Chapter 33

A sense of peace had settled over Annie, and with it the conviction that she and the girls were going to be all right.

She had the battle of her life on her hands, but she wasn’t going into it alone. Clara had somehow talked Tom into letting Carrot be with Amelia. What more might this beautiful family do to help her and the girls make a better life? And they weren’t the only ones fighting for her. She’d explained the whole situation to Emily via text, and her friend had replied with a message saying she was coming home early from a shoot in Helsinki, and her parents were ready to do their part with the townspeople to pressure Tom to do the right thing. Oh, how she looked forward to seeing her best friend. And it was heartening to hear Tom wasn’t the only one with allies in Nemo. This was the way she wanted to remember this final chapter in her hometown.

Her daughters were all sleeping in the same bed tonight to make space for Trevor and Becca in the other room. She went in to say good night and kissed each of them on the forehead, smiling down at their sweet, freshly washed faces.

“Tonight was so fun,” Amelia said, snuggling in between her two sisters.

“Yeah, it really was,” Eloise said, yawning. “I love Flynn’s family, Mom.”

“Me too,” Iris said, smiling up at her. “It will be fun, seeing them more often. Becca said we’d have to visit her in Ireland so we can meet Buttercup. Then we could go see Aunt Emily in Europe somewhere on a fashion shoot.”

“She’ll be here tomorrow actually,” she told them, and they all sent up a cheer.

“I still want to go to Ireland!” Amelia said, pushing up again. “I love Buttercup! Mom, I’m so glad Carrot came back to me. I tried not to say, but I missed him.”

“I know you did,” she said, pulling up the covers over her again. “That’s why Mrs. Hale got him for you. Now, it’s time to go to sleep.”

“Mom, I know we aren’t going to sleep in our old beds anymore,” Amelia said, stopping her from turning out the bedside light.

“What?” she asked.

Amelia sat up. “That’s our house with Daddy, but now we need a new house with Flynn because you’re going to get married. Right?”

Eloise and Iris turned on their sides, looking at each other behind Amelia’s back. She could see them silently communicating to each other, and then Iris sat up too, Eloise joining her.

“It’s okay, Mom,” Iris said. “We’ll miss the house and the farm, but we talked about it, and we know we’re probably going to be moving. Especially with your company in trouble.”

She sat on the bed, her heart swelling in her chest. “Oh, girls.”

Eloise hugged her. “We’ll miss our friends, but we’ll make new ones. Maybe they’ll like fashion like we do. The kids here don’t so much.”

“I love you girls so much, and I know you’re still getting to know Flynn, but I love him, and I think we’re going to be really happy with him.”

“I do too,” Amelia said. “And Carrot.”

Wiping a tear while she laughed, she traced each of their faces. “Wherever we end up, all that matters is that we’re together.”

“I vote for New York City,” Eloise said, holding her hands out. “There’s fashion everywhere there.”

“I want to live where Mr. Hale lives so I can work at his newspaper,” Amelia said, kicking at the covers and giggling. “Plus, Carrot can come with us. Will he be my uncle once you marry Flynn?”

“Yes, but you can still call him Mr. Hale if you want.” She’d already considered the possibility of moving to Dare Valley—it was cheaper than some of the other options they’d discussed and more like what she and the girls knew. Plus, there would be the upside of being close to part of Flynn’s family.

“What about you, Iris?” she asked, feeling it was important to ask her.

Her daughter shrugged. “Why not Ireland where Becca and Trevor live? They speak English, and the pictures Becca has shown me are beautiful. They have animals too, like here. And it’s not far from London. You could go back to work as a makeup artist, Mom.”

She let out a shaky breath. “Goodness, so many possibilities, but I guess that’s the point, right?”

“You always say we set our own limits, Mom,” Iris said, smiling at her.

“And here I thought moving was going to be a hard sell. So you’re okay with me and Flynn getting married? We were going to wait—”

“Don’t wait if you don’t want to, Mom,” Eloise said. “We want you to be happy.”

“I want all of us to be happy,” she said, gazing at her girls. “Well… This was a surprise.”

“But a really good one,” Amelia said, sticking her hands in the air. “Like Carrot and the snowball fight.”

“Like Carrot and the snowball fight,” she repeated as Eloise yawned again. “All right, this time I’m turning the light out for real. Sweet dreams, girls.”

“You too, Mom!” Amelia cried out, and Iris and Eloise echoed her reply.

When she let herself out of their room, she slumped against the door.

“Everything okay?” Flynn asked.

She turned to see him sitting at the top of the stairs, a bowl of ice cream in his hand with two spoons. “Prepared to share, huh?”

He made space for her and then gave her a spoon, which she dipped into the ice cream. As they ate, she told him about her conversation with the girls.

“You’re kidding,” he said, shaking his head. “That’s gotta be the best news in… I don’t know. Since meeting you.”

She kissed him on the mouth, tasting the candy cane ice cream on his lips. “I figure we’re due for some good news. In the meantime, do you want to make some with me?”

Standing with the bowl of ice cream, she held out her other hand.

He rose quickly, grabbing it. “Connor is going to miss me. Maybe I should tell him good night so he won’t cry himself to sleep.”

That made her laugh.

She brought that joy into her heart as she let them into her room and made sweet, sweet love with him.