their first grader isn’t getting straight As or can’t read at a collegiate level already, they are doomed. Colleges don’t even care about anything much before high school when reviewing admission applications. It’s nuts.”
“Would showing off your ring make you happy?”
She smiled at me, and then her smile dissolved back into crying. I cradled her against my chest.
“Veronica was my best friend. She was supposed to be my maid of honor. She was going to be the first person I told. She didn’t even know about you. I mean, how I felt about you. I was afraid to tell her because I didn’t want her to remind me how stupid it was to fall in love with my boss.”
“You love me?” I couldn’t help but pull that shining nugget of information out of the pile of crap she was wading through emotionally.
“Yes, I love you.”
“Good, because I’m in love with you too. Sorry to interrupt. Veronica was going to tell you that you were stupid if she knew about me?”
Nova nodded. “I worked for David, and well, that’s how that started, but it’s also how things ended. Lost the boyfriend, lost the job, but I thought I still had my friend.”
Her pain tightened in my chest. I hated that she was suffering at the hands of someone she had loved and trusted. Not that David asshole, but that Veronica bitch.
“I wasn’t supposed to fall for you. I know I shouldn’t have, but…”
“But nothing. I fell for you too. And we can compare notes to figure out who fell first. So I’m staking my claim as first.” I pressed my lips to hers in a quick kiss. I enjoyed kissing her and planned on doing it all the time.
“We should get started cleaning and packing so we can go home. We have more presents to unwrap. And it’s time to make this Christmas a happy one for you.” I kissed Nova again.
“It’s already the best Christmas I’ve ever had,” she said as she wiped her tears.
I’d believe her when she could say it without crying.