Page 59 of Falling for the Nanny

I nodded, helpless to do anything else.

“Then what else is there?”

I searched my heart, trying to put any of the shifting fears into words, but I couldn’t do it. They were evaporating before I could force them to coalesce.

“Let’s just take this on faith this time,” David pressed on. “Let’s make a rule to go all in and agree not to break it.”

I nodded again. Tears were slipping over the curve of my cheeks, but the corners of my mouth were turning up as wild joy began spreading through me, driving out the last of the hurt and pain and fear. I held out my hand, absurdly formal. “Should we shake on it?” I managed to say through the building tears and the building laughter in my chest.

David shook his head, a smirk pulling at the edges of his mouth. “Let’s seal it with a kiss.” He cupped my face in his hands, brushing away the tears with his thumbs. “Deal?”

“Deal,” I whispered, and then his mouth came down on mine, and I knew we had sealed more than the deal.

We had sealed our fates.

EPILOGUE

DAVID - ONE YEAR LATER

I was working out on the deck, a safe distance back from the splashing that Cat and Lily were doing as they raced back and forth across the pool. I could hear their laughter at the end of each race growing progressively more winded, and I knew that soon, I’d see them sitting on the ledge, their long hair drying in the sun, sneaking looks over at me and hoping I’d bring them drinks.

I grinned and worked faster. We were three weeks into Lily’s first responsibility-free summer, and I was wondering why the hell I’d wasted the others. No prep classes or sports camps could be better than this. Having the two people I loved most in the world around–with frequent guest appearances from their best friends Alyssa and Mackenzie–made the summer feel almost like a vacation for me, even though I had worked most of it so far. That would change next week when we went to Hawaii for our first official family vacation.

I planned to make some other things official in Hawaii, too.

I was almost finished with the last email I had to send when my phone rang. My first impulse was to ignore it–my new rule for my company was that I wasn’t available between the hours of five pm and 9 am unless the building was on fire–but then I saw my mother’s face pop up on the Caller ID.

I answered, interested to see if she was actually planning to tell me when she was visiting this year. She’d just shown up on Christmas Eve, laden down with Davy the dog and an absurd number of presents for Lily.

“Hi Mom.”

“David, I wanted to ask you something.” Her voice was crisp, almost business-like. “When I come to visit in July–”

“You’re coming in July?” I interrupted. I pulled up my Outlook calendar. “We’ll be in Hawaii until July 17th.”

“Yes, July,” she said, sounding completely unconcerned that we might not be in the continental United States for her visit. “Now listen, I’m going to start packing soon. Is there anything you want me to bring?”

“So you want to run your packing list by me, but not the dates of your trip?” I asked, bemused.

Francesca blew out an aggravated breath, like I was being extremely and purposefully dense. “Yes, David, I was wondering if you thought I should bring my pink robe or my purple,” she said facetiously.

I couldn’t picture either. I looked over at my small family, hoping they were waiting on the side of the pool so I had a reason to get off the phone with my mother. No such luck. “Either one is great, Mom. Listen, I’ve got to–”

“I’m not talking about my packing list!” she erupted. “I mean, is there anything you want me to bring?”

I heard Davy yipping in the background. Now if she was asking me for a list of things I didn’t want her to bring, it would be easy. I’d put that dog at the top.

Then, suddenly, what she was really asking hit me. “Are you talking about Grandma’s engagement ring?” I asked, my curiosity piqued. Keeping an eye on the two shapes streaking across the water, I stood up and went inside.

“Yes!” she said, exasperated. “Of course!”

I scrubbed my hand over the top of my head, thinking. I had been planning to take Cat to the best jewelry store in Honolulu to pick out a ring–she didn’t wear much jewelry and since I planned for her to wear this piece for the next seventy years, I wanted to make sure she got the right thing. But the more I thought about it, the more the emerald cut diamond on the simple gold band seemed perfect for Cat.

“I want the ring,” I said slowly. “But I’m going to need it before July 17th.”

* * *

Hawaii was a lush, tropical paradise with no shortage of beautiful, romantic places to propose. I could have done it on the beach at sunset. I could have done it at the Volcanoes National Park on the starry night that made it feel like we were on another planet. Maybe I should have done it at Mooula Falls, the 250-foot waterfall in the Halawa Valley.

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