Her Surprise Engagement (Sorensen Family)

by Ashlee Mallory

  Then it was her turn, and with a last glance to her sister standing alongside their dad and Paul and Ella, Daisy headed down. She smiled through tears—happy tears, even if a little bittersweet—as she met the faces of her family and friends who’d piled into the beautiful church to see her sister’s big day.

  Near the front, she sensed him before she saw Jack, only daring to meet his gaze for a flash before pulling away. She caught her mom’s gaze and smiled, then her aunt’s, whose own attention was split between the events going on around her and baby Marianne sleeping soundly in her arms. And finally, she was at the front, and smiling now to Henry and her brothers next to him. She found her place and waited for Benny to make her much awaited entrance.

  The wedding march played and little Ella, clutching her basket of flowers, took the first step down the aisle, her focus on dropping each petal down as they’d practiced at rehearsal last night. She saw Paul sigh impatiently and fidget, until finally it was his turn and he strutted down.

  Then it was time for the bride. Her sister was beaming so brightly it was almost blinding, as her radiant blue eyes focused only on her groom, Henry, who wiped away something that looked suspiciously like a tear. She caught Dominic and Cruz exchange grins, probably because they’d bet the groom just last night he’d do that very thing.

  While the ceremony unfolded over the next twenty minutes, Daisy couldn’t keep her eyes from her baby sister. A dedicated doctor who had always known what she wanted since she was a kid and never strayed from her path. A funny and loving woman who deserved every happiness.

  Daisy eyed her future brother-in-law, happy to see the love shining in his eyes as he stared at Benny, and she knew no one could ever love her more.

  They were going to be forever.

  For whatever reason, her eyes swept the faces in the pews until she found the one she’d been purposely avoiding until now. He was studying her, his face so solemn, and her heart pounded harder in her chest, her face flushed and hot.

  Even after their harsh words, she couldn’t deny that she still loved him. Loved him and wanted more than anything for this to work. But doubts always shoved their way in.

  Familiar doubts. Of losing herself in him. Of losing control of her life. Of the crushing disappointment that would follow if it didn’t work out. To her and her kids.

  But then again…he was here. Now.

  He didn’t have to be. But he’d made a promise to her son. And like he’d proven to her many times, he was a man of his word.

  A man who wanted to be there for her and her kids even though she kept pushing him away.

  Her throat constricted again as she remembered how nervous Paul had been about today. How when Jack could have disappeared just like Leo, he’d been there. And she wondered at Paul’s eager acceptance of this man into his life even though his own dad had disappointed him over and over.

  He had taken a risk on Jack.

  She looked over to her brothers who were smiling secretly at their wives, remembering how Kate and Payton had tried to tell her that sometimes it was okay to rely on another person to help you. A person you loved. But she’d stubbornly resisted.

  Sure, she’d taken steps this week by letting each of her siblings help her with getting her new catering business off the ground, something she’d have felt too guilty to do before. And she’d discovered that, in allowing them to help her, she hadn’t felt robbed of the chance to do it herself, but rather sharing the experience had only made her prouder. Of herself and them.

  Maybe by letting Jack in, giving him the chance to help, wouldn’t rob her of her identity. Her independence. After all, she’d proven more times than she could count these past two years that she was strong, independent, and that she could do everything by herself.

  The difference now was that even though she knew she could, with Jack by her side…she didn’t have to.

  It had only been a few weeks, which seemed crazy to think that anyone could find someone they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with in such a short amount of time.

  But she was becoming more and more convinced that he was the only man she wanted to spend her life with. She wanted to offer him comfort and love and support, just as…just as he wanted to do for her.

  The sudden need to go to Jack and tell him that she was ready to let him in was overwhelming. He’d asked her to take that leap with him, and she was finally ready.

  And although she was happy to listen to her sister promise the words of forever to her groom, Daisy was almost impatient for it to be over so she could get to Jack and tell him everything she was feeling.

  The crush as she and the other bridesmaids reached the vestibule was disorienting, and she scanned the small area, trying to find Jack’s tall form somewhere in the group. She spotted her kids, laughing at some trick their uncle Dominic was showing them, she saw Benny and Henry slipping away to the back with the priest where they would formally sign the wedding license—something she needed to be following to witness.

  But no Jack. No Lily.

  Knowing she was pushing her luck, she went outside to the front of the church, hoping to see that they’d gone out for fresh air. But there was only the trickle of the guests chatting among themselves.

  From the corner of her eyes she spotted a dark Suburban, the tinted windows making it impossible to see inside, and she waved her hands in the hope that someone might see her and stop. Only, it didn’t stop, instead turning at the corner past the church, continuing on.

  He was gone.

  Hope that was high and buoyant just moments ago, was now dashed in a swell of disappointment.

  She’d lost the moment. And she might have lost Jack.

  Her gaze dropped down to the small bouquet still in her hands. Earlier she’d marveled at its beauty, beauty that was now blurred by the sheen of tears in her eyes.

  She blinked, trying to focus.

  Because beyond the blossoms of the flowers, she was almost certain she was staring at a pair of dark dress shoes. Men’s dress shoes.

  Despite the heat of the sun, she shivered, knowing what she was going to see when she looked up.

  Jack was there. Smiling. He hadn’t left after all.

  Chapter Twenty

  Jack had sat through the ceremony, trying to draw his eyes off the beautiful woman standing next to the bride. The bright color of her dress, a dark pink, almost like a ripe raspberry, made her stand out against all the others. Or maybe that was just the woman in the dress.

  God. He’d missed her.

  Why had it taken him so long to get here? To ask for forgiveness and see if maybe they could find a way to be together again?

  He hated how she wouldn’t look him in the eyes.

  It had been like that in the hallway earlier, before the ceremony. And try as he did to read her expression, to figure out if she was at least happy to see him, he couldn’t. Even her words had been sparse, the inflection carefully neutral.

  And it terrified him that maybe it was too late.

  Or that maybe it was never going to work at all.

  But he refused to consider it. Not when the promise of how good things could actually be between them was there almost in reach.

  Which was why, after sending Lily with half of their security entourage to get ice cream, he’d sat down on the bench hidden away against the church, hoping he’d get a chance to speak to Daisy alone.

  It had felt like a stroke of luck when he’d looked up to see Daisy standing on the sidewalk, watching Lily drive away.

  She’d looked so dejected. Her shoulders sinking down, and for a moment, he dared to hope.

  Was she sorry because she thought she’d missed him?

  “Daisy,” he said as he reached her and waited for her to look up again.

  And when she did, it was hard to miss the surprise and relief that flashed back at him.

  This was it. This was the opportunity he’d been waiting for all day.

  He supposed he could ask if th
ey could talk somewhere privately, but he was afraid that if he gave her the opportunity, she might take off. And he needed to say this. Now.

  “Jack, I—”

  “Wait.” He had to get this out before he lost the words he wanted to say and somehow make everything worse. “Please let me go first.”

  She nodded, her eyes and expression inscrutable again.

  “Daisy. First, let me say that I’m sorry. I’m sorry I led you to believe that the way I feel for you is anything less than real. I’m also sorry that I went over your head, time and again, and made decisions for you that I should have talked to you about first. I thought I was helping you. Making things easy so that you’d never have a reason to leave me. And in doing so, I might have ended up losing you all the same.”

  He took a breath, taking a moment to loosen his tie and the tightness around his neck, before he could continue. “When Lara got sick, she tried so hard to put on a brave face for everyone. I wanted to do anything and everything that was in my power to help her through it, but she refused. She insisted she would be fine, that she was strong and could do it all herself. At the time, you have to remember, I was recently elected to the city council and my schedule was so stretched that I thought the only solution would be to resign. But again, she said no.”

  He ran a hand over his face, hating to relive all of this, remembering the pain. But it was time he let it go. Let his guilt go for things that maybe weren’t in his control after all. And embrace what was in front of him. “I told myself all this time that I should never have listened to her. That I should have been at her side no matter what she said. And the fact that I didn’t has left me wracked with guilt every day since. That maybe if I had, she would still be here. Which I think is why I kept pushing you, even when you asked me to stop. I had to do everything in my power to give you what I didn’t give Lara.

  “It’s only now, after losing you that I can see that I don’t have to do everything. That it’s okay to just be a strong but silent force who’s there to provide support in whatever way I can. That Lara was happy to see me still out there, making a difference and serving the public during the day, while still coming home to hold her hand at night and tuck our daughter into bed. I didn’t abandon her. And letting you choose what I can help you with and what I can let you do yourself isn’t abandoning you.”

  He took another step forward, encouraged by the tears shining in her eyes, the fact she was still there, listening to him. He was aware that the people around him were oddly quiet and motionless, but he didn’t dare look away from Daisy. Not until he was done.

  “I promise that if you want me to be hands off and let you do things for yourself, I’ll work very hard to honor your wishes. But I hope you won’t. I hope you’ll let me help you any way I can, not because I feel obligated to help…but because I want to help.” He reached out, taking Daisy’s cold hand in his. “I’m sorry if I gave you the impression that I was proposing to you the other night because of the campaign. I promise you, that as much as I might want to be elected governor of this state, I would walk away from the campaign today if I thought that I would lose you otherwise. None of that means anything if you aren’t there with me every step of the way. And not just you, but Lily, Jenna, Natalie, and Paul, too. We’re a family now. And we are going to have to get used to doing everything together. Well, most things together. The things that count.”

  He ran his thumb over the top of her hand. “I know you think it’s too soon and that I already told you all the reasons it’s not before. But it bears repeating. The moment I saw you I knew you were special. I knew in those days that followed that that glimmer I saw between us on that first night was the real thing. I don’t need more time to know that you’re the one I want to spend the rest of my life with. But I understand that right now, you need time. Time to get used to the idea of us. And when you are ready—in a month, a year, five years, twenty, however long—just know”—he dug into his pocket and pulled out the ring—“that this will be ready to go back on your finger. When you’re ready.”

  There were sighs around him, not to mention several flashes as the guests near them snapped pics.

  But it wasn’t the crowd’s opinion that mattered right now. It was the woman staring back at him who was the only person he wanted to hear from.

  …

  Daisy took her gaze away from Jack and looked down at the ring that she’d felt was hers since the moment she saw it. Just as Jack was hers and she was Jack’s.

  Her heart was full from all the wonderful things he’d told her as well as the heartbreaking ones. Such as the guilt he’s carried for not feeling he was there enough for his wife. Because knowing this man as well as she did, she knew there was no way that Lara wouldn’t have seen what she saw now.

  A man full of love, of hope, and a strong sense of doing the right thing. A man who would give her the moon if she let him.

  She blinked back more tears. “I don’t need more time. I’m not afraid anymore, because I know what’s in your heart. And mine. And there’s nothing that would make me prouder or happier than becoming your wife, Jack Harrison. I don’t know what I did to ever deserve someone as kind and loving and patient as you, but I promise I won’t take you for granted. I want you to be my partner. I want to be able to work together to reach the goals we’ve set out for ourselves as individuals, as a couple, or as a family. I know we each could do what we had to by ourselves if we needed to. But I realize now that that’s the beauty of being in a relationship where we’re also partners. We no longer have to.”

  She placed her hand over his, feeling the weight of the ring in hers again. “I don’t care that we’ve only known each other for just a few short weeks. I don’t care that initially we might have built our relationship on something that was fake. I only care that despite those things, I’ve found the man that I am going to marry. I love you.”

  Her fingers shook, but his were there to help push the ring back where it belonged. She looked up, to meet his eyes, bright with moisture and happiness. And just like that, he was leaning down to kiss her—not a chaste, seal-the-deal kiss, either.

  It was a kiss that held all the love, passion, and joy she felt.

  She closed her eyes, ready to be swept away in the feeling of having Jack’s arms once again around her. It took her a moment to become aware of applause and whistles, and she opened her eyes again, turning her head to see Benny and Henry, her parents and brothers, sisters-in-law, and her three kids, beaming back at them.

  Any guilt she might have felt at sidelining her sister’s wedding—unwittingly or not—evaporated as Benny put her fingers together and whistled loudly, just as Henry put his arm around her and whispered something in her ear that had Benny leaning against him as he kissed her.

  “And with that, I think you might have a few things still to do as part of your maid of honor duties,” Jack said, nodding toward the priest standing and waiting behind them all. “Just promise me you’ll save me a dance later?”

  “How could I resist?” she said.

  And the thing was, she no longer had to.

  Epilogue

  “You’re such a cheater,” Daisy said, laughing as Jack elbowed her in the chest as he pushed past her to make the basket.

  “That was perfectly legal. What do you say, Paul?” he asked his teammate, who smiled and nodded.

  But whatever satisfaction Jack had was short-lived as Benny stole the ball from him and went for a layup. “Score!” she cried, giving Daisy a high five before turning to give one to Cruz as well.

  “We’ll let you have that one,” Dominic said. “You got to keep the faith somehow, seeing as how we’re totally crushing you.”

  From the sidelines, Kate and Payton didn’t even bother to hide their own laughter at the antics, the sound seeming to excite the baby who bounced on her mom’s lap, smiling and drooling as she held her hands out as if she wanted to play.

  Behind them, up on the deck, Daisy’s dad sat across fro
m Max Harrison, Jack father, both completely engrossed in the Scrabble game in front of them. Once Daisy got past her awkwardness around Jack’s dad, a guy who she once had considered almost a celebrity, she found him as warm and charming as his son—and every bit as pushy, since he’d dropped many not-so-subtle hints that as much as he loved his new grandkids, he was hoping that maybe Jack and Daisy might add a few more. Daisy wasn’t entirely sure, their family felt pretty complete as it was, but one thing she’d learned was to never say never to anything.

  “I think we should take a break,” Daisy called out. “I have a new dessert I want you all to try out.”

  “You don’t have to ask me twice,” Henry said and wrapped his arms around his new bride and kissed her before they walked across the grass to where the rest of the kids were playing their own competitive game of croquet along with their grandma and aunt Glenda.

  Jack’s arms went around her waist and she nestled back against him, enjoying the way he burrowed his head into the crook of her neck. It had been five days since Jack’s inauguration and she had stood there next to him as he’d sworn to serve the constituents of their state, a moment that had been broadcast to a record level audience. At least according to Stuart.

  Which meant she now had the honor of having her own security entourage on hand for the growing number of public events she was participating in as soon-to-be First Lady. Something she was still working on balancing along with her time with the kids and the responsibilities of being a successful entrepreneur, now that her catering business was really taking off—she’d already bought two more ovens to accommodate the orders pouring in.

  But unlike before, she wasn’t afraid to ask for help from the people she loved when she needed it. Whether it was having Benny and Henry take the kids out for ice cream when it was crunch time on a massive order of her chocolate salted caramel empanadas, asking her brothers and their wives to taste-test a few of her newest creations or tweak something on her website, or even accepting Jack’s offer to find her an assistant who could help her keep organized and on top of her growing schedule of events.