Page 116 of Bake You Mine
Tom appeared. “Hey, aren’t they having the opening day ribbon ceremony for Elevation Express? You should get over there.”
“Oh yes, that’s why I came! I got distracted by the newspaper article,” Dorthea said. She’d stopped being Mrs. Linley sometime after the renovations at Elevation began.
“You sure you’ll be okay?” Aubrey asked.
“This place won’t fall apart without you, you know. Go,” Tom said.
Aubrey followed Dorthea out of Petit Chou’s back door onto Tulip Turn. Along the way, they talked about summer plans. Mrs. Linley and her fiancé, Mr. O’Malley, had rented two houses in the Outer Banks for the first annual Linley–O’Malley get-together.
Even though Aubrey wasn’t a Linley, she was treated as one. Mr. O’Malley had recently started giving her the familydiscount, which she appreciated, as his slab bacon had become a staple of Petit Chou’s breakfast menu.
As they approached Express, Dorthea caught Aubrey’s arm. “Liam wanted to talk to you first,” she said, gesturing for Aubrey to go around ahead of her.
He probably had a case of opening-day jitters. She was happy to give him another pep talk.
She’d given him one before they’d left for work. On the nights Chris had Daphne, they stayed at Liam’s place downtown; the rest of the time, they lived at the house by the river.
Aubrey looked around at the bright, open space as she stepped inside Express. It was Liam’s dream, realized. He exited the kitchen with Daphne and her father trailing behind him. Dorthea walked over to the pocket doors at the front of Elevation Express and pushed them open, letting the late May breeze blow through the empty restaurant.
“Oh, good, I was worried you guys would miss getting here for the grand opening,” Aubrey said.
Her father had an odd expression, like he was trying hard not to laugh or cry. Her stomach dropped.
“Did something happen?”
Liam’s siblings ducked in behind her dad, standing up on their tiptoes.
Liam let out a large breath. “Aubs, I want to ask you something.” He screwed up that beautiful face for a second before adding, “Actually, I want to ask both you and Daphne something.”
Daphne’s eyes went wide as dinner plates as she scurried over. Liam turned to Aubrey’s father, who produced two small boxes.
There wasno waythis was about to happen. Everyone was here for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. She brought a shaking hand to her face. Liam looked from her to the boxes andlaughed nervously before running his fingers through his now (thankfully) longish, crazy dark hair.
“Aubrey, I love you. And I want to marry you?—”
“Oh my God.” She was in a daze, none of this feeling real, although he’d dropped a hint or two about how he saw their future, so it wasn’t a total shock. Neither of them felt like waiting around for some made-up moment to transition to the next phase of their lives. Still, how had he gotten this past her?
Her gaze carried past Liam to his mother and her father, both teary-eyed.
He continued talking. “I knew if I asked you to be my wife, I had to ask Daphne if I could be her bonus dad.”
Her little girl let out a delighted squeal as Liam opened a small box. A charm bracelet was nestled inside, with Daphne’s name in the center, encased by Liam’s, Aubrey’s, and Christopher’s names, a nice touch. Chris and Liam would never be besties, but they got along well enough for Daphne’s sake.
Liam was still learning the parenting ropes. He and Daphne now had a special routine. Liam took her to rugby practice once a week and then cooked her dinner at Elevation.
“Of course, you can be my bonus dad! You already are! Although I guess this means I won’t marry Brody, after all.”
Everyone laughed, and Aubrey reached out to hug her daughter.
Ben appeared and moved in for a photo as Daphne leaped into Liam’s arms. Dorthea began to cry in earnest, clearly thrilled that her bonus granddaughter was going to be officially hers. Liam placed the bracelet on Daphne’s wrist, and she galloped over to her grandparents.
Liam dropped to one knee. “I wasn’t counting on a crowd, only our family and Ben to document this for us.”
“Would you look at that? He’s smiling. Almost. Kind of,” Aubrey said.
Liam pointed to the gathering crowd outside, leaning toward the front doors. “I’ll keep it short and sweet. I love you, Aubrey. There’s no better day than opening my newest restaurant to ask the woman I love to be my wife.”
A universalawwwascarried out through the crowd. A few women would surely be heartbroken that the former hot chef was officially off the market.
