Two Months Later
“You shouldn’t be doing this. You know I hate this.”
Catherine and Madison were doing a magnificent job of ignoring her while they got everything ready for Liz’s birthday party. The party she had specifically told them she did not want.
Finally, Madison grew tired of the death glares Liz was throwing her way, and faced her. “Okay, it’s bad enough that you walked in on us while we were setting things up but the least you can do is be quiet while we try to make this nice for you.”
“You know I don’t like birthday parties. Just buy me a bottle of champagne and get it over with.”
Madison scoffed. “You’re impossible to deal with.”
Derek, Catherine’s husband who had been cowering in the corner of the living room while avoiding the wrath of the three women, finally came to her rescue. “It was my fault she walked in on you guys. I should have kept her away, but I couldn’t stop her. She knew something was up.”
Catherine’s head popped up, pointing an accusatory finger at him. “Oh, we know you’re to blame for this. Don’t think we’ll forget so easily.”
He raised his hands in surrender and went back to his silence.
Liz rolled her eyes. “Alright, you know what? Fine. You two win. Let’s just hurry up and get this over with. When are the guests arriving?”
“Christian says they should be here any minute,” Madison responded as she hung decorations. “So, you better get to practicing your ‘I’m so glad you could make it’ smile.”
“I thought I was supposed to be surprised.”
“Too late for that,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “I think I hear them.”
Suppressing a groan, Liz rose to her feet. Catherine, ever the good host, rushed to the door. Liz could hear her greeting them.
“Big smile, Liz!” Madison hissed at her.
Rolling her eyes, Liz plastered a smile on her face. The first to walk in was Christian, who immediately sought out Madison and went to her side. He whispered something in her ear which made her giggle.
Liz ignored it. The next was Harold who was sporting a large bottle of wine. “Happy birthday to my best employee!” he boomed, handing her the bottle.
“Thanks for coming, Harold,” she told him, just as practiced. It didn’t feel as forced as she expected it to feel on her lips.
One by one, they streamed in. Liz kept it up, greeting them all and thanking them for coming. The only people she didn’t expect to show were her parents, who were watching Rosie and had already sent their birthday regards. Liz’s parents had always been a little cold and distant, probably the reason for her own tendency to have an icy exterior. By the next hour, the room was filled with people and laughter.
Liz was about to retreat to the kitchen, but Catherine caught her on the way there. “Wait, where are you going?” she demanded.
“I just need a little breather. It’s getting a bit tight in there.”
“You can’t go yet.”
“Yet? Why?”
Catherine was about to answer, but the doorbell rang. At that moment, Derek came up behind her, laying a hand on the small of her back. Catherine smiled. “Why don’t you go see who that is?”
“You’re acting weird.” Liz looked suspiciously between the two of them. “Why are you acting weird?”
“Just go answer the door, will you?” Madison snapped, stepping out to join them, Christian right on her heels.
Liz looked at all of the people who stared back at her expectantly, and she frowned in confusion. Making her way over to the door, she yanked it open.
The person standing there her heart leap into her throat.
“Hey, there, Lizzie.”
Liz didn’t say anything for a few moments. He was as beautiful as she remembered, with that same happy grin. In his hand, he held a single long-stemmed rose.
“What… how…”
“Looks like I’m the one who’s making you speechless now, huh?” He stepped inside. That’s when she noticed Marcus was behind him, as always.
“Good day, Elizabeth,” he greeted stiffly. “Happy birthday.”
“Thank you, Marcus.”
Awkwardly, he nodded. “I’ll just go join the party then.” He moved to mingle with the other guests, and left them to have some privacy.
Liz looked at her sister, then Madison. “You two are behind this, aren’t you?”
“You really thought we would throw you a birthday party, knowing how much you hate them?” This time, it was Catherine’s turn to roll her eyes. “Give us a break, Liz.”
“Later, we’re going to have to have a real talk about sharing,” Madison said, wagging a finger disapprovingly. “You know, talking? Things that friends do. I can’t believe you went over two months without telling us about him.”
“Then how did you find out?”
“Guilty,” Michael said, drawing her attention back to him. “When you left, I was so distraught about us doing the long-distance thing. I vented about it to a good friend.”
“Marcus?”
“Nope. Now, I’m guilty.” It was Derek. Wide-eyed, Liz looked at her brother-in-law, who was rubbing the back of his head.
“You two know each other?”
“It’s a small world indeed.” Christian nodded, going back to his silence. Madison patted him on the chest like a proud mother.
“I also saw some naughty text messages you were trying to hide,” Madison interjected. “I had everyone on high alert to try to find out who your mystery man was. It didn’t take much digging.”
“Happy birthday, big sis,” Catherine said. “You deserve to be happy.”
Liz was at a loss for words. She tried to speak, but stopped herself, knowing nothing she said would express how grateful she was, how happy. So, she pulled the other two girls into a hug.
“Aw.” Madison pouted happily. “This is nice. It almost makes me forgive you for keeping him a secret.”
“I promise to tell you every gory detail.”
“You better. Now, we’ll get out of your hair. You lovebirds catch up.”
Derek clapped Michael on the back before he left, whispering something in his ear. Then they all returned to the party, leaving them alone.
“Liz…”
“Shh. Don’t say anything.”
“Kind of hard not to when I haven’t seen you in over two months. I’ve been building up a lot of things in my head the whole time. Look, I even wrote it all down in a notebook, see—”
Liz stopped him before he could pull it out. “What about the tour across Europe?”
“Marcus finally agreed to let me end things a bit early. I claimed I came down with a terrible sickness. Didn’t specify. Gotta leave them guessing.”
“You did that to see me?”
“When Derek told me that he was married to your sister, I thought this was a dream come true. It was fate, and it would be rude to laugh at fate. I would love to settle down in these parts and spend some more time with my good buddy.”
“How did we not see each other at the wedding?”
“Because I didn’t go. I was still too distraught over Melody. Biggest regret of my life. Very bad karma.”
“Yeah, well, you know what?” She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer and gazing into his face.
“What?” he murmured.
“You just gave me the best birthday gift a girl could ask for. I think that makes up for your bad karma.”
“Depends. Do I get to kiss you right now?”
“Most definitely.”
“Then I don’t regret a thing.”
And as if the last two months apart never happened, they kissed like they were the only people in the world, and there was nowhere else Liz would rather be.