Chapter 12 #2
James’s heart did a silly leap when he saw her, but his voice was dry as he said, “I thought maybe your grandmother would answer, and I would get a lecture on not wearing a jacket to pick you up.”
Rose chuckled and stepped outside, closing the door behind her. “She spied on you through the window and said she was pleased to see you looked appropriate.”
They walked down the stairs and James was suddenly overwhelmed with a tidal wave of affection and desire. He couldn’t stop himself from reaching over and taking her head in his hands, pulling her into a kiss.
It started softly, gently, but it didn’t stay that way. Rose’s body softened, and her hands lifted to cling to his shirt. She was obviously just as taken over by the kiss as he was.
When he finally pulled away, he leaned his forehead against hers, not wanting to create any distance between them.
“I don’t think she would have approved of that,” Rose said, breathless and amused.
“I’m more concerned about what you think.”
“I definitely approve.”
“Good. Then we’ll keep doing that.” James planned to keep doing that for the rest of his life if he had any say in the matter.
“For a long time,” Rose said, winding her arms around his neck. Then she added, “I hope.”
There was the slightest thread of insecurity in her voice on the last words, and it caused him to pull back so he could look into her face.
Her brown eyes were open, sincere, and vulnerable.
“I hope so too,” he murmured.
Her expression relaxed, almost imperceptibly.
“What are you worried about?” he asked, stroking her cheek with his knuckles.
She gave a sheepish little shrug. “I don’t know. That I’m going to throw myself into this, and then the rug is going to be pulled out from under me. It still feels like this isn’t really happening to me. Like it couldn’t be.”
“Why couldn’t it be?”
She smiled wryly. “Because nothing like this has ever happened to me before.”
He understood what she was saying, and he couldn’t help but respond to it.
He pulled her into a warm hug. “It’s happened to me before, but this is still entirely new, still entirely terrifying sometimes.
It’s not really about experience. It’s always about trust.” He cleared his throat and decided to risk it.
“And I love you, Rose Beaufort. You can trust me in that.”
Her features tightened briefly before they burst into a smile. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
She took a raspy breath. “Well, that’s a relief. Because I love you too.”
Then they were kissing again, and it was only after they pulled apart that James started to hope that Rose’s sister and grandmother weren’t peeking out at them through the window.
“I guess that’s not the normal thing to happen on the first date,” Rose said, giggling helplessly, like she was too happy to possibly contain it.
James really hoped she was. “We’ve never been normal, I guess.” Then he remembered something. “Oh, shit, I left your flowers in the car.”
“What flowers?”
“Jill and Julie helped pick them out for me. They wanted to make sure it was a very romantic date, one you’d never forget.”
Rose leaned up to kiss him just beside the mouth. “Well, you can tell them it was a success.”
Three months later, Rose was laughing hysterically as James and Jill tried to best each other at a board game.
The rules had been thrown out the window a long time ago, and now the two were racing their playing pieces through the steps and obstacles on the board, trying to get them all done before the other.
Jill was winning by a very small margin.
Julie was cheering her on, and Rose was supposed to be cheering for James, but mostly she was just laughing.
She’d she been dating James for the past three months, and she couldn’t remember ever being happier.
At times it felt like they’d known each other forever, and at other times it was like they were just getting acquainted.
Because they were in a professional relationship before, some parts of their lives had never been touched.
Until now.
Now she was part of James’s life fully—and of Jill and Julie’s too. It was exactly what she wanted.
She had started college last month, and she was trying to work her schedule so she could graduate as soon as possible. The classes so far weren’t terribly hard, so she was hoping to stack a lot of them in a few semesters.
Kelly would still graduate before her, but not by a whole lot.
“I won,” Jill declared, dropping her piece on the last square.
“Yay!” Julie shouted, doing a little jig of victory. “Hooray for us!” It might have been Jill’s success, but that meant a victory for both of them.
James was making a lot of exaggerated groans, making the girls laugh. Then he told them to put the board game away and get ready for dessert.
Rose watched the girls’ faces and wondered what was on the menu for dessert. Jill and Julie both looked like they were suddenly hiding secrets, and they scurried away, stifling giggles.
James looked bland and unconcerned.
“What’s for dessert?” Rose asked, getting up from the floor and moving to sit on the couch, where it was more comfortable.
“Nothing too exciting.”
She peered at his expression and decided he was hiding something too.
“What’s going on?” she demanded.
“Why do you think something is going on?”
“Because all three of you are acting weird. Do you think I can’t recognize that by now?”
“You’re imagining it.” He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. Then added, “I’m going to see what’s taking the girls so long.”
Rose sighed. He was definitely up to something. It wasn’t her birthday anytime soon, and she hadn’t done anything lately worthy of celebration. She was still trying to figure it out when the door to the family room opened again and Julie came out.
She’d changed into her favorite pink ruffled dress and was holding a single pink rose.
Rose blinked at her. “Why did you put that on, honey?”
Julie was almost shaking from what looked like joy and excitement, but she managed to hold on to a mostly sober expression as she stood in front of Rose and offered her the rose.
“Thank you,” Rose said, accepting the flower with a melting kind of sentiment. “What is that for?”
“Rosie… Rose Beaufort,” Julie said, speaking carefully as if afraid she’d get it wrong.
“You were our nanny, and we loved you, and now you’re not our nanny, and we love you more.
We never want you to go away. We want you to be with us always.
” She took a deep breath as if relieved she’d gotten all the words said.
She’d clearly memorized them since they were clearly written by someone much older than her.
Rose was still clueless, staring at the little girl and the rose and having absolutely no idea what was happening here.
Then Jill came in, wearing a long green dress with her hair pulled back with a ribbon. She was also carrying a single pink rose, and she walked over to give it to Rose.
“Rose Beaufort,” Jill began, a smile underlying her seriousness.
Her speech was smoother, but obviously memorized and practiced too.
“You’ve helped us and taken care of us and made our lives better.
We wouldn’t be nearly as happy as we are without you.
You’re part of our family, and you always will be.
And now we want to make you a part of our family for real. We want you to be our mommy.”
“Our mommy!” Julie chimed in. From the shushing gesture Jill made, this was obviously out of turn.
Rose’s fingers were starting to tremble and the room started to blur as she finally realized what was happening here.
She looked instinctively toward the door, where James was coming in. He was still wearing his jeans, T-shirt, and bare feet, but he was also holding a single pink rose. He walked over, offered it to her, and then he got to his knees in front of her.
Rose made a silly gasping sound and covered her mouth with her hand, hardly believing this was happening.
James pulled a little box from his pocket and opened it to display the beautiful amethyst ring he’d given her for their fake engagement.
She felt a sudden drop in her gut at the sight of it until he started to speak.
“I love you, Rose Beaufort,” he said, his voice hoarse and his hazel eyes absolutely earnest. “I love you with everything that’s in me to love, and my daughters love you just as much.
We want you to be a Harwood now. My wife and their mother.
I used to be looking for a substitute for something that was missing in my life, but now I know that you’ve created a space in my life, my heart, that simply wasn’t there before you.
I picked this ring out for you, but I didn’t give it to you the way you deserved the first time.
So I hope you’ll wear it now—now that I can offer it to you for real, in the right way.
So would you do us that honor? We promise to love you the rest of your life. ”
Rose was choking on the emotion, the roses in her lap, her eyes filling with tears.
Julie whispered, “Please, please say yes!”
“Yes!” she burst out. “Of course I will.” And then she really did burst into tears.
James got up to take her in his arms to kiss her, and the girls were hugging and kissing her too.
They all ended up on the couch together, with Jill explaining that her daddy had messed up his lines a bit and gone off script—evidently the part about the space in his heart hadn’t been in their original play—and Julie was asking if she could please be a flower girl in the wedding and if she could wear a dress down to her feet.
James wasn’t saying anything. He had her wrapped up with one arm, and he was gazing at her face as if he couldn’t believe that she’d said yes.
And Rose knew—with no reservations or insecurity—that all of them loved her completely, exactly as she was. She almost pitied other women who just got to marry a single man.
Because she got to marry an entire family.