Excitement pulsed in Harry’s chest as he padded to the entryway and swung open the front door. Zoey was already climbing out of the car. He waited where he stood, watching her, mesmerized by her. She was here. Close enough to touch. Close enough to kiss.
She pulled her suitcase toward him, stopping at the bottom of the porch stairs. She looked travel-worn and weary, but her eyes were bright, her smile stretching all the way across her face.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call you back,” she said as the Uber pulled away.
He ran a hand across his hair. “Yeah. You had me worried there for a little while.”
She lifted her shoulders into a shrug. “I just couldn’t stand the thought of saying I love you for the first time over the phone.”
Harry was down the porch steps in a flash, scooping Zoey into his arms. He breathed her in, everything about the way her hair smelled to the way she fit in his arms feeling just so right. He tilted his head and pressed his lips against hers, his hands cradling her cheeks. Only then did he notice the tears sliding down her face.
“Hey, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” he asked.
She sniffed and hiccupped out a laugh. “I’m okay. It’s just been a really long afternoon. I couldn’t get a flight at first, so I had to fly standby. When I finally did get on a flight, the plane had mechanical difficulties and was rerouted to Phoenix, so I had to get on a different flight, and this time I was sitting next to this very smelly older man who kept trying to talk to me about popcorn sales—he’s an actual popcorn salesman—and through it all, the only way I managed to keep it together was to imagine over and over what this moment was going to be like.” She sniffed again and wiped her eyes. “I mean, my imagination is pretty good.” She leaned up and kissed him. “But not this good.”
“Come on,” Harry said, reaching for her suitcase. “Let’s go inside.”
There was so much he wanted to talk to her about. So much they needed to talk about. But Zoey looked exhausted. He led her to the couch where he sat down and opened his arms. She fell right into them, resting her head on his chest and wrapping her arms around his midsection. He pressed a kiss to her temple, fighting the urge to release the litany of questions he had building inside of him.
Had she quit her job? If she hadn’t yet, was she going to? Was she okay about that? Was she moving back for good? Did she have a plan?
Zoey breathed in and out deeply, relaxing further into his arms. “I’m really happy, Harry,” she whispered.
He smiled to himself. That wasn’t the first time she’d said that to him. Had the first time been the night of the charity event they’d attended together? He couldn’t quite remember. But it didn’t matter. She was home. In his arms. And she loved him. What more could he ask for than that?
“Yeah,” he whispered into her ear. “I’m really happy too.”
The next morning, Zoey showed up in the kitchen while the kids were still at the kitchen table eating their breakfast before school.
The guest room where she’d slept was far enough away from the main part of the house he’d hoped she’d sleep late, but when he saw Hannah’s face as Zoey walked into the room, he was glad Zoey had decided to join them.
“Zoey?!” Hannah yelled. She jumped from her chair and raced around the island, colliding with Zoey’s legs.
“Oof,” Zoey said. “It’s nice to see you too, Hannah.” She moved around the table and ran her hand across Oliver’s hair. “Hi, Ollie.” She leaned down and kissed his cheek.
Oliver smiled and held up his spoon. “Oatmeal?” he asked, offering her a bite.
Zoey leaned in and took the bite, offering Harry a wide, slightly scared smile. “Hmmm,” she said. “Thank you for sharing.” Emotion swelled in Harry’s chest. How had they ever survived without her?
“Are you going to stay this time?” Hannah asked. “Forever?”
Zoey looked up and caught Harry’s eye. “I do have to go back to Chicago for a little bit, but it should only be for a few days. Then I’m moving back here for good.”
A weight he hadn’t realized was there suddenly lifted off of Harry’s shoulders.
“Will you be our nanny again?” Hannah asked.
Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Geneva stiffen.
“No, baby,” Zoey said. “In Chicago I worked for a news station on TV. When I move back, I’ll have to find a news station here that I can work for. But I promise, we’ll still be together lots, even if I’m not your nanny.”
Hannah leaned back, looking up at Zoey’s face with a contemplative expression so deep, Harry could see it from where he stood across the kitchen. Hannah motioned for Zoey to bend down, where she whispered something in her ear, after glancing back at her dad just briefly.
Zoey smiled at Hannah’s words, whatever they were, catching Harry’s gaze before looking back to Hannah. She whispered something back, and Hannah grinned, wide-eyed, before moving back to the table.
Harry moved across the kitchen, wrapping his arms around Zoey before tugging her around the corner into the living room. His kids might not care if he kissed Zoey good morning, but he still wasn’t sure Geneva wouldn’t scold him. “Good morning,” he whispered. He kissed Zoey gently on the lips.
“Good morning.”
“Are you really moving back for good?”
Zoey nodded. “I’ve already got a few calls in to producers in the area. I made good use of my layover yesterday. And I talked to my producers also, and they’re going to see about reaching out to our affiliate networks to see if they can put in a good word for me.”
Harry ran his hands up and down her arms. “That’s really great news.”
Zoey shrugged. “I shouldn’t have been so afraid of the possibility.”
Harry leaned down and kissed her one more time.
“What was that all about back there with Hannah? What did she whisper to you?”
Zoey grinned. “A lady never tells her secrets.”
Harry groaned playfully. “Oh, don’t make me play this game. You know if you don’t tell me, I’ll get it out of Hannah.”
“You will not, Daddy,” Hannah yelled from the kitchen. “I’ll never tell.”
“You’re back in the house less than twelve hours, and already you’re conspiring against me?”
“Absolutely,” Zoey said. “We girls have to stick together.”
After one more kiss, Zoey retreated to take a shower and Harry went back and joined the kids at the kitchen table. Hannah had already finished and was carrying her plate over to Geneva when he sat down. On her way back to the table, she wrapped her tiny arms around Harry’s neck. “Don’t tell Zoey I told,” Hannah whispered, “but what I asked her is if she was going to be our mommy since she isn’t our nanny anymore. And she said yes, as long as you ask her one day. Which is why I’m telling her secret, Daddy. So that one day, you can ask.”
Harry reached up and patted his daughter’s arms, hope filling his chest so full he thought he might burst. “One day, huh?” he asked. “You don’t have an opinion about when?”
Hannah rolled her eyes. “Well, she just got here so maybe not today,” she said with dramatic flair. “You should at least let her unpack her suitcase first. But maybe like, on Wednesday.”
“Wednesday? I’ll take that into consideration.”
It was on a Wednesday that Harry proposed, though he waited a few more months to do it. He figured Zoey deserved the chance not just to unpack, but to get a job—which happened in a matter of days, not weeks; apparently Zoey was very good at what she did—and get settled into her new California life before he asked her to marry him.
When the perfect Wednesday arrived, Harry put on his favorite suit, dressed his kids in their fanciest clothes—Oliver had on suspenders and an orange bowtie—and declared that they were all skipping school, and work, so they could chase down their family.
Zoey had opted to move back in with her grandmother, both because she believed Emily still benefited from the comp
any even if she didn’t need the care, and, Harry hoped, because she anticipated a wedding in their future as much as he did. Neither of them had said as much out loud, not to anyone but Hannah, but they’d talked around the subject enough, he was pretty sure they were on the same page.
Harry hadn’t come to see Zoey with much of a plan. He’d just woken up that morning, looked at the bright blue sky and decided it was a good Wednesday to get engaged. He only had an hour or two before Zoey would leave for work, though maybe after the proposal, he could convince her to play hooky with the rest of them.
Spring was in full bloom in Ms. Emily’s backyard. Zoey had taken to doing morning yoga in the shade of the orange tree in the back of the lot. She was still there when Harry stepped through the back door, a kid holding onto to each of his hands.
When Zoey looked up and saw them standing there, she smiled. “What is this?” she asked, walking toward them. “You all look so nice! What are we so dressed up for?” For a moment, she looked slightly panicked. “Did I forget something?”
Harry shook his head. “Nope. Nothing.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Okay. Then, what’s up?”
“I told Daddy he should wait for a Wednesday. And that’s today,” Hannah said, heavy emphasis on the today.
Harry swallowed and closed his eyes for a brief moment before steeling his nerves and stepping forward. He took Zoey’s hand. “Zoey?”
“Yeah,” she said, a tremble in her voice.
He dropped to one knee. “Marry me?” He looked over his shoulder at his kids. “Marry us?”
Zoey leaned forward, cradling Harry’s face in her hands and kissed him softly. “Yes,” she whispered. She looked at the kids, motioning them forward. “Yes,” she said again. “Yes to all of you.
Epilogue
“Hannah! Where are you?” Zoey called up the stairs. “Do you have Oliver with you?”
“We’re coming!” Oliver called.
He showed up in the living room first, his hair mussed and sticking up in every direction. He held a pair of navy-blue shorts in his hands. “I found them,” he said, holding them up. “Just where you said they’d be.”
“Mommies just know these things, Oliver,” Hannah said, entering the room. She already wore a pair of dark blue jeans, just like Zoey had asked.
“Do these work?” she asked.
“Yep. They’re perfect. Here, Ollie. Let’s get you into your shorts.” She glanced at her watch. Location sharing on Google Maps told her Harry would be home in less than ten minutes. She suddenly wished for a surge of traffic to slow him down, just to give her a few extra minutes of prep time.
After an October wedding, she’d moved into Harry’s house and taken on the official role of stepmom, though the kids had long since started calling her Mom. Hannah still called her Zoey occasionally, but Oliver had called her mommy right from the start. It hadn’t always been smooth sailing; building a marriage while also adjusting to family life had its own unique set of challenges, but Zoey had the world’s greatest partner.
And it’s a good thing, because their life was about to get a lot more complicated.
Zoey pulled the shirts she’d ordered for just this occasion out of her bag. “Okay, guys. I’ve got to tell you something really big, okay? And you should feel really special because you’re the first two people in the whole world that I’ve told.”
Hannah’s eyes went wide. “You haven’t even told Daddy?”
Zoey shook her head. “Nope. But you’re going to help me tell him today. Can you help me do that?”
They both nodded. Zoey held up Hannah’s shirt, turned to face her so Hannah could read what it said.
“Big Sister,” Hannah said. Her eyebrows scrunched up and her nose wrinkled. Underneath the “Big Sister,” the word Again was written in parenthesis.
“This one’s for you, Oliver,” Zoey said. “It says Big Brother.”
“But I’m not a big brother, silly,” Oliver said.
“Not yet,” Zoey said. “But you’re going to be. Next year, we’re going to have another baby in the house.”
Hannah gasped. “A baby? Really?”
Oliver smiled. “Can it be a boy?”
“No!” Hannah said, her hands on her hips. “It’s going to be a girl like Auntie Charlotte’s new baby.”
Zoey laughed. “We don’t get to pick, guys. It might be a girl or a boy. We just have to wait and see.”
So Daddy’s going to come in and see our shirts?” Hannah said. “That’s how we’re telling him?”
“Yep,” Zoey said. “Cute idea, right? I thought you could be standing together in the living room when he walks in.”
“Or!” Hannah said, her finger sticking up like she had a great idea. It was one of Zoey’s favorite Hannah-isms. “What if we put on the shirts, but then we don’t say anything? We just do normal stuff like watching TV and making dinner like it’s no big deal? We could see how long it takes him to notice.”
Zoey actually liked the idea. “Okay, but if he hasn’t noticed by the end of dinner, we’re going to have to get a little obvious. Good plan?”
They nodded. “Good plan,” Oliver said.
Zoey forced her hands into her back pockets when Harry kissed her hello. He narrowed his eyes at her, as if he could sense the energy buzzing around her, but he didn’t say anything. He reached down and swung Oliver into his arms, blowing raspberries on his neck before putting him back onto the floor. Zoey tensed, waiting for him to notice, and Hannah giggled, but Harry still didn’t say anything.
“It’s a gorgeous day out,” he said, walking toward the back door. “You guys want to take Marigold for a walk?”
“Um, what if we just hang out in the backyard for a little bit?” she said. She loved being outside, but she wasn’t exactly ready to advertise their news to anyone who happened upon them on the street. Talk about a way to grab headlines.
Harry gave her a funny look and she shrugged. “I’m just tired. Tough yoga class this morning.”
“Okay. That’s cool too. How was your day, Hannah?” he asked, rustling his hand over his daughter’s hair.
“So good, Daddy,” she said. “I’d love to play outside with you.”
Zoey almost rolled her eyes. Hannah deserved an A plus for her acting, but she seemed anything but normal, her words over enunciated, her gestures too intentional.
Harry looked from Hannah, to Oliver, then back to Zoey. “What’s going on with you guys? Am I missing something?”
Zoey only shrugged. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Hannah mimicked her. “Me neither, Daddy. Everything is totally normal.”
It was Oliver who finally cracked, collapsing into a fit of giggles. “It’s our shirts, Daddy. Read our shirts!”
Hannah scoffed, her indignation real. “Oliver! You weren’t supposed to tell him!”
Zoey reached a hand out for Hannah, shushing her, even as she watched Harry bend down and study Oliver’s shirt. Without looking up, he motioned for Hannah to come closer, reading her shirt just as he had Ollie’s. Zoey’s heart pinged with happiness. Even while processing her very big news, Harry had made sure each of his kids got to be a part of the moment.
He pulled both kids to his chest without saying a word, then stood up, finally turning to face Zoey. He sniffed, wiping what looked suspiciously like tears from his eyes and crossed the kitchen to where she stood. “For real?” he asked, wrapping his arms around her waist.
She grinned. “For real.”
He hugged her tightly. “And you’re happy?”
She laughed. “So happy.”
“Three kids?” he asked. “Can we handle three kids?”
She shrugged. “I’m not sure we’re going to have much of a choice. But yes,” Zoey said, leaning up to kiss her husband. “Together, I think we can handle anything.”
<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>
Did you enjoy Zoey and Harry’s story? Stay tuned for a fun new series coming this summe
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Released titles include:
Falling for her Foe: A is for Author
Besting the Undercover Boss: B is for Billionaire
Catching her Cowboy Crush: C is for Cowboy
Dreaming of the Next Door Doc: D is for Doctor
Embracing her Ever After: E is for Engineer
Falling for a Former Flame: F is for Firefighter
Gambling on a Gentleman: G is for Gentleman
Hooking a Handyman: H is for Handyman
Hooking a Handyman Page 16