Page 114 of Empowered
“He’s getting so much better about it, though, aren’t you, Victor?”
Sarah left by herself, but not before texting Lucas to tell him Victor expected the both of them later. Also something about ice cream.
“Last time he had ice cream before dinner, he didn’t finish dinner,”Lucas pointed out.
“Go easy on him. He’s adjusting to a new place. He’s already shy around other kids, let alone kids speaking Danish.”
“Are you sure you’re not the one who wants ice cream?”
“The more we talk about it, the more I want it, honestly.”
“You’re the same way about other things, you know.”
Sarah scoffed at the intersection she stood at. Leave it to her boyfriend to bring up sex when they were talking about ice cream.
(He was right, though.)
He met her at a café halfway between the school and his office, right on time to go pick up Victor from his afternoon class.
“You look so European I almost don’t recognize you.”
Sarah closed her Danish study book and accepted a kiss from her bespoke-clad boyfriend. She let her fingers linger on the fine tailoring of his suit before finally releasing him. “I am half-British, if I may remind you.” She had a passable accent, too, but her mannerisms gave her away as an American to the locals. “How are you doing?”
“The meeting was… well, it was a meeting.”
“Let’s go get your son.”
“And ice cream?”
“Hell yes.”
“You know,” Lucas said, leading her by the hand. “He’s not just my son now. You’re practically his step-mother.”
Chills went down Sarah’s spine. “I don’t recall anything official about that.”
“He lives with us. You live with us.” Lucas squeezed her hand. “If anyone asks, I see you as his step-mother. Is there something wrong with that?”
“It implies that we’re married.”
They were silent the rest of the way to the school. Five minutes remained before class was officially over and the students released to their waiting parents. Some sat in their cars in the parking lots. Others milled around the gate, speaking Danish – Sarah still wasn’t good enough to pick up what they were talking about. Lucas was the only man there.
“We could be, you know.”
Sarah turned toward him. “Could be what?”
“Married.”
His sincerity struck her. While Sarah didn’t doubt he would propose to her one day… like this? In front of a bilingual school while bored Danish mothers looked on?No, no, he’s not really proposing to me.That was absurd.
Sarah convinced herself of that until the bastard got down on one knee.
“Oh my God.” She turned around. So did most of the mothers waiting around.Oh my God!She couldn’t take it! “Stop fooling around, Luke. Your son is coming out here at any moment.”
“I’d much prefer it if you’d call him our son, Sarah.”
“Seriously! Stop playing around!” She tried to take her hand away. She ended up turning around in a huff to see Victor standing on the other side of the gate, accompanied by the same Danish teacher from earlier.
He looked between his kneeling father and the irate woman in front of him. “Are you asking Sarah to marry you?”
