A One-of-a-Kind Family
Page 18
“Maybe I can convince her to show me later.” Liam swept her into his arms and whispered in her ear, “Maybe I’ll do a Dance of Joy with you.”
Anna tried to picture the Liam Franklin who’d first walked into her office doing a Dance of Joy, and couldn’t quite manage it. But this Liam—this man who was hugging her—she could picture dancing with joy quite handily.
“Can I talk to you a minute?” he asked.
“You two take your minute, I’ll join Colm and the gang,” Ceelie told them.
Anna allowed Liam to lead her to the corner of the room. “What’s up?”
“A couple things. First, I don’t know if I’ve ever really thanked you enough for everything you’ve done for us. And I do mean us. You helped Colm learn to spread his wings, but Anna, you’ve helped me as much. You’ve—”
“Shh. I only did my job.”
“You did so much more, and you know it. But I do have one small problem.”
Her stomach sank. “You’re not rethinking Colm moving out, are you?”
“No, but there is a problem with it. You see, if he moves out, I’ll be stuck in that huge house all by myself. A huge house with a very nice front porch with two wicker chairs. You realize, that when Colm moves I’ll have one too many wicker chairs, right?”
“Well, having too many wicker chairs would be a problem,” she teased.
Serious now, he said, “I don’t really want to live alone, Anna.”
Before she could respond, he added, “When you were explaining your porch envy to me that first time, you said you could picture yourself coming home each night and after dinner going out to your porch and sitting in your white wicker chair. It would be nice if there was…”
“Someone sitting next to me,” she whispered.
“I want to be that someone, Anna.”
“Are you asking me to move in with you?”
“No. Not really. I’m asking you to marry me. I didn’t plan on this now, today, but I’ve been thinking about it for a while. I love you, Anna. I want to live the rest of my life with you. I want Sunday mornings with coffee and the paper on the porch, with you at my side. I want children—a family—with you. I know it’s quick, but I also know it’s right.”
Anna wasn’t sure what to say. So in the end, she simply threw herself in Liam’s arms and said, “Yes,” before she kissed him. Kissed the exceptional man, whom she loved more than words.
“Ew, look, they’re kissing again,” Colm said loudly. “They do that a lot.”
“Ew,” Gilly echoed.
Anna regretfully pulled back. “Should we tell them?”
“First, I have something that’s just for you.” Liam let her go completely and did the oddest, most endearing little butt-wiggle.
Anna burst out laughing. “What was that?”
“That, Anna, was my Liam Dance of Joy. I figure the day the woman I love agrees to marry me—” He paused. “You did agree, right?”
“Yes, I agreed.”
He mock-wiped his brow. “Well, an occasion like that deserves a little Dance of Joy.”
Liam pulled her close and turned to his brother and everyone else and said, “Anna’s agreed to marry me.”
The pandemonium continued, and Anna, standing next to Liam, realized how lucky she was that two such very special and different men had come into her life.
She thought of Sunrise’s motto about helping exceptional people lead exceptional lives.
It seemed she was surrounded by exceptional people who had given her the chance at an exceptional life. And she was going to grab it with both hands and hold on for all she was worth.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-4852-0
A ONE-OF-A-KIND FAMILY
Copyright © 2010 by Holly Fuhrmann.
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