Page 27 of Worth the Wait

“You’re my monkey,” I said against her hair.

My brother spoke softly to his future bride. It must have been sappy and sweet because Brooklyn started crying harder before she threw herself in his arms and searched around for Clara.

She waved her over, and Clara jostled to get out of my grasp. Once I let her go, she went flying right toward her dad and launched herself at him. The three of them hugged and cried and stared at Brooklyn’s ring like it was the most beautiful thing in the room.

“Got it all on video,” my dad said with a wink as he looked between the happy couple and me.

“Good job, old man.”

“Better than you. You didn’t even take out your phone,” he said, clearly judging, but he was right.

Even before I realized that both he and Matthew had it covered, filming the proposal hadn’t even occurred to me.

“You and Matthew can compete for world’s best proposal video.” I nodded toward his youngest son, who was taking still shots with his phone from every angle.

I wasn’t even sure Brooklyn or Thomas noticed; they were so caught up in the moment.

“Do you like the ring? He was worried you wouldn’t.” Matthew stopped taking pictures and reached for Brooklyn’s hand, ending their private moment.

Leave it to him to literally say that out loud.

Brooklyn’s eyes locked on Thomas before she held her left hand in front of her face and inspected the ruby-red ring. “Are you kidding? I love it. It’s perfect.”

“You’re perfect, Mama,” Clara said with a smile as she hugged her again, her tiny arms wrapped tight around Brooklyn’s neck.

“Thank you, sweet girl. Maybe we can get you a little one to match?” Brooklyn asked, and Clara started jumping.

“I want a ring like Mama’s!”

“Great.” Thomas grinned before shaking his head.

My dad walked away from me and toward the group. “You’ve already been a part of the family, Brooklyn, but this makes it official. I couldn’t be happier for the three of you,” he said before giving them each hugs, his eyes finally spilling over as he hugged his oldest son.

Damn.

This was the mushiest O’Grady Christmas on record. Addi would have loved every single second of it.

WE’VE GOT TO GO HOME

ADDISON

Christmas and New Year’s had come and gone. I still hadn’t made a decision yet about opening up my own restaurant with an investor, even though it occupied my thoughts daily. I honestly wasn’t sure what the right decision was, and I was grateful for the time he’d given me before requiring an answer.

My cell phone danced as it vibrated, and I glanced at it quickly, wondering who was actually calling me instead of sending a text. It was Sugar Mountain’s area code, but I didn’t recognize the number.

“Hello?” I answered, my tone more than a little apprehensive.

“Hi. Is this Addison Whitman?” the voice on the other end of the line asked.

“It is,” I responded as I sat down on my bed and crossed my legs.

“This is Nurse Fiona at Sugar Mountain Memorial Hospital. Your dad has been admitted here.”

My heart started pounding so hard inside my chest, like it was trying to escape somehow. I swore that I broke out into a sweat with her words.

“Is he okay? What happened?” I pushed up from the bed and started walking around my bedroom.

“All I can tell you is that he’s here. You’re his emergency contact. Do you think you could come down?”

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