“I think she’s perfect, too,” Jace admitted.
“Who’s pewfect?” April asked.
“Your Aunt Stell,” Jace said to the little girl. “Do you think I should ask her out on a date?”
“Yes!” She screamed so loud that everyone looked over at them. April grabbed Cricket’s hand. “Come on, Cwicket.”
April and Cricket ran as fast as their little legs could take them with April yelling the entire way. “Aunt Stell! Aunt Stell!”
“What is it?” Jace heard Stella ask.
“Dr. Davies wants to ask you out on a date!”
Stella’s head, along with everyone else’s, turned to look right at him. No embarrassment asking out a woman with your mom and friends watching. “I thought I’d invite you out to dinner one night this week.”
“If you haven’t been to the Blossom Café, then you must eat there. The food is delicious,” Ari told Stella as if she’d already said yes to the date.
“I’d love to. Thank you,” Stella told him with the same amount of embarrassment as he was currently feeling.
“You should go tonight,” Eden said as she grinned at her sister-in-law.
“But aren’t we—?” Stella started to say but Eden cut her off.
“That’s tomorrow. Tonight you’re free. Six would be good, right, Stell?” Eden didn’t seem to be asking, but Jace took the hint.
“I have patients until a little before six. I can pick you up after that if you’re up to it.”
“Tonight sounds lovely, but I’ll meet you there. I heard there’s a feed store downtown, and I need to grab some things there anyway.”
Jace wanted to fist-pump the air, but he couldn’t show too much excitement or his mother would be booking the church for next month. “Sounds good. I’ll see you there. The place looks fantastic, Stella. It’ll be a huge success. I’m sorry to leave so soon, but I have to get back to the clinic.”
“Of course. Thank you for coming.”
“I look forward to seeing you tonight.” Jace had dropped his voice and hoped that it had been shared only between him and Stella, but Eden’s sigh and his mother’s growing smile told him they’d both heard it.
“I’ll stay here and introduce Stella around,” his mother said as if she had a new best friend.
“I’ll help,” Ari added.
“Thank you,” Jace mouthed to his friend. Ari would be a buffer between his mom and Stella. And a buffer for everyone else who was headed their way.
“I need to get back to court.” Addison held out her hand and shook Stella’s. “It was such a pleasure to meet you. I look forward to getting to know you better.” She turned to Draven who had reached out and stopped Jace from walking by him. “Do you need a ride back into town or are you going back to the farm with Zain?”
“I’m going to back to the farm. I’ll see you after court.” Jace waited as Draven kissed Addison sweetly on the lips. “Love you.”
“I love you, too. Bye, y’all!”
Draven walked with Jace to his car and then looked around to make sure no one was paying any attention to them. “Can you give me a ride to the law firm?”
“Of course.”
Draven got into the front seat and took a deep breath as Jace drove out of the parking lot, passing the invasion from Keeneston as he went. “I’m going to propose. I want to ask Addison’s parents’ permission before I do it. They’re going to give permission, right?”
“Henry already acts as if you’re family, so I wouldn’t worry.”
Draven’s leg was bouncing the entire way to the law firm. A sheen of sweat had broken out across his brow the closer they got. When they arrived, Draven just stared at the building.
“You know Henry and Neely Grace. You know they know you love Addison. You wanting to marry her will not be a surprise to them. They’re going to give you permission and you can’t ask Addison until you ask her parents. You can do it. I’m right down the street if you need me.” Jace tried to give his best pep talk.
Draven nodded and got out of the SUV. He walked stiffly around the front of the SUV and Jace wasn’t sure if his friend had taken a breath yet. Draven turned and Jace gave him a thumbs up before Draven opened the door and entered the office.
* * *
Draven reminded himself that he was a king. Not just any king, but a king who had turned his ailing country around in just a few short years. His country was now growing and thriving. The tabloids expected a marriage between him and Ariana. They’d laughed about it, but it wasn’t Ariana he hoped to bring back to his country as their new queen. It was Addison Rooney. If only she would say yes.
Draven had been raised to believe the world revolved around him. It wasn’t until he came to Keeneston that he saw what real friendship was and what real love could be. His advisors had told him not to come back, but when the Ali Rahman family had offered their help, Draven refused to turn them down.
Keeneston had forced him to take a look at himself, and it wasn’t pretty. He had become an international joke while his citizens suffered in poverty. He’d let advisors rule in his stead while he was off enjoying the perks of being a young king. Well, no more. The past few years he’d fired all his advisors and made his own treaties. He’d come to Keeneston every three months for lessons from the Ali Rahmans. They’d taken him to Washington and introduced him to the right people. During the off months, he visited his neighboring countries to learn the ins and outs of the region and had developed a strong working relationship with them.
Draven owed them his throne, but it was Addison to whom he owed his life. She had turned him down for a date repeatedly. She called him out on his bad behavior. And then she had shown him what a real relationship was. It was a partnership filled with mutual respect and trust. On the day she told him she wouldn’t speak to him unless he shaped up, he deleted all the contact numbers in his phone and turned down every naked woman he’d come across, which turned out to be a surprising number.
Things really started turning around when he stopped ruling with his royal member and took the advice of his peers. In December, when he was in Keeneston for a wedding, he slipped his hand into Addison’s during the ceremony and knew she was his future. Addison was not only his future, but also the future of his people and his country. He’d flown home and called the royal jeweler, telling him to find the most perfect diamond in the royal jewels and bring it to him. Together they designed the ring for the future queen. Now all he had to do was ask. This was way harder than any treaty he’d negotiated.
It was still lunchtime so Draven knew the secretary would be out of the law office. However, the door had a little bell so seconds after he walked in, Neely Grace was smiling at him as she came into the lobby of the old house-turned-law office.
“Draven. How are you, dear?”
Neely Grace held open her arms and Draven hugged her. His own father had sent Draven’s mother to live at another residence while he had fun with his mistresses after Draven’s mother could no longer provide a spare heir. He learned what a real family was like from Neely Grace and the rest of Keeneston.
“I’m well, thank you. I was hoping to talk to you and Henry for a moment.”
“Of course. Come on in.”
Draven tried to remember to breathe as he followed Neely Grace into her husband’s office.
“Draven! My man!” Draven smiled at Henry and shook his hand. Draven really liked Addison’s family. They made him feel so welcome. “I got a new one.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“Are you viral because you just infected my heart?”
Neely Grace groaned. Draven high-fived Henry and laughed. Bad pick-up lines were their thing. They used to be his regular pick-up lines until Addison and everyone else who wasn’t trying to impress a king finally told him the truth—they were awful. Now he and Henry just had fun trying to outdo each other with them.
“So, what brings you by? Addison is in court right now.”
“I know,”
Draven told Neely Grace. “Um, I’m here because . . .” Draven went down on his knee and pulled the ring from his pocket as Jace had suggested. He’d been right, the box was too big and got in the way. “Will you marry me? I mean, will you give me your permission to marry your daughter?”
Draven tried to breathe, but he couldn’t remember how.
“Any woman would be thrilled with a ring like that. Hell, I’d marry you for it,” Henry said as he walked around to stand next to his wife. “Honey, you’re starting to drool.”
Neely Grace shook her head and smiled down at him. “Draven, you love our daughter. And more than that, you’ve taken your time to prove yourself, not only to her and to us but to yourself. I’d be honored to have you as my son.”
“Wait,” Henry said suddenly. “Does that mean Addy will be moving to Bermalia?”
“Henry, that’s between her and Draven.”
“Oh!” Draven reached into his pocket and pulled out some folded papers. “Typically, a royal bride comes with a dowry, but Addison is gift enough and you both mean so much to me that I thought I’d give you a dowry instead. It’s not a dowry, so to speak, but a pledge.”
He handed the papers to Neely Grace who began to read the promises Draven had not only made but was already putting into action.
“Oh, Draven,” Neely Grace gasped. “The gift of treating my daughter as your equal.” Suddenly she burst out in tears. Draven thought it would make them happy. He looked to Henry who just nodded at him as he wiped tears from his eyes.
“Did I do something wrong?” Draven asked.
“No, you did everything right. I guess it never sank in that my daughter would be a queen if she married you. To us you are just Draven, a man. It never occurred to me that our grandchild would someday rule a country. The fact that you’ve changed old laws to allow a daughter to take the throne means more than I can tell you. I am so proud of you.”
Neely Grace pulled him up from his knees and hugged him tight.
“You’re giving us a private plane?” Henry asked slowly as he picked up the document. “Draven, you don’t have to do any of this. You just have to love and honor our daughter.”
“I know, but I want to. You’re my family.”
Neely Grace and Henry were quiet for a moment and then Henry was hugging him, too. “I’m honored to call you my son.”
Draven felt a tear roll down his cheek as he hugged his future in-laws. Now he just needed to ask Addison to be his wife.
Draven had thought of numerous elaborate ways to ask Addison to be his wife and his queen. However, none of them seemed right for Addison. Simplicity was one of the things he loved about her, so Draven waited at Addison’s house. After work they liked to have a glass of wine on the back patio and watch the sunset.
He heard her car before she turned into her driveway. He pulled out the lighter and worked to get the candles lit. He was checking the champagne chilling in the ice bucket when Addison walked through the door and onto the patio.
“Oh, candles, how lovely. How did you know I had such a hard day?”
Addison wrapped her arm around him and laid her head against his chest. Gone were the sword and the military medals his father had passed down to him. Instead, he was in slacks and a white button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
Addison straightened up and kissed him. He ran a hand down her back as he kissed her, willing her to feel how much he loved her.
“I wanted to do something special for you,” Draven told her as he turned them to look at the purple, pink, and orange painted sky.
“You’re so sweet. Thank you, Dray. Isn’t this beautiful?”
“Not nearly as beautiful as you.” Draven paused and looked at the woman in his arms. Everything he’d planned to say went right out of his mind. “I had something fancy written for you, but that’s not us. Together we’re just Addy and Dray. Two people who are madly in love with each other. Do you have any idea how much I love and adore you? I never knew this type of relationship existed until I met you. You make me a better man by loving me and believing in me. I’ve known since the first time I saw you and you turned me down that we were meant to be. Together, I feel as if we can accomplish anything because of our love.”
Backlit by the sunset, Draven dropped to one knee as he held the ring up between his fingers. “Addison Rooney, you are the best woman I have ever met. You are beautiful, kind, caring, intelligent, and driven to help others. Will you marry me and let me love you for the rest of our lives as you use your kindness, intelligence, and love to rule Bermalia by my side as our queen?”
“Oh my stars,” Addison gasped and Draven didn’t know if that was good or bad.
He looked up nervously at Addison who was smiling down at him, her hands clasped together over her heart. “Draven, I love you. King or not, it’s that simple. I have no idea what to do or how to be a queen, but I’ve got a surprise for you.”
Draven held his breath as Addison told him in his own language that she would marry him. “You’ve learned Bermalian?”
“I’ve been studying it since you dropped me off after our first date. Cassidy has been helping me. I knew then you were the one for me.”
Draven slipped the ring on Addison’s finger and noticed that his fingers weren’t the only ones shaking. She cupped his cheeks with her hands and then kissed him. Everything in this moment was perfection. The woman he loved was going to marry him.
6
Stella loaded the feed for the ducks that had begun to visit her and April at the pond into the back of her pickup truck. She looked down Main Street, and as the sun dipped lower in the sky, Stella decided to walk to find the café. She hadn’t really spent much time in downtown Keeneston yet. She’d been living at the garden center getting it ready or at her house in Lexington.
Stella walked down the street and stopped to look into the window of a cute hat shop. The display was filled with hats just waiting to be worn to the Kentucky Derby.
Stella looked down the side of the street and saw the bank. She decided to cross the street to check out some of the shops there. She saw the Rooney Law Office and felt good knowing that she was starting to make friends in town. She browsed the window front of an antique store and then stopped as she found herself looking into the lobby of Jace’s doctor’s office.
She checked her phone and saw that it was almost six. As if it were a sign from above, Jace walked into the front with a teenager. He said goodbye and held out the patient file to the woman at the front desk. At that moment he looked up and their eyes met.
Stella felt as if she’d been caught spying. She gave him a wobbly, embarrassed tilt of her lips and he motioned for her to come inside. The door opened and the teenage boy held it open for his mom and then waited for Stella to go inside.
“Thank you,” she told the boy as she walked slowly inside.
“Stella, I’m so glad you stopped by. Now we can walk down together. That was my last patient for the day,” Jace told her as he slipped off his white coat.
The woman with a sloppy bun sitting behind the front desk looked between the two of them with interest. “And where are you two walking to?”
“Oh, Sarah.” Jace almost seemed to have forgotten she was there and that made Stella feel better than she’d like to admit. “Sarah, this is Stella Winters. Stella, this is Sarah Pearson. She’s the best office manager a doctor could have.”
“How do you know our doctor here?” Sarah asked. She was polite, but clearly curious.
“Know who?” A petite young woman asked as she walked into the front. She was wearing light pink scrubs and tennis shoes, and her dark brown hair gleamed in the setting sun coming through the window.
“This is Stella Winters. She and Doc are going somewhere together. I just asked where they were off to,” Sarah said, filling in the nurse, who looked surprised.
“Stella, this is my nurse, Molly Lowe. Stella owns the new garden center and she’s also April Winters’s aunt,” Jace tol
d them as he hung up his coat. “We are going to dinner at the café.”
“I’m eating there tonight, too,” Molly said as if she were a perky cheerleader. “I was going to see if y’all wanted to join me, but now I know you’re busy.”
“I’ll join you,” Sarah told her as she shut off her computer and stood up. “We can all walk down together. Your niece is adorable.”
They talked about April and all the work Stella had done to the Keeneston property as they walked to the café. Stella found herself easily falling into conversation with Sarah and Molly.
Today had been stressful. She’d met almost everyone from town and everyone had been so nice. She had a refrigerator full of casseroles, and desserts lined every counter in her kitchen. Stella had ignored all the texts from Rick asking about today. As she cast a glance at Jace walking beside her, she decided to block Rick’s number. It was past time for her to move on.
* * *
Jace watched as Stella talked to Molly and Sarah. He was thankful they were being so welcoming. His mother had even texted to say how much she liked Stella. Well, to be fair, she’d like anyone who was breathing at this point. But it hadn’t been just his mom who weighed in on the subject, all of his friends and family had called.
Piper, his oldest sister, hadn’t even known about the potential date when she texted to ask if Jace had met Stella yet. When Jace had said yes, Piper had instantly written back that he should ask her out. There’s something about her that makes her good for you, Piper had texted. Jace agreed. Stella Winters was a good person who loved her family and her job. Then there was the fact that she was beautiful, and suddenly Jace felt like all he wanted to do was to make her smile.
They walked into the café and everyone stopped to stare at the newcomer. Jace admitted to doing this once or twice . . . or twenty times before. Only this time was different. Stella was here with him and he wanted her to feel comfortable and welcoming.
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