MICA HUNG UP the phone and turned to Grace. “They’re all mad,” he said handing the phone to Grace and taking Jules in his arm.
“How can they be mad that we’re engaged? Wait a minute. Your mother said that?”
“No, Gabe.” Mica walked up to the street light across from the Eiffel Tower.
Frowning, Grace said, “Your brother is mad because you asked me to marry you or because I said ‘yes’?”
Mica burst into laughter and as he did, Jules put his hand over Mica’s mouth and laughed along with him.
Mica shrugged. “Actually, Nate was on the phone with him. He and Maddie were out at Gabe and Liz’s for dinner. Then I called Mom and conferenced her and Sam in as well.”
“That’s practically the whole family,” Grace replied as the light turned.
“Da!” Jules pointed to the green light.
“Hey!” Mica kissed Jules’s cheek. “I thought I was ‘Da.’”
Grace put her arm around Mica’s waist, liking the feeling of the three of them blending together. It hit her that she was living her dreams. Mica was here, in Paris, and he wasn’t leaving. He wanted to make a life with her. No wonder people thought Paris was paradise. “Oh, Mica, he’s been calling everything ‘Da’ since we returned.”
“And I thought I was special.”
“You are special,” Grace said earnestly. “To both of us.”
“Keep telling me that,” he said as they walked past a street vendor selling flowers.
“Back to your brothers...”
“Sorry. Gabe said he was hoping they’d be around for the engagement party. Then when Mom realized I wasn’t coming back anytime soon, she wasn’t happy. She’s thrown engagement parties for all her daughters-in-love.”
“In-law, you mean.”
“That’s not what Mom will call you.”
“Hmm. I like that,” Grace said stopping to inspect a nosegay of lily of the valley. She held them up to her face, smelled them and then held them out to Jules, who stared at them and then sniffed. Then he grabbed one and licked it.”
Mica turned to the woman vendor. “We’ll take these.”
Grace laughed as she dug in Mica’s back pocket for his wallet. She paid the vendor and as she closed the wallet, she saw the pictures of Jules.
Mica rested his chin on her shoulder. “You didn’t send one of yourself. I would have put yours in there as well.”
“So we’ll take a selfie by the Eiffel Tower.”
“Done,” he said. “Hey, I figured out how to appease everyone in my family.”
Grace raised an eyebrow. “They all have their own opinions. I don’t see how...”
Mica dropped to his knee and balanced Jules next to him so that it looked as if Jules was standing. “Grace. The men in your life hope you will grant our request. We would like to fly back to Indian Lake to have our wedding there.”
“That’s a great idea!”
Mica stood instantly. “You’re kidding. I thought you’d want the wedding here with all your friends.”
“But what about all your family? Rafe and Olivia? And all your friends? Not to mention Aunt Louise and Mrs. Beabots. No, it should be Indian Lake.”
Mica’s expression fell. “I really wanted it to be in Paris. Who doesn’t want to get married in Paris?”
Grace took Jules in her arms and handed Mica her purse. “Seriously, Mica. We need to have it in Indian Lake.”
Jules looked from his mother to his father.
“Paris.” Mica shook his head.
Jules looked back to Grace, but before she could say another word, the baby put his hand over her mouth.
Jules looked at his father. Then he smiled.
Grace laughed and Mica laughed along with her. “I guess Jules has the last word.”
Grace kissed Mica and then kissed Jules. She was outnumbered. It didn’t matter. All these years, she’d loved Mica and only him. In her darkest hours, she’d wondered what had become of all that love she’d given. Now she knew. It had come back to her a thousand times over.
And her dreams of being loved by Mica had not come close to this immeasurable happiness.
* * * * *
For more stories from the SHORES OF INDIAN LAKE, check out Catherine Lanigan’s
Keep reading for an excerpt from THE HAPPINESS PACT by Liz Flaherty.
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