On Monday night, at around six o’clock, Brooke couldn’t take the suspense. She had to know how Nick’s first day at Garroway Paper had gone.
She sat at the kitchen table, sipped her iced tea and pulled out her phone, dying to call him, but she opted for a text. She was about to hit Send when the doorbell rang.
Nick.
“I was sending you a text,” she said.
His expression immediately changed. “Everything okay?” he asked, peering past her. “House is quiet. Twins are all right?”
“There’s a whole area of existence beyond whether I’m okay or not,” she said, feeling a frown edge her lips.
“I care about you, Brooke. You know that.”
“I do know that,” she said, holding back the sigh and opening the door wider for him to step in.
“So, what you were texting me about?” he asked as he followed her into the living room. He stopped to pet Snowball and Smudge, who were sitting on the back of the sofa.
“I was dying to hear how your first day at Garroway Paper went.”
“My brother had a name placard made for me. He must have had it for years. And this morning, not ten minutes into my arrival, he opened his office window and tossed it out. Literally threw the thing out the window.”
Brooke’s mouth dropped open. “Really?”
Nick laughed. “Brandon is one complicated guy. Deeper than I realized. He’s been doing some heavy thinking, and between Dad’s health and falling madly in love, and all that’s happened since I’ve been back in town, he’s started to see things differently.”
“Wow. I’m really glad to hear it.”
“And I have too, Brooke.”
She tilted her head. “What do you mean? You’re not going to stay on with the company, are you?”
He shook his head. “No. But what I am going to do depends on your answer to a question.”
Curiosity bloomed inside her. “What question?”
He got down on one knee, and she gasped. He pulled a velvet box out of his pocket and opened the top, revealing a beautiful diamond ring that twinkled at her. God, it was gorgeous. Square and surrounded by tiny diamonds on a gold band. “Will you marry me, Brooke? Spending my life taking care of you and those babies I love as if they’re my own will make me very happy.”
Oh. Her heart sunk, and her stomach flopped—in a bad way. “I thought you said you also started to see things differently.”
He stood up, staring at her, confusion in his eyes. “I have. That’s why I’m here. Proposing. But you don’t exactly look happy.”
“Nick, it’s a beautiful ring. And believe me, as a woman who’s madly in love with you, I want to scream yes at the top of my lungs. But unless you can say you want to marry me because you’re in love with me, and that’s why you want to be my husband, my answer is no. I told you I’m not looking to be rescued. I’m looking to be loved.”
“But—” He stopped speaking, as though realizing he had no argument.
Because either he loved her or he didn’t.
“Brooke, I—”
“Do you love me, Nick?” she asked.
He stared at her. Unwavering. “I care so much about you and the twins. I want to be with you three. I want us to be a family.”
“Me too,” she said. “But you didn’t answer my question. And we both know why not. So I think you should go.”
Her eyes stung. She wanted him gone so she could run upstairs and fling herself on her bed and just cry it out.
She turned away, sending up a prayer that he’d say, “Of course I love you. I love you so much.” But instead she heard the door close gently behind him as he left.
And then she did run upstairs and cry.
“Can’t you sneak me in a chocolate milkshake? Something besides this god-awful green tea,” Jeb asked Nick, grimacing at the steaming mug Cathy had brought in a few minutes ago. He’d been released from the hospital yesterday and was convalescing on his favorite recliner in his living room, with Fritz in his dog bed near Jeb’s feet.
Nick laughed. “Sorry, I want you heart-healthy too.”
Jeb patted Nick’s hand. “I’m glad to hear that. I wasn’t always fair to you—or there for you—but you stuck by me. What you said at the wedding, what you wrote in our wedding card, I’ll tell you, you brought tears to my eyes.”
“I love you, Dad. It’s that simple.”
I love you. It’s that simple.
He sat up straight, the words echoing in his head, on his tongue.
I love you.
It was as though a Mack Truck had swerved into the living room and had run right over Nick, shaking loose something in his very thick skull.
He loved Brooke. It really was that simple.
His father was staring at him. “So, who’s getting married first. You and Brooke, or Brandon and Heather?”
Nick laughed. “Anyone’s guess.”
“Ah, so it is true. I told Cathy I didn’t think there was anything going on between you and the wedding planner, but Cathy told me she knew love when she saw it, and she said she saw it plain as day on your face. Isn’t that something? A newcomer to the family knows you better than I do. I hope we can change that.”
Nick gave his dad’s hand a gentle squeeze. “We will, Dad.”
“I have some big news,” Jeb said. “I’ve told your brother on the phone, right before you arrived, since it affects him directly.” Nick’s curiosity was piqued. “Cathy and I have decided to get out of dodge. We’re buying the Sagebrush Sanctuary and Retreat from her friend and moving there. We’ll be doing a little restructuring, as suits us, as we learn the business better. I’ll be Chief Financial Officer, and Cathy will run the yoga and meditation program. Heather promises to find a replacement for herself and train him or her before she moves to Wedlock Creek.”
Wow. “That all sounds great,” Nick said, blown away. And not. It made perfect sense, actually. “How’d Brandon take it?”
“You know, I was surprised at how well he did take the news. He said he’s come to some big realizations lately. And he knows he was born to take over Garroway Paper and run it now that I’m moving on. He also said that if the baby he and Heather are expecting grows up to be bored by paper, that’ll be fine too. ‘Everyone has to follow their heart,’ he said.”
Nick felt his own heart grow two sizes bigger. “Wonders never cease, do they?” he asked with a smile.
“No, and what a good thing that is,” Jeb said. “Life is one big surprise. Sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way, and sometimes in a bad way that delivers you where you need to be after all.”
Nick nodded. That sure was right.
Jeb took a sip of his tea. “I’m slowly—key word being slowly—getting used to this stuff.” He set down the mug and resettled under the blanket, on the recliner, with his eyes starting to drift closed, and Nick was almost glad to be able to sneak away a bit earlier than he’d intended.
He had a proposal to get right.
“Ga ba!” Mikey said, flinging his chew toy at Brooke for the thousandth time in his young life. His gummy grin was too irresistible, so Brooke gave him a raspberry on his onesie-clad tummy.
“Ba ba da?” Mikey said, tilting his head.
Brooke stared at the adorable baby, marveling that it sounded as though he were asking something. Huh.
I know what you’re asking. You want to know where Nick is. You miss him. Like I do.
I could have been wearing that ring. I could be planning my own wedding. My dream wedding. Not that it would be her dream wedding if it wasn’t her dream situation. Still, I could have settled for what I could have instead of what I really want.
Her grandmother would turn over. Don’t settle when it’s less than you deserve, or then “just okay” will become the new normal, Aggie Timber had said more than once. And “just okay” is not all that okay.
The doorbell rang, and Brooke had a feeling it was nosy Amy from across the street, who’d darted over a couple of hours ago, while walking her dog, to mention that she hadn’t seen “that handsome manny” in a while and ask if he still worked for Brooke.
Brooke had said something about hearing one of the twins and had dashed inside. God, what she would give to move away from these nosy gossips. She could move to the country and build a farmhouse-wedding chic office, maybe a yurt like at the Sagebrush Sanctuary and Retreat.
She smiled at the thought. Maybe she should think about buying a bigger house out of town, where you got much more for your money, a place where her twins could have some real land to play on and she could adopt the dog she’d always wanted, not that Smudge and Snowball might approve. She’d stay within fifteen minutes of town and her farmhouse-chic she-shed office would appeal to a range of clients. The Satlers would love it. She had no doubt.
This is what it’s about, boys, she thought, her gaze on her sons. No time for a broken heart. No time for crushed hopes and dreams. Onward and upward, forward thoughts. The future.
But then she pictured Nick in his white linen shirt, with his blue eyes all intense on her, and she missed him so much, her legs wobbled. She sank down on a chair, feeling her heart aching.
Who was she kidding? Her heart was killing her. It would be a long while before she’d get over Nick Garroway.
The doorbell rang again. Oh blast. That woman does not give up. She wiped away her tears and stalked to the door, prepared to tell Amy that yes, her nanny had moved on, and to give her a piece of her mind about minding her own beeswax.
But it was Nick. Standing there in her doorway, looking so gorgeous, she could barely breathe.
“You asked me a question yesterday and I didn’t answer,” Nick said. “You know why?”
Oh God. She really didn’t think she could handle this a second time. The first was bad enough. “I know why.”
He shook his head. “Nope. You thought you did. But the reason was that, sort of like my dad, I had some kind of blockage right here,” he said, putting his hand over his heart. “You cleared it up so fast, I couldn’t handle it. Know why?”
She bit her lip, not quite sure where he was going with this. “Why?”
“Because I do love you. So much, Brooke. I want to marry you because I’m deeply, hopelessly, completely in love with you. And those little imps listening behind you in their swings have known it the whole time. From day one.”
She laughed. “I agree. They always knew.”
“Yeah, they did. All that ‘ba ga, da ba’ stuff. Code for ‘he loves her. He’s going to be our daddy one day.’”
She flung her arms around him and he picked her up off the ground and held her. “I love you too. So much.” She kissed him, never wanting this moment to end.
“If we get married at the Wedlock Creek Chapel, will we have another set of twins?” he asked, setting her down, but keeping his arms around her.
“Maybe triplets,” she said with a grin. “Or quadruplets. Want to risk it?”
His eyes widened. “You made me believe in magic, so honestly? No. I’m good with two right now. Maybe a couple years from now, we’ll renew our vows there and really see what happens.”
Brooke’s heart had runneth over to the point that she could barely form words. She took a deep breath to get some air in her lungs. “I like it. You know what wedding I’d like to plan for myself? An elopement. To somewhere crazy-fun, like Las Vegas.”
“So, no planning,” he said.
“Right. Just you and me and a quickie-wedding chapel.”
“And the wedding night. Can’t forget that.”
“You know what else I was thinking? About moving to the country. Having a farmhouse-chic she-shed of an office that will make my clients drool when they drive out for meetings. Kind of fits with your whole plan to buy a ranch.”
“I was going to give up the ranch idea to move in here, but I’ve found the perfect place, and it’s still available. It’s called the Three Dog Ranch, so we’ll have to adopt three dogs to live there. House rules. Think these two can deal?” he asked, nodding at the cats.
Smudge and Snowball wrapped around his legs, rubbing their faces against his calves.
“They’ve always wanted to be indoor cats and barn cats,” she said. She bit her lip. “You know what? I feel like my grandmother is looking down at me and smiling.”
“I feel that way about my mom now too,” he said, wrapping her in another hug. “Turns out her motto was Follow Your Heart. It’s a good one.”
“I agree. Always follow your heart.”
“Ga ba!” Morgan shouted.
“Ba ga da!” Mikey added.
Nick pulled her close and kissed her. “Think those Timber twins would like to become the Garroway twins?”
Tears poked at her eyes. “I think they’d love that.”
“I promise to be a father worthy of them,” he said.
She touched his cheek, loving him so much, she was surprised she didn’t burst into a million pieces. “That’s a good new promise.”
He held her close and leaned his head on top of hers. “I can’t wait to start forever with you and our boys.”
“Me too,” she whispered. With their boys and her manny-for-life.