Page 46 of The Spark of Love

“Puhlueeze,” Marla said. “Are you policing her diet? I hate it when men do that.”

“Not really,” Noah said, ready for a lecture but happy that Julie obviously found it amusing. “It’s just—”

“Your girl’s right,” his father said. “Besides, you need the extra carbs. I mean what if you get a call?”

“Like a four alarmer?” Julie said. He could tell she was trying to toss in a firefighter term, since both his sister and father worked for the FDNY and Noah was with the volunteer firefighters in the North Fork.

“Or maybe you’ve got a pair of fifteen-pound babies eager to join the world,” Dan added, doing his part to show he accepted Noah’s chosen profession.

“Wow. Fifteen pounds each?” his mother said, practically crossing her eyes.

Dan shrugged. “Never know.”

Noah held back his laughter. “I haven’t run into that yet. But making a delivery can be more physically and mentally challenging than you might expect. Things can get pretty messy.”

“I’ll bet,” his father said, munching away. “Just curious. What would you say was the worst thing you ever encountered during a delivery?”

“Okay. That’s it boys,” Joanne, said. “Enough. We are supposed to be having dinner.”

“Gee,” Marla chimed in. “You mean my brother’s struggle with a runaway placenta might ruin our appetites for roast turkey?”

By March,Julie and Molly had moved into Noah’s house. Her daughter loved the place and picked out a room for herself that Noah painted two shades of pink just for her. He was everything Julie would have put on her list of “father traits” that Gillian had teased her about last summer.

And Noah insisted on helping her put together a sewing room with all she needed in it. Mariel, who lived in Pennsylvania near her sister’s family now, in a house Bryce had built for her, came to visit and took part in advising Julie on her sewing workshop.

She’d put her house in Southampton up for sale and after choosing a few pieces of furniture and art to bring to Noah’s house, she began selling the rest. Fortunately, Gillian was looking for furnishings to fill the mansion she was turning into several reception rooms and conference rooms as well as exclusive private bedroom suites. She loved Julie’s taste and ended up buying a lot.

At first terrified of trying to create the children’s clothing again, Julie spent time looking through old designs she had drawn and saved. She reworked the best ones and started on some new ideas. By April, she was ready to show them to Lexi and see if she wanted to carry any in her shop.

Julie arranged to meet Lexi in the evening after she closed her dress shop, so they could talk and visit and she could get feedback from this woman whose dress designs she admired so much. As it turned out, Lexi has invited Bailey and Jinx to come over and they all sat and had coffee as Julie showed them the new children’s outfits she’d made. So far, they were all for girls, although, Lexi felt a couple of them could be unisex. Overall, they loved every single thing she did, and Lexi was ready to start talking pricing.

But then, Jinx looked at her watch and said, “Can you do that tomorrow? Because there is something I need to show Julie over in Bajinx.”

“What are you talking about?” Lexi asked, and when Bailey gave her friend a silent shake of the head, Julie began to wonder what was up.

She knew feisty Jinx had a fun sense of humor, so maybe she had some kind of joke about Julie finally getting her creations here. “Okay,” she said, and all three women followed Jinx to the shop next door that Bailey and Jinx owned together.

When they stepped through the door of Bajinx, Julie saw Noah standing there. What was he doing here?

Then suddenly he went down on one knee. Julie gasped and Jinx giggled, as the other women sighed.

“Julie, I have been in love with you for so many years, and even when we were apart and it seemed as if we would never meet again, something inside me knew we were meant for each other. I could never love anyone but you. I want to spend my life making you happy and creating a family with you. Will you marry me?”

Tears already running down her cheeks, Julie rushed toward him, saying, “Yes. Yes!”

He stood and put the ring on her finger, a ring he had commissioned Jinx to make with birds flying over waves, just like on her thimble, but this also had diamonds sparkling like stars all around it.

EPILOGUE

The following summer…

Julie turnedside to side as she looked in the three-paneled full-length mirror at Lexi’s dress shop. “Do you think that back ruffle is too much?”

Lexi put a hand on her hip. “It’s your final fitting, girl. The wedding is only two weeks away, so make up your mind or you’ll be walking down the aisle in one of my ready-mades.”

“I think you look beautiful,” Jinx added with an enthusiastic giggle. “I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Julie and Noah had decided to have a big summer wedding, and these three women were going to be among her bridesmaids, along with one of Noah’s sisters and Gillian and Tricia would be her maid of honor.

---