A lovely sense of unreality assailed her. Was this actually happening?
Fear crept in.
Did she have it all wrong? Had she totally misread the promise she’d seen in his eyes?
There was a simple way to find out.
She straightened her shoulders and made herself ask him, “So then, next Sunday? Dinner with the Bravo family up at Daniel’s house?”
He leaned in until there was barely an inch between his lips and hers. “God, yes.” He said it prayerfully, a sacred trust between the two of them. “I’m in.”
A bolt of pure joy blasted through her. This was real. It was happening. She let out the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “I’m so glad.”
His dark gaze scanned her face slowly. With something like reverence. “I love you, Gracie. So much. All my life I’ve been scared of loving someone the way I love you.”
She couldn’t help grinning. “You’re still scared.”
He stared at her, his gaze steady and true. “I’ll get over it. As long as you’re here to help me deal with all these big emotions you somehow make me feel.”
“Big emotions are good,” she informed him gently. “You’re going to learn to love them.”
He made a low sound. It might have been agreement. With maybe just a hint of irony, too. “As long as you’re with me.”
“I will be. Right here beside you, no matter what. I swear it.”
He closed the sliver of distance between them. Their lips met, careful. Hesitant.
At first.
And then his arms came around her. She breathed in his beloved scent of cedar and spice as they shared a kiss full of promises she knew now they were both going to keep.
A cool wind came up, stirring the trees, creating a space between the branches so the late-afternoon sun could reach them. It felt good, the breeze, the brief warmth of sunlight on her upturned face.
She opened her eyes. They shared a long glance of perfect understanding. He wrapped an arm around her and she rested her head on his shoulder.
For the longest time, they sat without speaking, just being there on the front step under the wind-ruffled trees, together.
And then he took her hand again. She straightened enough to meet his waiting eyes.
“Marry me,” he said. Before she could answer, he went on, “Don’t decide now. I just want you to think about it. Think about it knowing that I want to spend the rest of my life with you and whatever it takes to get there, well, that’s what I’m willing to do and...” His voice trailed off. He looked terrified, suddenly. “I’m pushing too fast.”
She squeezed his hand. “No, you’re not.”
“You sure?”
“I am. It’s what I want, too. Marriage. To you, Dante. And I just might be getting that urge to do something crazy like drag you to the courthouse right now, today.”
“Something crazy sounds pretty damn good to me.”
“Except...”
“Except what?” he demanded gruffly.
“I’m thinking we really need to consider how Nicole and Natalie are going to feel before we go taking any major steps.”
“They love you almost as much as I do.”
“I love them, too. And for their sake, we can’t rush things. They need time to adjust. Up till now, they’ve had you all to themselves. We have to show them that my being in the picture won’t threaten what they have with you.”
He turned her hand over, spread it open and brought her palm to his warm lips for a sweet, quick brush of a kiss. “Go on.”
“I think first, Nic and Nat need to start seeing us as a couple.”
“Yeah. I get that.”
“They’re coming to you this weekend, right?”
“Right.”
“Okay, so I want to move back to the cabin before they get here. That’s going to be a challenge for me. I’ve got a full week of meetings and classroom prep at the high school.”
His thick eyebrows were suddenly scrunching together. “The moving’s no problem. I’ll make it happen.”
“Then why are you frowning?”
“I was just thinking that what I really want is for you to move into the main house with me.”
“Oh, Dante.” She pressed her hand to his smooth-shaven cheek. “I want that, too.”
“Well, then, why don’t you just—”
She silenced him with a finger to his soft lips. “We’ll get there. But for the girls’ sake, I think we need to start from where we were when they came back two weeks ago. Our mission this visit is to get them to begin seeing us as a couple, while at the same time reassuring them that they are still your priority, that you’re no less theirs than you ever were. That you’re just...starting to be mine, too.”
“Our mission,” he said in dazed voice. “We have a damn mission?”
She laughed at his bewilderment. “Yes, we have a mission. And it begins with me at the cabin, everything pretty much as it was when they left two weeks ago, only this visit, we introduce a little hand-holding and some mild PDAs. See how they take it. And then at some point, you have the talk with them, explain to them that we’re, um, dating.”
“Dating? We’re getting married, that’s way beyond dating.”
She tugged his hand up and over her shoulder so his arm was wrapped around her again. “It might take time, to get Natalie and Nicole comfortable with the idea that we’re a couple.”
He drew her in closer and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “Okay, so I’ll try to be patient. We’ll see how it goes.”
“Good.” She tipped her head back to look at him, happiness moving through her, filling her up with all the possibilities that came with giving her heart to the right man and knowing that they had their own forever ahead of them. “One way or another, it’s all going to work out.”
He kissed the end of her nose. “Promise?”
“Yes, Dante.” She reached up to clasp the back of his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. “I do.”
Epilogue
A little while later, she led him into the cottage and down the hall to her room. She closed the door and engaged the privacy lock so they could share a more intimate celebration of their reunion.
When her sisters got home, Grace explained that she was moving back to the cabin at Dante’s place.
Harper asked, “Should we be celebrating?”
Dante hooked his arm around Grace and pulled her close. “She said yes.”
Hailey clapped her hands at the news.
Harper grinned. “Congratulations. You’re a very lucky man.”
Grace warned, “Keep it to yourselves for now. We need to see how Nicole and Natalie feel about the situation.”
Hailey vowed, “We won’t tell a soul.”
Harper had a bottle of prosecco in the back of the fridge. She popped the cork and they shared a toast to love and happiness. Then Grace packed a bag and followed Dante to his house.
Owen’s glum mood vanished the minute Gracie walked in the door. She greeted him with hugs and enthusiastic reassurances that she was home to stay.
The next day, Dante got all of Gracie’s stuff moved back to the cabin. Even with her demanding schedule at the high school, she managed to get everything put away before the girls arrived.
On Saturday morning, Dante insisted that Grace go with him to the pickup spot. The second Roger’s white minivan rolled to a stop, the girls jumped out and ran back to the crew cab as Grace and Dante got out to greet them. Nobody seemed the least surprised to see her there. Not Nat or Nic—or Marjorie or Roger.
There was a barbecue at the Santangelo grandparents’ house that afternoon. Dante invited Grace and she said she would love to come. Dante’s mom, Catriona, hugged Grace at the door and then wore a giant smile on her face all through dinner.
As for the girls, they didn’t say a word that day or Sunday about what might be going on between their dad and Gracie. Not even when the four of them went to the Bravo house for Sunday dinner.
But then on Monday morning, Grace woke to a knock on the cabin door. She could hear the twins out there, giggling and chattering together.
She rolled out of bed and went to let them in. “Am I invited for breakfast?”
“Yes!” declared Natalie.
Nic gazed up at her with a strange expression on her face—a little shy, kind of coy. “Gracie?”
“Hmm?”
Nic’s cheeks flushed the prettiest shade of red as Nat asked the question for her in a nervous little whisper. “Are you our dad’s girlfriend?”
She’d imagined Dante discussing this subject with them first. But it was a direct question, so she answered honestly. “I am, yes.” And before she could decide the right thing to say next, the girls started squealing in delight.
The three of them danced around the cabin, laughing and hugging. Then at breakfast, Nicole announced, “We’re too old to be flower girls. So when you guys get married, can we be your bridesmaids?”
So much for taking it slow with the girls. Across the table, Dante looked a bit smug. After all, he’d told her the girls would be thrilled to see them together. She nodded at Nat and then at Nic and said she would be honored to have them as her bridesmaids.
Several hours later, at the drop-off point, the twins ran straight to Roger’s minivan to inform their mother and stepfather that their dad was going to marry Gracie—and they would be bridesmaids.
Both Marjorie and Roger seemed to take the news in stride. It was almost as if they already knew that something was going on between Marjorie’s ex and Grace.
That night, and for every night thereafter, Grace slept in Dante’s bed.
In mid-October, he took her out to find the right ring. She chose a diamond solitaire on a platinum band.
And on the second Saturday of the following June, Gracie walked down the aisle to him. When the pastor said he could kiss his bride, Dante lifted her veil gently, reverently. He gathered her into his arms and whispered, “Forever,” as he covered her eager mouth with his.
* * *
Watch for Hailey’s story coming in October 2020, only from Harlequin Special Edition.
Keep reading for an excerpt from Her Second Forever by Joanna Sims.
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Her Second Forever
by Joanna Sims
Prologue
“Mack.”
Cowboy Colt Brand’s head bobbed up and down as the bright Montana morning sun beat down on his bare arms.
“Hey, Mack!” Colt raised his voice a notch higher, thinking that his companion couldn’t hear him. “Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A miniature horse, an alpaca and a giraffe all walk into a bar. The bartender asks, what can I get you fellas to drink—” Colt paused to chuckle to himself before he continued “—and the alpaca said...”
Colt squinted and looked up to the left as if the sky would hold the words he was searching for in his mind. “Well, shoot, Mack! I forgot what the heck the alpaca said.”
A quick siren behind him made Colt glance over his shoulder. Colt swore at the unwanted interruption, but wanted to reassure his companion. “Just keep calm and let me do the talking, Mack. I’ve been to this police-harassment rodeo before.”
“Colt!” The police officer had pulled up beside him and had rolled down the window to his squad car. “Where in blazes are you goin’?”
“Home to Sugar Creek Ranch.” Colt flung his hand forward toward the horizon.
“You’re headin’ the wrong way.” The police officer who also happened to be a longtime friend yelled, “Pull over!”
“Tell me one thing I’m doin’ wrong, Jimmy! Just name it!”
“Just pull over,” the officer snapped.
Grudgingly, Colt followed the order and pulled over to the side of the road. He sighed in frustration while he waited for Jimmy to park his squad car behind him. On his way out of the car, Colt heard Jimmy say into the radio pinned to his uniform, “Tell Chief I found him.”
Hands on his hips, his eyes hidden behind his mirrored sunglasses, Jimmy stood on the side of the road and frowned at him. “Darn it, Colt. I’ve got a heck of a lot better things to do with my time than chasing you all over God’s creation! I done told you not to get caught drivin’ under the influence again, didn’t I?”
“I wasn’t driving! He was.” Colt pointed to Mack.
“You’ve already been warned time and again that you can’t operate a conveyance under the influence—not a tractor, not a lawn mower, not a snowmobile and not even if that conveyance has four legs!” Jimmy pointed to Mack. “Riding that there horse drunk on this here highway ain’t no different than driving a car drunk.”
“How can you say that I was driving when I didn’t even have my hands on the reins?” Colt had been resting his hands on the saddle horn. He held up his hands in the air for his friend to see while Mack dropped his head down to nibble a blade of grass pushing through the asphalt.
“That don’t make it no better, Colt. And who’s horse is this? Did you steal this horse?”
“I won him fair and square in a poker game and now I’m taking him home,” Colt mumbled, his head bobbing downward. He sure was tired.
“I’m sorry, friend, but I’m going to have to take you in this time.”
“Come on!” Colt grumbled. “How will Mack get home?”
“I already put in a call to your brother Gabe to bring the horse trailer.” Jimmy dropped his chin and looked at him over the brim of his sunglasses with somber eyes. “Now, I promise you that this don’t give me no pleasure. I can’t let you off with a warning this time. I’ve got my orders. So climb down off of that horse—I’ve got to arrest you.”
Copyright © 2020 by Joanna Sims
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ISBN: 9781488069703
Their Secret Summer Family
Copyright © 2020 by Christine Rimmer
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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Christine Rimmer, Their Secret Summer Family (The Bravos 0f Valentine Bay Book 7)
Their Secret Summer Family (The Bravos 0f Valentine Bay Book 7) Page 18
