by Holly Rayner
“Of course,” she managed. “Of course I will, Zach.”
He got to his feet, fumbled in his pocket for a moment, and pulled out a small, square box that could only have held one thing.
She stared. “You have a ring? When did you get a ring?”
“When we were in Iceland,” he said. “The morning after that night we made up. I knew from that moment that I was going to ask you to marry me. It was only a matter of time.”
She held out her hand, allowing him to slip the band onto her finger. It was rose gold, twisted into an intricate pattern that wrapped its way around several small stones before curling around a large diamond at the center. The whole thing gave the impression of blooming like a flower on a vine.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathed.
“I thought it would be difficult to pick out a ring,” he said. “But as soon as I saw it, I knew it was the one I wanted.” He held up her hand, admiring it. “It looks perfect on you.”
“Is this what you and Dad were talking about?” she asked.
“He was asking for my blessing,” her father said from the doorway. He smiled. “You were right, Rhea. He really is a class act. You don’t see a lot of men like this anymore.”
“Oh, let me look!” Rhea’s mother hurried over and took her hand. “That ring is just beautiful, Zach. You did a great job picking it out.”
“No ring could possibly be as beautiful as Rhea,” Zach said. “But I got the best one I could find.”
Stephen approached. “I guess this means you and I are going to be brothers,” he said.
“I’d like it if we could be,” Zach said. “I know it’s difficult for you to accept me, Stephen. I don’t blame you for that. My dad screwed your family over, and you’re more than justified to be angry about it. But Rhea adores you, and anyone who’s important to her is important to me.”
Stephen nodded. “That much, at least, we can agree on,” he said.
He held out his hand, and Zach shook it.
Rhea hadn’t imagined that she could possibly feel as happy as she did right now. She had expected this conversation with her family to be difficult and painful, and she’d thought that at best it would end with their agreeing to try to get over their animosity toward Zach in the many years that lay ahead.
She had never imagined that they would be able to move forward this quickly.
And she certainly hadn’t thought she’d end the night with an engagement ring on her finger!
She looked down at it, admiring the unusual shape of the band. Most rings simply wrapped around the finger, the metal seeming to know exactly where it was going. This one twisted and turned, taking a circuitous path to the diamond at the center.
It takes a while to get there, but when it does, the result is that much more beautiful.
It was the perfect ring to represent her relationship with Zach.
She turned and stepped into his arms, and he bent to kiss her.
Epilogue
Seven Months Later - Rhea
Rhea had been in labor for twenty-one hours when the time finally came for her child to be delivered.
Zach jogged alongside her bed as she was wheeled into the delivery room, keeping up a steady stream of lighthearted conversation.
“We’re going to be the parents who tell our kid this story every year on their birthday,” he told her. “We’re going to embarrass the daylights out of them.”
Rhea found it difficult to laugh through the pain, but she closed her eyes and forced out a chuckle. She wanted Zach to know that he was amusing her.
“You’re impossible,” she told him.
“Your mother had been in labor for hours,” Zach began, speaking nostalgically, as if he were already talking to their future child ten or fifteen years from now. “She told me I was impossible.”
It did help Rhea to focus on the future. It took her out of the moment and away from her current suffering. It reminded her that this wasn’t going to be forever. Eventually the baby would be delivered, and when he or she was, Rhea would be a mother.
“It’s coming fast,” the doctor said. “You’re nearly done. One or two more big pushes and we’ll be there.”
Zach positioned himself behind her head, squatting down so that she could rest on his shoulder.
“Remember when you taught me how to float like this?” he asked, slipping his hands beneath her to rest against her back.
“You were a terrible student,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Well, we’ll just have to try it again sometime,” Zach said. “We’ll go back to the resort, and you can teach me and the kiddo how to swim together. It’ll be like our own private swim class that we don’t have to pay for.”
“Who said you don’t have to pay?” Rhea asked. “You’re going to have to buy me a very nice dinner.”
Zach kissed her cheek gently. “I think I can agree to that,” he said.
“All right, Rhea,” the doctor said. “Your baby’s coming. One more push for me.”
Rhea pushed as hard as she could, feeling as though what had been asked of her was impossible. There was no way she could do this. The doctor was going to have to figure out some other way to get the baby out, because Rhea wasn’t going to be able to do it on her own…
Then, all of a sudden, she felt a tremendous release of pressure. A split second later, she heard a cry.
“It’s a boy,” the doctor announced.
“A boy,” Zach whispered. “Rhea, it’s a boy.”
Rhea felt her body go limp with exhaustion. As Zach caught her and eased her down onto the bed, all the fantasies she had been daydreaming about for the past nine months took on a new flavor.
Her baby’s first Christmas—she would dress him up as a little elf.
The first day of school—he’d wear shorts and a little polo shirt. She’d comb his hair to perfection, and he would smile, showing off his father’s dimple.
Maybe he would become an athlete. She imagined herself and Zach sitting in the stands at a football game, screaming themselves hoarse for their little superstar.
She imagined him going to a great college, and herself and Zach buying armloads of T-shirts and sweaters with the college logo on them, making sure everyone could see how proud they were of their boy.
She looked up and saw that the doctor had placed the baby in Zach’s arms. Zach was gazing down at their son admiringly.
“He’s beautiful,” he said. “He looks just like you. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Let me hold him,” she said. “I need to see him.”
Zach nodded and brought the baby to her, passing him carefully into her arms. He’d been wrapped snugly in a blanket and his crying had ceased. He blinked slowly as he was passed from his father to his mother, evidently perplexed about the strange things that were happening around him.
“You’re wrong,” she told Zach.
“What do you mean?”
“He doesn’t look like me. He looks like you,” she said. “Look at his eyes.”
They were the same brilliant green as Zach’s, and just as captivating.
“But look at everything else about him,” Zach said. “That strawberry blond hair, the shape of his face—look, he even has a freckle in the same place as you have one.”
He was right. Rhea stared in frank fascination as the baby’s eyes blinked open again. It was shocking—in the best possible way—to see Zach’s eyes in the middle of her own face. Their child was a perfect blend of elements of both of them.
Rhea was wheeled back into her hospital room. The doctor insisted on taking her son away for a few minutes to check his vitals and make sure everything was all right.
It killed Rhea to let go of him, to let him out of her sight, even though she knew it was necessary. He was the most precious thing she had ever held, and if she had had her way, she would never have let him go.
She clung to Zach’s hands until a nurse brought the baby back to them. The
moment he was returned to her, she set about examining him, checking to make sure his perfect features were the same ones she remembered. Nothing had changed, of course. He was still their perfect son.
“Do we have a name?” the nurse asked, pulling out a pen and a clipboard. “It’s okay if you don’t yet. I can fill these papers out later.”
But Rhea was ready. She hadn’t expected that she would be. Because she and Zach hadn’t learned the sex of their child, they hadn’t bothered to pick out a name yet. But the moment she had seen her son’s face, the name had come to her.
“Lincoln,” she told the nurse. “His name is Lincoln.”
She glanced at Zach to make sure he approved. His face was a picture of shock.
“Are you sure?” he asked her. “You want to name him after my father? After what he did to your family?”
Rhea shook her head. “We’ve all spent far too much time talking about the one bad thing your father did in his life,” she said. “But he did many good things as well. He raised you. He provided you with a family member you could love and rely on. He worked hard all his life to ensure that food was kept on your table, and clothes on your back.”
“That’s true,” Zach said. “I remind myself of those things frequently. I don’t want to forget the best parts of my father’s life.”
“And I think we should honor him,” Rhea said. “Instead of remember him for one mistake that he made, I think we should remember the good man that he was. I couldn’t think of a better name for our child. But only if you approve, of course.”
Zach rested one hand on Rhea’s head and the other on the baby’s. “I approve,” he said. “Thank you, Rhea. It really means the world to me that you’d want to do something like this.”
Rhea smiled down happily at the baby in her arms. “Welcome to the world, little Lincoln,” she said. “We’re so happy you’re finally here.”
They were able to leave the hospital the following morning, and though Rhea still felt a little weak and worn out, she could tell that her body was beginning to recover. Zach helped her ease herself into the car, then fastened baby Lincoln into the car seat they’d bought and installed.
“Check the straps,” Rhea said anxiously. “Are you sure he’s buckled in the right way?”
“He’s fine,” Zach assured her. “I get it. It freaks me out to drive him home too. But we don’t have far to go, remember. We’ll be there in less than ten minutes.”
“Okay, but don’t feel like you have to hurry,” Rhea said. “Drive slowly. I’d rather take a little longer and get there safely.”
Zach laughed. “I’ve never seen you so nervous.”
But he must have been feeling the same way, because he drove more cautiously than he ever had before, slowing to a gradual stop before each traffic light so that he coasted to a halt without jolting the car’s passengers. Lincoln, who had fallen asleep shortly after being fastened into his car seat, missed the trip entirely.
“We’ll tell him about this someday,” Zach said as they turned onto their own street. “How scared we were the first time we drove him home.”
“He’ll think we were insane,” Rhea said, finally able to laugh as they eased their way into the driveway of the home they had bought together a few months ago.
“He’ll understand if he has a baby of his own someday,” Zach said.
“That’s wild to think about,” Rhea said. “Our baby growing up and becoming a parent. I can’t even imagine him walking yet.”
“This is the start of a really big journey,” Zach said. He reached over and took her hand. “I’m so glad I’m doing it with you, Rhea.”
“Me too,” she said. “I never thought, when we agreed that we’d get together and start a family if we were single in our thirties, that it would actually happen.”
“Even if I had thought it might happen, I never could have imagined that it would look like this,” Zach said. “I never would have thought that we’d fall in love.” He grinned. “And that’s especially crazy to realize, because I’ve always loved you. I just never knew it.”
“I’ve always loved you too,” Rhea said. “I should have figured it out the first time I kissed you. I should have known then what I had. I’ll never get over the fact that we wasted so much time we could have been spending together.”
“At least we found our way back to each other in the end,” Zach said. “That’s what matters most, right?”
Rhea nodded. “Now we can have the life we’ve both always wanted.”
Zach glanced into the backseat. “I think he’s still sleeping,” he said. “Should we stay in the car for a while? I don’t know that I want to wake him up.”
“No, we’d better go inside,” Rhea said. “We’ll have to eventually, and I’d rather get him to bed so he can sleep there. Besides, I’m kind of tired too, and all the books say that I’m supposed to be sleeping whenever he is.”
“That’s true.” Zach opened the car door. “All right. Let’s get you two inside.”
He helped Rhea from the car, then lifted Lincoln carefully from the car seat and placed him in her arms. The baby stirred but did not wake, and Rhea cradled him carefully against her, hoping that she would be able to keep him asleep. Together, the couple made their way up the driveway and through the front door.
“Surprise!”
The word was a whisper, not a shout, and Rhea’s first reaction was to be thankful that the speaker had gone to the trouble not to wake Lincoln.
Her second reaction was total shock.
Her brother and her parents stood in the kitchen. Every surface had been decorated with balloons and crepe paper, and a giant hand-painted banner reading “It’s A Boy!” hung from the wall opposite the windows.
She turned to Zach. “Did you know they were doing this?”
“I had no idea,” he said. “There weren’t even any cars in the driveway.”
“We parked around the corner,” Stephen explained. “We didn’t want to give away the surprise.”
“We won’t stay too long,” Rhea’s mother said. “We know you must be tired, and looking forward to some family time. But we wanted to come over and congratulate you, and to see the baby, of course.”
Rhea went to her mother, embraced her with one arm, and passed Lincoln to her.
“Here he is,” she said.
Dana gasped. “You were right, Zach,” she said. “He really does look just like Rhea.” She stroked his cheek gently. “Welcome home, Lincoln,” she said softly. “Everyone is so happy to see you.”
“We put a bunch of casseroles and stuff in the fridge,” Stephen said. “Don’t worry, I didn’t cook any of them.”
“You should really let Zach give you a cooking lesson sometime,” Rhea said to her brother. “I’ve already improved a lot since he started teaching me.”
“That’s true,” Zach confirmed. “She’s a natural with eggs.”
“Well, maybe,” Stephen said. “Knowing how to cook might help me get a girl.”
“It definitely would,” Rhea confirmed.
“In the meantime, I say we cut the cake.” Stephen indicated a large sheet cake on the counter that Rhea hadn’t even noticed when she’d come in. There was a picture of Rhea holding Lincoln featured on top.
Rhea gasped. “How did you do that?”
“I sent him that picture yesterday,” Zach said. “I didn’t know it was going to be on a cake!”
“There’s a bakery near here that does it,” Stephen said. “Go ahead, cut it. I’m hungry.”
“Oh, Stephen,” Dana sighed.
Rhea smiled and picked up the cake knife. If there was anything in the world that could have made this day more perfect, it was having her parents and her brother here, seeing that they approved of the new life she was beginning with Zach and Lincoln. Their support meant everything in the world to her.
We’re really one big family now.
Zach wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and Rhea cut into the cake a
nd began to pass it around to her family.
The End
I hope you’ve enjoyed Zach and Rhea’s story! Keep reading for the first chapter of the previous book in this series, The Billionaire’s Illicit Twins
Happy reading!
Love, Holly x
The Billionaire's Illicit Twins
Chapter 1
Bella
I stood in front of the judge, my chin high, my hands clasped behind my back as I fought to keep the pose I’d perfected years ago, when I’d first started working as an attorney.
Actually, though, it had started a whole lot earlier than that. It had started when I’d first figured out that I didn’t have the same things other people had—and that I was going to have to do a whole lot of faking it till I made it. Which meant a whole lot of pretending like I was completely fine when I really, really wasn’t.
It was tough, let me tell you. And a whole lot tougher than I could let on. Because letting on? That would just alert the entire courtroom—and all the members of the press packed into the back of it—to how freaking nervous I was. How much I didn’t feel like I belonged in that situation… and how nervous I was to be on that big of a stage.
Well. Let’s backtrack on that one, shall we? Because it wasn’t that I didn’t belong there. The opposite, in fact. I knew I did belong there, and that I’d been waiting my entire freaking life for a break like this one. Waiting my entire career for a case like this to pop up on my desk. A case, and a client, where I could really prove what I knew and how good I was. Really prove how strong I could be in the courtroom, and how much I could get in there and kick butt, when the occasion called for it.
It was just that… now that I was here, and about to hear the final ruling, with my heart pounding so hard that I thought the entire courtroom could probably hear it, all of that planning and wanting and studying seemed like it might have been pointed in completely the wrong direction. Because I was terrified, and there was no other way to even say it.
