BILLY PUT HIS truck into Park and sucked in a stabilizing breath. His mother’s words were still ringing in his ears. The right woman won’t take you away from Poppy—she’ll love that girl as much as you do.
Billy looked at the Beverly house—so nicely kept, so appealing. He’d always been mildly jealous of the way Grace had grown up, but now he realized that he’d had it better than he’d thought. At least he had a mom who loved him. She might have messed up, but she’d had a lot of hurdles.
Billy got out of his vehicle and started toward the house, but before he got there, the side door opened and Grace appeared in the doorway. She was wearing boots, a creamy sweater and no coat. She came outside a few steps into the crunchy snow and wrapped her arms around herself. His heart squeezed inside his chest at the very sight of her.
He stopped just short of pulling her into his arms, and looked down into those clear blue eyes.
“Hey...” he said softly.
“Hi.” She hitched up her shoulders against the cold. “Aren’t you supposed to be working?”
“Nope.” He grinned as he took off his coat and settled it around her shoulders. The brisk wind whipped through his shirt, but he wouldn’t be distracted by it. “I’m supposed to be right here. I couldn’t let you leave without...” His smile fell. “Gracie, you know I love you.”
“I love you, too. I have for years. It isn’t enough!” she said. “I’m the easy way out right now—”
“Easy?” he said with a short laugh. “You call this easy?”
“I’m here. I’m convenient.”
“You’re not convenient. Your life is in Denver!” he retorted. “And if you think I’m here because I need a mom for my daughter, you’re way off.”
“Plus, I thought you said you had to focus on Poppy,” Grace said, tugging her hand free.
“I’m not dating around. If it’s not you, then I’m just going to be a single dad. That’s it.”
He looked toward the window, where Grace’s mother stood watching them. Great. An audience. “I talked to my mom like you wanted me to, and she made me realize that the right woman makes all those problems go away. If I’m with the right woman, she’ll love Poppy like I do. There won’t be any competition. If I’m marrying her, then we become a family.”
“Marrying?” Grace whispered.
“You’re it, Grace,” he said softly. “There’s this kids’ book my mom gave me when I was pretty young. Obviously I never read it back then, but I did read it with Poppy.”
“You read her a story?” Grace said, tears springing to her eyes.
“Yeah. Well, Poppy helped me a lot, but we got through it together. But there’s this part that talks about how the mom’s life is completely changed when the child comes along. She sees the world differently. When Poppy came along, my life turned upside down, and it’s not going to go back again. I’m a dad now. The whole world looks different. So I didn’t see you before—not fully—and I can’t change that. I can’t take it back. But I can tell you that I’m not the same guy I was before, either. I’m...a dad.”
“I don’t want to be the one you choose for rational reasons over—” she began, and he closed the distance between them, covering her lips with his. He kissed her long and deep, pulling her close against him. When he pulled back, she looked up at him blearily.
“I want you,” he whispered. “I want all of you. I want a wife! I want a life partner. I want you by my side when Poppy is grown and out of the house and starting her own life. I am asking you to be Poppy’s mom, but I’m also asking you to be my soul mate, my resting place, my partner in all of this. I’m asking you to come home to me, and to let me come home to you. Grace, my whole world is tipped upside down, and you’re a part of that. You make me a better man.”
“What about what I want?” she asked, her voice firming.
“What do you want?” he asked, searching her face.
“I want you to be sure of this—absolutely sure. I want a man who puts me and our child first. If things get hard between us, I want you to come home and talk to me about it. Me, no one else. I want date nights. I want thoughtful gestures...and I want you to tell me what you’re feeling and going through, and not hide it from me.”
“Done.” A smile tickled the corners of his lips.
“And I want compliments,” she said. “Daily. That’s something that matters to me. My dad always tells my mom how beautiful she is, and I want that.”
“I don’t compliment you?” he asked with a small smile. “That’s one thing I do pretty well, I think.”
“I’m just putting it out there,” she replied. “For the record.”
“Okay, well, you’re beautiful. You’re smart. You’ve got this way of seeing the world that makes me think, and I like that. You’re kind—have I told you lately how much that means to me? And, Gracie...you’re perfect. Inside and out. I wouldn’t change a thing. And I mean that. Not a thing.”
“You’re sure about me?” she asked softly.
“I’ve never been more sure in my life, Gracie. Does this mean...?”
“What about our jobs?” she whispered. “I have a full-time teaching position waiting for me in Denver, and you’re so good at what you do here... If we’re getting married, we have to figure this out!”
His heart was hammering hard in his chest, and a grin broke over his face.
“I don’t care. Wherever we go, as long as we’re together, we’ll find a way,” he said. “I’ll go to Denver if that’s what you want. Or if there’s a way for you to stay here, we can settle down in Eagle’s Rest... Just tell me that was a yes!”
Grace’s eyes brimmed with tears and she nodded. “That was a yes.”
Billy gathered her up in his arms and kissed her all over again. He felt a flood of relief, like his heart had finally come home.
“I love you...” he whispered.
“I love you, too!”
“We need to shop for a ring,” he added with a grin. He looked up at the window again, and this time he saw Connie with tears in her eyes and her hands clutched in front of her heart. Yeah, he had her mom’s support, at the very least.
“First things first,” Grace said, shaking her head. “We have a little girl to let in on the secret.”
“Deal. You going to let me in the house? Because I’m freezing.”
Grace laughed softly. As they headed for the side door, Connie emerged with a smile on her face.
“Tell me that you finally realized you’re in love with each other,” Connie said, stepping back to let them in.
“Yeah,” Grace said, looking up at Billy with a teary smile. “A little more than that, actually...”
“I asked her to marry me,” Billy said. “And she...”
“Said yes,” Connie finished for him, and when she got a nod, she let out a whoop of delight and threw her arms around them both.
Yeah, this was coming home... Dr. Beverly might be a little harder to bring round, but with Grace at his side, Billy was willing to weather it.
He’d be her hero, the guy who stubbornly stuck by her and loved her with his whole being. He’d be the dad that Poppy needed, and he’d keep learning to read so that, one day, maybe he could even get his GED. Maybe Poppy could see the value of hard work by watching her dad get the education he’d missed out on. Most importantly, though, he was hoping that by watching Billy love Grace, Poppy would see the kind of love she’d want in her own home one day, and they’d all get the love they longed for, wrapped up together as a family.