“See, and you thought I wrote to the wrong Westerly. Look around—Lily has real waitstaff now. Her granddaughter already came home for a visit with her friends, who all fell in love with her and her well of advice. Memes of her are going viral, and we’ve had tours come through simply because they want to meet her and to taste ice cream that’s fit for a king. She’s loving every minute of it.”
There was a time when Nicolette wouldn’t have been able to believe so much good news was possible, but it was like Bryant said . . . when people started caring about the same thing—like saving a town or helping a runaway heiress find her way home—things started working out and . . . magic.
The door of Lily’s restaurant opened. Tera stepped in holding the hands of two superheroes, Mr. and Mrs. Water Bear Man in all their gray spandex glory. “Lily,” the young girl called out, “come meet my friends.”
A hush fell over the restaurant as people turned and realized they were extras in a scene that their friends and family would never believe. Lily came out of the kitchen. “Well, look who we have here. Welcome to Lily’s.”
Eric Westerly flexed his muscles and put his hands on his hips. “Mrs. Water Bear and I have traveled all around the Milky Way seeking the perfect ice cream.”
Sage mirrored his stance and, in a booming voice, added, “Our friend Tera said you have what we have been searching for.”
A slow smile spread across Nicolette’s face. “Paisley, I told Eric and Sage about Tera, but I didn’t think they’d really come.”
Bruce and LeAnne entered behind them, pulling up chairs beside Nicolette and Paisley. LeAnne leaned in and said, “Nicolette, you have no idea how much this means to Tera. He said he’ll stay in his costume long enough for all the children to meet him after Bryant . . . I mean, after this.”
“I’ll be right back,” Nicolette said, rising to her feet. She walked up to the big-screen superhero who was flexing for the crowd and threw her arms around him. “Thank you. Thank you so much for coming.”
Eric hugged her back tightly. “Of course we came. We’re family.”
Nicolette hugged Sage next. “I still feel bad about . . .”
Mid-hug, Sage said, “Don’t. You’re exactly the family I always dreamed I would have.”
They stepped back, both smiling. Tera announced she no longer wanted to marry a superhero . . . she wanted to grow up to be one. “That can be arranged,” Eric said with a wink at his wife. “We do want children. How hard would it be to write one into our next movie?”
Jumping up and down, Tera stopped only long enough to call out to her parents, “Mom? Dad? Can I be famous?”
“We’ll talk about it when we get home,” her mother called back.
Tera made a face. “They said the same thing about me getting a puppy, but this is so much cooler. Don’t worry, they will say yes.”
Ever the pragmatist, Lily said, “Let’s get you in a booth, and you can sort the rest out later.”
As she returned to the table with Paisley, Nicolette checked the time on a clock on the wall. Bryant had left early that morning for a meeting, but he’d asked her to meet him at Lily’s at noon. He was late.
Bryant was never late.
During the two incredible months they’d been together, Nicolette had learned that he didn’t do anything halfway. Business deals. Friendships. Sex.
When he said he would be somewhere—he showed up. She didn’t want him to miss this moment, but if he wasn’t there, she was sure he had a good reason.
But where was he?
Her stomach flipped when she checked the clock again. Thirty minutes late? She sent him a text.
Oh my God. He’s dead. I knew it. I knew nothing could stay this good.
I finally fall in love with a man, and he dies before I get a chance to even tell him.
I should have told him.
I’m going to be sick.
The door of the restaurant opened. Her grandmother and Tadeas walked in. With Brett and Alisha? Spencer, Hailey, and their daughter walked in behind them. Then Rachelle with her baby and Prince Magnus? More and more of her family and friends from the town walked in. Jordan and Lon joined Paisley. Nicolette’s mouth dropped open when her father strolled into the very crowded diner holding hands with her mother.
Why are they all here?
She swayed on her feet.
Bryant threw open the door. “Sorry I’m late—this is a tough crew to organize.”
She blindly greeted her parents and siblings with hugs as she made her way to the man she couldn’t imagine her life without. When she reached him, she swallowed her nervousness. “What are you doing?”
He grinned at her gathered family. “What I’ve wanted to do from almost the first moment we met.”
She took a few deep breaths and blinked back tears.
He dropped onto one knee and opened a small box. A three-plus-carat white diamond flashed up at her. “Nicolette, some things are meant to be—like you and me. Marry me. We’ll buy a house here, teach my robots to change diapers, raise our children all wrong, and justify our decisions when they drag us into therapy when they’re adults. It’ll be a wild ride, but if we’re together, we’ll laugh our way through anything life throws our way. Even the first time we catch our kid with marijuana. We’ll deal with it—together.”
Yes. Still, she didn’t want to make it too easy for him, so she cocked her head to the side. “You’ve got this all planned out.”
“I do. All you have to do is say yes.”
With her heart thudding with love for the man on his knees before her, she said, “No robot is changing a diaper in our house. Our children will be just fine, because whether we raise them here or anywhere, they will know they’re loved—and I wouldn’t laugh if I caught our child with drugs of any kind.”
Bryant’s smile only widened. “What you’re saying is—yes, you’ll marry me.” He took out the ring and held it out.
She slid her finger into it. “Exactly.”
He rose to his feet and kissed her soundly while the crowd around them broke into applause. After one long, heart-stopping kiss, their hands linked, and they turned to smile at the crowd. Outside of Lon, they were all from her side. Her heart broke a little for Bryant. As far as she knew, his father hadn’t made a single attempt to contact him since the day she’d messaged him. “I wish . . .”
She didn’t have to say it—he knew. He bent to say in her ear, “It’s okay, Nicolette. I don’t care.”
She turned and cupped his face in her hands. “You do, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life showing you how okay that is. You’ve mastered how to be strong for others, but there’s nothing wrong with leaning on someone else now and then. And guess what—I’m going to be that person. I will be your rock of sanity just as you’ve become mine.”
He hugged her to him and murmured, “I’ll show you another rock—tonight, tiger.”
“Bigger than this one?” She flashed the ring at him, feeling alight with love.
“So, so much bigger,” he murmured.
“Unfortunately, we can hear you,” her father said dryly.
Nicolette and Bryant shared a look, then both broke into laughter. She mouthed, Sorry, to Dereck, who just shook his head, but he was smiling. At his side, her mother looked happier than she had in a long time.
Would they all have gotten there without Bryant? Maybe—love was a choice as well, and she knew exactly how she wanted to spend the rest of her life. “I love this man. I love him. I love, love, love him,” she yelled.
“We know, know, know,” Lily echoed back.
Bryant crooked an eyebrow, and a memory of a similar phrase being yelled through a hotel wall came back to Nicolette. She burst out laughing again. He joined in until they were both laughing so hard they were crying.
It was loud. It was crazy. It was perfect.
Still gasping for air and wiping tears from her cheeks, Nicolette met her grandmother’s gaze and froze. What did she think
of this side of her grandchild? Delinda winked, and Nicolette nearly burst into tears for an entirely different reason. She sees me, and she loves me.
Nicolette tucked herself under Bryant’s arm. “She really is something, isn’t she?”
He kissed her hair. “She is.”
Cuddling closer, Nicolette said, “Thank you for speaking to her for me.”
He kissed her forehead. “You can thank me later.”
“Really? That’s what you’re thinking about right now?” She rolled her eyes.
There it was—that shameless, sexy grin that she still found irresistible. “Oh, you wanted deeper than that? Let me see . . . No, I just pictured you naked again. Now what were we talking about? Quick, before . . . Oh, damn, now you’re in that red dress again . . . with the gaping cleavage and the cold wind blowing it tight against your—”
She silenced him with a kiss. “You’re going to give my father a heart attack.”
He twirled her. “He’ll forgive me when the grandchildren come.”
Not if—when. She liked that.
The future was full of beautiful possibilities.
As well as inevitable pitfalls, but they’d face them together.
And the robots? They’d never change a diaper, but they were welcome to do all the laundry and dishes they wanted.
Epilogue
Delinda Westerly looked out over the terraced gardens of her home by the ocean, watching her children and grandchildren enjoy the warm spring day. They were all there, just as she’d dreamed they one day would be. She hated stepping away from the view, but there was something she need to do.
Turning away, she returned her attention to the gray-haired middle-aged man who was gagged and tied to her favorite Chippendale chair. She walked over and took a seat across from him. The besuited man tossed his head back and forth angrily.
Delinda folded her hands on her lap. “Thank you for coming to see me, Mr. Taunton.”
Maddox Taunton growled deep in his throat.
“Your son is an incredible young man, and we are excited to have him join our family. Have you seen how good he and Nicolette are for each other? No? That’s a shame. I could not have chosen better for her myself. It was a big step for me. I’m learning to trust my children and my grandchildren to make their own decisions. We can’t live their lives for them. They have to be free to make their own mistakes and grow from them, as we have.”
Maddox attempted to say something that sounded like profanity, but thankfully it was muffled by the gag.
Delinda tapped her nails on the arm of her chair. “I wish you had accepted Bryant and Nicolette’s wedding invitation. This all would have gone so much more smoothly. Now, I have to convince you that your son’s happiness matters more than anything that occurred between our families.” She let out a sigh. “I also have to acknowledge the role I played in all of this. I blamed your father because I needed a reason to explain the unexplainable. I don’t know why Oliver chose to take his own life rather than turn to me for help. I’ll never know, but I finally see that it wasn’t your father’s fault. It wasn’t my fault. And nothing I did to your family in memory of Oliver made it better. I’m sorry.”
If the look in Maddox’s eyes was anything to go by, he wasn’t feeling the reconciliation, and what he was attempting to articulate through the gag was probably a threat.
“I understand your anger.” Delinda rose to her feet. “Perhaps it’s too much to expect you to put it aside, but nothing is going to ruin Nicolette’s wedding. Tadeas and I kept our own ceremony private so as not to overshadow hers. Don’t worry about not being able to congratulate me now—we have more important matters to discuss. You will attend Nicolette and Bryant’s wedding, and you’ll appear happy for them both. Please do this because it’s what’s best for your son and not because I now have royal immunity in most countries. Let’s not take this where it doesn’t need to go. If you’re ready to be civil, I’ll remove the gag.”
She stepped forward, but as his eyes shot daggers at her, she hesitated. “My only other option is to leak a story to the news that you’re on an extended vacation to give you time to come to your senses. The duration of which depends entirely on you.”
Maddox looked at the royal guards who flanked his chair. They didn’t spare him even a glance.
Delinda tapped her chin. “I did invite you to tea; it was your choice to do it this way. My friend Alessandro told me if I wanted a rose garden, I needed to stop planting weeds. You, Maddox, must decide if you are a rose or a weed.”
With a disappointed shake of her head, Delinda spoke to the royal guards. “I’m returning to the party. When he’s had a change of mind, return him to his home. If the situation becomes complicated, Tadeas will handle the rest.”
Tucked into bed in the MacAuley home he’d built after proposing, Bryant woke with a start and sat up in bed. Nicolette woke as well, wrapped her arms around him, and rested her head on his chest. “Are you okay?” she asked.
He hugged her to him, then kissed the top of her head. “Just a strange dream.”
Relaxing, he rolled back onto the bed with Nicolette still in his arms. “Did my father really respond that he was coming to the wedding?”
She kissed his jaw. “He did.”
“He wasn’t happy when I first told him about our engagement.”
Her kisses approached his ear, and she murmured, “Maybe he needed time. We all get there when we get there.”
The tickle of her breath on his ear was quickly erasing his nightmare. “It’s just strange how fast the change happened.”
She rained kisses back down his neck. “I don’t second-guess good things anymore. He wants to come to the wedding—that’s all that matters. Good things happen. All you have to do is believe they can.”
About the Author
Ruth Cardello is a New York Times bestselling author who loves writing about rich alpha men and the strong women who tame them. She was born the youngest of eleven children in a small city in northern Rhode Island. She’s lived in Boston, Paris, Orlando, New York, and Rhode Island again before moving to Massachusetts, where she now lives with her husband and three children. Before turning her attention to writing, Ruth was an educator for two decades, including eleven years as a kindergarten teacher. She is the author of the Lone Star Burn series, the Legacy Collection, the Andrades novels, and the Westerly Billionaire series, which includes In the Heir, Up for Heir, Royal Heir, Hollywood Heir, and Runaway Heir. Learn about Ruth’s new releases by signing up for her newsletter at www.RuthCardello.com.
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