Chapter Forty-One
TALLY
P enny’s wedding was the most fun night of my life. The Solo Sisters celebrated like we never had before—despite Penny breaking our Marriage Pact. Jake and the girls were there with me, and we danced, and laughed, and rejoiced in being together.
I didn’t think I could get any happier than I was after that night. I spent all my time in the house with them, ate every meal together, and we went to church on Sundays. I still slept in the guest house at night to stick with the physical boundaries we’d set. Jake would come out after the girls were in bed and kiss me good night, though, and it became harder and harder not to give in to the need to be as close as possible.
We talked about the future, marriage, and building our dream house .
Three weeks later, I came home from a visit with my parents to a note on the counter.
Meet me in the cupola.
Odd. But it had my mind swirling, wondering what Jake was up to.
I made my way up into the cupola and found Jake sitting there cross-legged on the floor with a can of pumpkin and a pumpkin pie beside him.
“Hi.” He wore a sly smile.
I pursed my lips as I took a seat in front of him. “Hi.”
“I made you something.”
I chuckled. “I see that. It’s not Thanksgiving.”
“I also owe you this.” He handed me the canned pumpkin.
“About time,” I said with a laugh.
“Four months ago today, I almost stole your can of pumpkin, and you instantly stole my heart.”
My heart sped up, wondering if he was going where I thought he was going with this.
“I want to celebrate our pumpkin-versary every month with a special date night.”
I laughed. “Pumpkin-versary? I like that.”
He leaned across the space toward me, and I met him in the middle with a kiss.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you too.”
He handed me a knife, and my hands shook a little, wondering if this might just be that cheesy moment in the story where the guy hides a ring in the cake … or pie, in this case .
I sliced it into triangles, and he dished us each a piece and added a dollop of whipped cream on top.
“We’ll spoil our dinner,” I said.
“Dessert first today.” He kissed me again, a little firmer this time, then slowly backed away with a sly smile that kept me wondering.
“I like dessert,” I whispered.
“Me too.” His gaze was intense. Just the way I liked it.
Each bite I took was slow and deliberate, afraid I might bite down on a ring and crack a tooth. But when I reached the last one, I was disappointed to find nothing but pumpkin filling and pie crust.
“Good?” he asked as he took his last bite.
“Mm-hmm. Yummy.”
“It’s my mom’s recipe.”
“Aww, that’s sweet.”
“I think it turned out okay.”
I wiped my lips with a napkin. “It did. She would be proud.”
“I wish you had met her. I know she would’ve loved you.”
“I wish I’d met her too.”
He smiled, then grabbed the can of whipped cream and sprayed some in his mouth, and I laughed.
“Want some?” He tilted the can in my direction.
“Nah.”
He took my hand in his and sprayed a little onto the tip of my finger, then brought it between his lips, sucking the whipped cream off. My stomach flipped at the sensations it caused.
“We’ll save the rest for … another occasion.” He bounced his eyebrows up and down, and I smacked his chest.
I looked at the pie pan again. “What now? ”
“That’s all. I want you to know that these things—little moments, special dates, anniversaries—are important to me, and I’ll do my best to celebrate them with you every chance I get.”
I got up on my knees and moved toward him, and he pulled me onto his lap, holding me tightly, kissing me deeply.
“Want to go out to dinner?” he asked when our kisses slowed.
“I’d love that.”
We headed down the stairs, but when I reached the hallway, Nora, Ava, and Piper stood there in a row, smiling up at me.
“Hey, girls, I thought you were at your grandparents’ tonight.”
“We have something for you,” Nora said.
The other two giggled as Nora brought her arms from behind her back, and in her palms lay a small black box.
I looked back at Jake as he came off the stairs, and he stepped up behind me and slid his arms around my waist, resting his chin on my shoulder.
Nora opened the box and revealed a sparkling round diamond set on a shiny silver band, and tears sprang to my eyes.
“Jake,” I whispered.
He turned me around in his arms and kissed my tears, then stepped back with his hands still gripping my upper arms. His eyes swept over my face before he stared into my eyes and lowered himself to one knee, gazing up at me with so much love.
“Natalia Kerr, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
My chin quivered as I touched his cheek and bobbed my head up and down. “Yes,” I managed as the waterfall of tears continued.
His smile could have lit the night sky as he stood and lifted me in his arms, spinning me around to the sound of giggles and clapping and laughter from the girls.
Nora brought the ring over, and Jake placed it on my finger. I’d never been so happy in my entire life.
Engaged. I could barely believe it. Everything I had ever wanted was mine—well, almost. But now that babies were in our future plans, all my dreams were falling into place.
We were married one month later to the day—five months from that day in the grocery store—with spring blossoms everywhere and family and best friends around us. To some, it may have seemed fast, but to me, those months working as the nanny felt like a lifetime. I walked into that house as a shy, socially anxious girl who dreamed of meeting someone someday, and in that short time, I learned so much about myself and what I wanted, and I found that I was braver than I thought. I was still shy and anxious, but I felt like a different person, more confident to deal with uncomfortable social situations, less worried about what other people thought of me. And bonus … I had met the man of my dreams and was stepmom to three amazing little girls .
The night of our wedding, we returned to an empty house since the girls went home with their grandparents. My body hummed with nervousness as Jake took my hand and led me into his room. It was foreign territory, private and personal. He closed the door as I moved over to the window in the darkened room, lit only by one lamp on his nightstand.
“Hello, wife,” he whispered as he slid his arms around my waist and brought my back against his chest.
“Hello, husband.” I rested my head against his chest. “This is weird.”
He pressed a soft kiss to my neck. “What is?”
“Being in here with you.” I looked down at the guest house, my home for the past five months.
“You belong here with me.” He turned me in his arms and brought me closer, one arm wound around my lower back and the other skimming softly up my back, coming to rest under my hair at the nape of my neck. Goosebumps traveled over my skin as he lowered his lips to mine with the gentlest of kisses and took hold of the zipper pull on the back of my wedding dress, slowly sliding it to the bottom. His fingertips skimmed the bare skin now revealed, and I’d never been more nervous than in that moment, which he seemed to sense.
He lowered his arms and squeezed my hands. “I’m going to use the bathroom first, and then you can have it.”
“Okay,” I managed as he kissed my forehead and went into the bathroom that was just off of our room.
Our room. That would take some getting used to.
My relief when the door clicked shut behind him surprised me. I should’ve been excited to be intimate with my husband on our wedding night, but I was terrified of the unknown .
I grabbed my bag and darted into the bathroom the second he was out and spent far too long washing my face before brushing and flossing my teeth. I took the top half of my hair down from the fancy clips that held it in place and brushed it out.
A soft tapping on the door startled me.
“Are you okay?” Jake asked.
“Yeah, I’m almost finished.”
I stared at my reflection. I was married now. I was a wife. I loved and trusted this man, and it was going to be okay.
I changed into the silky nightgown I’d bought for this occasion and left the bathroom. My husband—gosh, I loved that—was lying back against the pillow under the blankets of our bed, now wearing a T-shirt, which felt less intimidating than if he’d been without it. His eyes traveled over my body from head to toe and back, and then he folded one side of the blankets back for me, and I hesitantly climbed into bed.
He put his arm around me and brought me into his side, and I rested my head against his shoulder with my hand on his chest.
“You looked so beautiful today. Did I tell you that?”
I smiled up at him. “A few hundred times, I think.”
“It was a very good day.”
I rested my head against him again. “It really was. I think the girls had a lot of fun.”
His smile reached his eyes. “They probably won’t stop talking about this day for a very long time.”
“I hope they always remember what a happy day it was. ”
He took hold of my hand and brought it to his mouth, softly kissing my knuckles and my wedding ring. “I can’t believe I almost let you go.”
I slid my hand from his grip and brushed his hair back from his forehead, letting my fingers get lost in the soft waves. “I’m yours now. Forever.”
“Forever.” He kissed me soft and slow, not pushing for anything more, then wrapped me up in his arms, where I felt so secure. I should’ve known he would do everything he could to make me feel safe and comfortable.
We lay there for a long time, just talking—about the day, our friends and family, the girls, the future. We talked about the plans for the river property and what we wanted in a new house. We talked about the nursery we’d build there for our future babies, which quickly diverted us from our conversation.
But before we got too … distracted, I held my hand against his chest to delay his advances. “I just have one question for you.”
The longing in his gaze nearly made me forget what I was going to ask. “What?” he breathed roughly.
“Can the new house have a cupola?”
His body shook against mine with laughter, and he leaned in and kissed my earlobe and whispered, “Anything you want, Rapunzel.”