One year later, after the second annual Founders Day
Luna and Jameson sat at a table in the Square, basking in the glow of another successful event when a squawk from the region of Jameson’s chest had them both going still. They both very slowly stared down at the T. rex, whose face was scrunched up in displeasure.
“Don’t move a muscle,” Luna whispered. “Willow said if we wake her, she’ll kill us.”
Jameson cupped a big hand under the baby strapped to him by some sort of complicated sling contraption that Willow’d had to put on him because they’d bungled it so badly. “Shh,” he whispered to three-month-old Lily Rose Green, gently jiggling her. “I’ve got you, shh . . .”
Lily Rose relaxed, her face smoothing out, her mouth falling open as she fell back into a deep sleep.
Luna lifted her head and looked at Jameson in shock. “What was that?”
He shrugged. “Gas maybe?”
“No, I mean you soothing her in two seconds flat.”
He smiled over the baby passed out cold on him. “Maybe I’ve just got the touch.”
Wasn’t that the truth. Before she could say so, a woman joined them at the table, smiled at the baby, and pulled out her laptop.
Allie was the architect for the house Jameson planned on building only a few miles from the farm. Up until now, they’d been living together in her tiny cabin, but he’d been wanting something bigger, a real home, he’d said.
He never said “his” home, he always said “our home,” but her mind autocorrected it every time to “his” home because she still, after all this time, tended to default to the worst-case scenario.
That being that he might yet decide she wasn’t enough and would no longer want her in his life.
She looked into his face now, and when he caught her staring at him, he smiled and reached for her hand. And her brain, for the first time, didn’t autocorrect anything.
He loved her. Like the forever kind of love. And she believed it.
“Here’s what we’ve got so far,” Allie said, turning the laptop to face them. “Scroll to the right to see the close-ups of each room.”
As Jameson did just that, Luna’s breath caught. It was going to be beautiful.
“Do you like the main bedroom?” Allie asked Luna. “We have some room for adjustments.”
Luna looked at Jameson. “That’s up to you.”
Jameson held her gaze. “Allie, would you mind giving us a minute?”
“No problem,” the architect said. “I’m going to get a hot dog. I’ve been looking forward to that all day.”
When they were alone except for the blissfully sleeping T. rex, Jameson turned to Luna. “I want you to be happy in our new place.”
She bit her bottom lip.
“Talk to me.”
She drew a deep breath. “I have no idea what makes a house a home.”
Leaning in, he slid a hand to the nape of her neck and kissed her softly. “The only thing I care about being in there is you.”
“What about a bathroom?”
He gave a rough laugh. “Luna.”
“See?” she asked, tossing up her hands. “You do care.”
Instead of getting ruffled or frustrated with her, he held her gaze, his own warm and amused. “Okay, fine. I’d like to have a bathroom and you in the same place.”
She laughed. The past year had been . . . amazing. He’d taught her to trust her inner strength, and she’d taught him how to lighten up and enjoy life, which made them better together than either of them could ever be apart.
Realizing that, she smiled against his shoulder. Home was where your soul resided. Her grandma had told her that. “So,” she said lightly, “I want to be your wife. What do you think?”
He went still in her arms. “I think you’re nuts.” He gently tugged on her ponytail until she lifted her head so that he could look deeply into her eyes. “I also think I want to be your husband so bad it’s killing me.”
She kissed the baby and then Jameson. “I love you,” she said with an ease that at one time would have been impossible.
It was strange to her now, how saying those three little words had once been so hard for her to say. And though she still didn’t say it often, when she did, there was no mistaking how deeply she meant it.
A slow smile spread across his lips and he leaned down, brushing a soft kiss against her forehead. Then her cheek.
And finally her mouth.
“And I love you,” he whispered against her lips. “Are you ready to look at the plans now? Help me make this house our forever home, together?”
Forever. She liked the sound of that. “Yes,” she said. “To all of it. To everything, with you.”