Page 168 of Gracefully Yours

Me and Daniel.

The eight of us, back where we first started.

“Did you ever think this would be our lives?” Angelina asked.

Gabbi shook her head. “I definitely didn’t.” She looked up at Hunter, whose green eyes were shining down at his wife. He still looked at her with so much love and affection that my heart swelled sometimes. “But I wouldn’t change a thing.”

“Me either,” Hunter murmured.

Angelina looked at Benjamin with a smirk. “Well, maybesomethings.”

“Nope, Angel,” Benjamin said, practically pinning her up against the countertop. “Not a single thing.”

She laughed. “Not even me hating you?”

“Never.”

Daniel squeezed my hand. “What about you?” He asked into my ear. “Would you change anything?”

We’d had this conversation before—about the years we could have had if we’d realized how much we loved each other earlier. But my answer was still the same. “Every day, I wake up grateful for the life we’ve built together. For our kids.” I twiddled with my ring, feeling the smooth metal beneath my fingers. “I love our story.”

Unconventional, sure, but how many people could say they’d made a marriage pact with their best friend and ended up with the love of their life? Even after three kids together, it had never diminished that spark between us. The need for each other’s presence. If Daniel Bradford was like a drug, I was well and truly addicted.

“Good.” He inhaled the side of my neck. “I do too.”

“What do you think?” Noelle asked. “Better than the books?”

Our love stories. We’d spent so many years reading romance novels, and somehow we’d all ended up with a man straight off the page. Or better—because they were real, and they were ours. That was something we would never take for granted.

“So much better than books,” I agreed, with a grin. I could only wish that for our kids, and our friends kids. That they’d find happiness and love, the person who made every single day, every individual moment that much better.

“And I think that I’m very glad we only have one more of these parties to throw before everyone’s kids are out of college.”

Angelina’s cheeks flushed. “It wasn’t like I intentionally had her at almost 40 years old, guys. Blame this one.” She jabbed her finger towards Benjamin. “It was his sperm that found my egg.” Her eyes danced with playful laughter, even as she scowled at her husband of almost twenty-seven years.

Little Lucy was a teenager now, the last of the kids to enter high school, but Angelina doted on that blue-eyed, dark-haired little girl. Hunter might have called his daughter Princess, but Lucy truly was one. In every way that mattered, she was the littlest princess of the Bradford-Sullivan clan.

Gabbi laughed. “And that was why I’d had a hysterectomy after Quin.” She and Hunter had momentarily thought about having a second, but it hadn’t been in the cards for them, and they’d decided it was the right move.

Sometimes, when Angelina’s daughter Lucy had been a baby, I’d thought about having another one, too. One more little baby to snuggle. But three was more than enough, and by the time they were old enough to walk, I didn’t have the energy to chase around one more toddler.

My family turned out to be bigger than I had imagined. There was so much love surrounding us, always.

A blur moved outside the window, and suddenly, my daughter was outside the door, hurtling for the blonde boy who’d stolen her heart. Maybe he’d never given it back. I wasn’t sure she’d ever given his back, either.

“Now everyone’s home.” Noelle’s eyes filled with tears as her oldest entered the house, wrapping his arms around his little sister.

Although Ellie was quiet, I noticed she stayed by his side all night, occasionally stealing glances in his direction.

* * *

Daniel’s armsenveloped me as he spoke in a low, soothing voice. “How’d we do?” It was clear that he wasn’t referring to the party. That, thankfully, had been a success.

“They’re all grown up.” I sighed contentedly and leaned against him, feeling the cool metal of the railing against my back.

“We’re officially empty nesters. No kids left in the house. What do you want to do?”

In his embrace, I spun around, looking up into his familiar brown eyes that had become synonymous with home over the years. My best friend since eighteen. My soulmate. The love of my life.

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