There was a stunned silence as she took in the scene and read the words Bryce had painstakingly written out in bright white frosting on the chocolate iced cake.
Paige, will you marry my dad?
By the time she whirled around to face Cohen, eyes brimming with tears and hands cupping her mouth to hold in the gasp, he’d dropped to one knee. Her gaze lowered to meet his, and Cohen presented a small red velvet box, opening it to reveal a glistening solitaire diamond ring with a white gold band.
‘Paige Henley …’ He tried to continue, got choked up, and had to clear his throat to start again. ‘Paige, you’ve had my heart since before I even realized I’d given it to you. Will you do Bryce and I the honor of being my wife?’
When Cohen had sat down to talk to Bryce, man to man, about his desire to marry Paige, the boy’s only stipulation was that he got to help pull it off in a fun way. To Bryce, that purely meant double fudge chocolate cake. But to Cohen, that meant the world, because the boy realized they were a package deal. The Beckett men stuck together, no matter what, and Cohen couldn’t put into words what it meant to know that Bryce wanted Paige to be a Beckett, too.
‘Oh my … yes!’ Paige threw her arms around Cohen’s neck just as he was trying to stand, and they both almost toppled over, causing laughter to erupt from Bryce behind them.
Paige held him, sobbing into his chest until Cohen pulled her back to make sure she was all right. There was a smile amongst the flood of tears, which calmed his fears a bit. ‘You okay?’
‘Of course,’ she sobbed. ‘I just … I don’t even know what to say.’
‘You said all you need to,’ Cohen assured her. ‘Yes was all I needed to hear.’ He leaned down and kissed her softly, wiping away a stray tear from her cheek before sliding the diamond ring on her finger. A perfect fit. Bryce made a gagging noise from behind them, but not even adolescent antics could ruin their moment.
‘So, that’s what you meant when you said you wanted this to be our place.’
‘Partly.’
Her eyebrows shot up. ‘I’d hate to sound like a broken record, but once again … what do you mean?’
‘Bryce, you’re up, buddy.’
His son sprang into action, digging a roll of legal-sized foolscap out of the backpack they’d stashed out there yesterday. He unrolled the sheets and held them out for Paige to see. ‘Dad wants us to live here.’
‘In the cottage?’ The mortified expression on her face was almost worth the less-than-stellar lead-up to Bryce’s explanation.
‘No,’ Cohen laughed. ‘I want to recreate the Hansel and Gretel House. We could build a new house out here. Put the driveway in along the path we came in on.’ He pointed back toward the rocky path, then showed her on the building plans where it would be. ‘You could choose all the finishing touches, of course. And anything in the plans can be altered. This is just a rough idea. Basement, library, pool – hell, I don’t care if you want it to have a clock-tower. We can make it work.’ Cohen nudged her lightly. ‘We could even put in a professional-grade kitchen,’ he added, pointing to the building plans again to show her he’d already thought of that himself and included it in the preliminary drawings.
Paige’s gaze scanned the plans with the excitement and anticipation of a child on Christmas morning. ‘Cohen, this all sounds amazing,’ she said. She raised her head, her gaze flitting between him and Bryce. ‘But what about your house?’
He exchanged a knowing glance with his son. They had already discussed that, too. ‘We’ve talked about it, and we’re ready to have a new beginning. A real one. We want to build a new home with you, Paige. We want to build a life with you. Just you, me, Bryce, and the Jazzmanian Devil.’
‘And Norman,’ Bryce interjected. ‘Jeez, Dad, you always forget about Norman.’
Cohen rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t help seeing the humor that, even in the midst of a marriage proposal, his son was hell-bent on assuring his ornery cat’s place in their family. ‘Yes, of course. And Norman.’
Paige burst out laughing. Especially when the brindle dog came ambling around the corner as if on cue. ‘Are you sure about that?’
Cohen gave her a crooked grin. ‘Pretty sure.’
‘And are you sure you want to get married and build a new house at the same time?’
He shrugged. ‘Pretty sure.’
‘There are a lot of unknowns in an equation like that, Dr Cohen.’ She stepped closer to him, wrapping her arms around his waist to hold him tight.
‘Paige, the only thing I know for sure is that I love you. Everything else will fall into place as it comes,’ he assured her, kissing the top of her head. ‘We’ve just got to think pawsitive.’
Cohen and Paige pulled Bryce into their hug, letting Jazz nuzzle her way into the middle of the circle at their knees.
Whatever the future brought to Port Landon, they would handle it the only way that mattered from now on …
Together.
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Acknowledgements
Thank you to Erica Christensen. There are many reasons to thank you, but to keep this short, I will simply thank you for being you. To the rest of the team at Metamorphosis Literary Agency, thank you for your guidance on this journey. Thank you to Belinda Toor at HQ Digital for taking a chance on me and my stories, and for polishing this book until it shines. Thank you to the rest of the team at HQ and HarperCollins UK for loving this story as much as I do. It’s a dream come true to work with you. Thank you to my family and friends for all the support and encouragement. A special thanks goes out to my husband for believing in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself. Also, thank you to Jazz for being my brindle partner-in-crime. We’re a package deal, diva dog, and I’m blessed to be your mama.
Most importantly, thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, and recommended this book. You’re the reason authors get to do what they love, so thank you for giving me that opportunity.
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The Forget-Me-Not Bakery Page 28
