August 13
“Okay, we’ve practiced and practiced, but this time it’s for real, so I need you to stick to the script. Do you understand?”
His tone must have conveyed the seriousness of the situation, because Ava, Max and Sam—officially toddlers now—nodded solemnly.
They were dressed in coordinated outfits that their grandmother had picked out: Max and Sam in denim overalls and red T-shirts, Ava in a denim skirt and white shirt with a glittery red heart on it. They all wore cowboy boots and hats and held oversized cue cards in their hands. One by one, he lifted them up to sit on the hay bales he’d arranged for this moment.
It wouldn’t be Valentine’s Day again for another six months, but that was exactly how long it had been since Liam and Macy had shared their first kiss, and he figured that was enough time to convince her he knew what he wanted.
“No, Ava, you’re in the middle,” he reminded her, pointing to the spot between Max and Sam.
She stubbornly stayed where she was, her legs stretched out in front of her, booted feet crossed at the ankles. He picked her up and settled her on the hay between her brothers. She gave him a mutinous look that he recognized all too well as a precursor to trouble.
“And if we get this right, we can go for ice cream later.”
His promise seemed to placate the little girl—at least for the moment.
“You ready, Max?”
Max responded by extending both of his arms, proudly displaying the blank side of the card he held.
“That’s good,” Liam said. “But when Mommy comes out, you’re going to turn the card over.”
He turned the card, so the word was visible—albeit upside down.
Liam rotated the cardboard. “Just like that.”
While he was getting Max organized, Sam dropped his card. Naturally, he leaned over to pick it up—and nearly toppled off the hay bale. He lost his hat in the process and cried out in distress.
“It’s okay,” Liam soothed, settling the hat back on top of the boy’s head and placing the card back in his hands—and beginning to question the wisdom of his own plan.
He recognized the sound of Macy’s SUV pulling up outside and breathed a sigh of relief that she was on time. Checking the kids again to ensure they were in position and ready, he pulled out his cell phone to send a quick text message asking Macy to meet them behind the barn.
Half a minute later, she came around the corner, a smile lighting her face when she saw them. “What are you guys doing out here?”
“We have an important question to ask you,” Liam said, then turned to her children and prompted, “Max?”
The little boy turned over his card, his sister did the same with hers, his brother followed and then Liam showed his own.
Each card held a single word that, when put together, should have spelled out: WILL-YOU-MARRY-ME?
But when Sam dropped his card, Liam had mistakenly given the boy his, and Ava had turned hers over upside down so that what Macy saw was: .png){kind=small}
YOU-ME?- MARRY
Thankfully, she was savvy enough to figure out what he was really trying to ask. Of course, the princess-cut diamond he pulled out of his pocket might have helped, too.
She laughed through her tears. “You once said a man would have to be crazy to want to marry a single mom with three babies,” she said, reminding him of the words he’d spoken months ago.
“I am crazy,” he confessed. “About you and about them. And there’s nothing I want more than to make our crazy family official.”
“In that case, yes,” she said, then responded to his question the way he’d asked it: “I will you marry.”
He slid the ring on the third finger of her left hand, then drew her into his arms for a long lingering kiss as Ava, Max and Sam clapped their hands in approval.
Then the clapping stopped and Ava demanded, “I-cweam!”
Liam broke the kiss on a sigh.
“You bribed them with ice cream, didn’t you?” Macy asked, amusement in her tone.
“I wouldn’t call it a bribe...it was offered as more of a performance bonus.”
“And did they perform according to your expectations?”
“Well, my expectations were pretty low,” he acknowledged. “But I’d say my mini cupids did their job.”
“I love that you made them a part of this,” she said.
“They are part of this—part of us. Our family.”
Fresh tears shimmered in her eyes. “And that’s only one of the reasons I love you.”
“And I love you right back.”
“I-cweam!” Ava said again, stamping her booted foot for emphasis this time.
A stern look from her mother had her reconsidering her strategy.
She shuffled closer and looked at Liam with big blue eyes. “P’ease, Da.”
She’d picked up the word from hanging out with Tessa, and though he doubted Ava understood the significance of it, she’d quickly discovered that using it often got her what she wanted. Because every time she uttered that single syllable, Liam’s heart melted just like her ice cream would do in the summer heat.
He looked at Macy now. “What do you think?”
She smiled. “I think we’re going for ice cream, Da.”
And that’s what they did.
Look for Regan and Connor’s story,
the next book in award-winning author
Brenda Harlen’s miniseries
Match Made in Haven.
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Keep reading for an excerpt from A Soldier’s Return by RaeAnne Thayne.
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