“What . . .”
He’d bought her a ring from Tiffany’s? Her rebel bad boy from high school who’d spent his entire first week back in Chandlerville wearing wrinkled jeans, T-shirts, ratty tennis shoes, and baby vomit was wearing a designer suit and proposing to her with a ring that must have cost him a fortune.
“What way is the right way?” she asked.
Oliver held out the box and smiled when she took it. “I wanted to ask you to marry me before the paternity test results were back.”
He’d dropped his voice, to keep the last of what he’d said between them, not that it was a secret around town any longer. Selena covered her mouth with her hand. Oliver took it and dropped to one knee.
“Marry me, Selena Rosenthal. Marry me and share your daughter with me. Make babies with me. Help me figure out whatever married people have to figure out, so we can make this work the way my parents have. Forever.”
It was magical. It was Oliver promising everything that Selena had always dreamed of, for her and Camille. She threw herself into his arms again to the excitement of the wildly clapping partygoers.
Oliver stood and twirled her around, the Tiffany ring box crushed between them. She couldn’t wait to open it, to see the beautiful, breathtaking treasure Oliver had picked out just for her. She couldn’t wait to tell him everything, most important that he was what she’d decided she wanted—him and Camille and her, together—no matter how long it took him to come home. But she had to be sure of just one thing first.
She turned toward Camille and felt Oliver wrap his arms around her from behind. He pulled Selena into the warmth of his body. Camille was still on Joe’s bed. Her special card had fallen from her hand, but she was smiling, too.
“What do you think?” Selena asked. She wouldn’t make a decision this big without making sure it was okay with her daughter.
“Does this mean we get to stay forever?” Camille asked, her excitement spreading around the room as people murmured their approval and looked back to Selena and Oliver. Brad and Dru, too. They were holding Teddy between them, and they looked thrilled.
“Forever, darlin’,” Oliver promised.
To which Camille gave a happy “That’s so cool!”
And then she turned back to Joe.
“Can we open your card now, Grandpa, and see your surprise?”
Laughter and cheers and more clapping filled the room. Selena and Oliver pulled the white satin ribbon together and opened the blue box. Her breath caught when she saw the ring. It was magnificent. But its sparkle was nothing compared with the excitement in Oliver’s eyes when he slid it onto her finger.
That done, with one more sweet kiss to seal the deal, they turned their attention back to their family and Camille’s big moment. Joe carefully read his card, his smile widening. He inspected each and every scribble his granddaughter had painstakingly drawn on both the card and the envelope.
“It’s beautiful.” He gave Camille a noisy kiss. “I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate being Father of the Year than getting something this special from my very first grandchild.”
Camille clapped. And then she held up the sealed envelope that had fallen to the mattress. “But you have to open this, too. Don’t you want your surprise?”
Joe ran his hand down Camille’s madly curling hair. “How about you help me.”
“Yay!” Camille pounced on the envelope.
She nearly tore it in two ripping it open. Her forehead wrinkled at the official-looking form inside, as if she’d expected something far more impressive after the drama of being told at least a hundred times that she’d have to wait to see what it was. She handed Joe the paper.
“What does it say?” she asked.
Marsha leaned over, and she and Joe silently read the report together. They handed it to Belinda, who passed the paternity results to Brad and Dru without glancing at the results.
“What’s it say?” Camille demanded. “Grandpa, what’s the surprise?”
“Well, Dad?” Oliver asked.
Joe chuckled, looking better than he had since his heart attack. He smiled at Selena and Oliver and pulled Camille into another gentle hug.
“Congratulations, son,” he said. “It’s a girl.”
Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank my friend Jennifer Sewell, mother extraordinaire, for sharing what it’s like to raise a child with severe food allergies. We so frequently hear about kids who can’t have this or that when we drop our own off at school and play dates. It’s easy to lose sight of how quickly these everyday experiences can become dangerous. Or of how challenging getting through them can be for families, when the mere taste of someone else’s snack might be life-threatening for a little one. You’re an inspiration, Jennifer!
About the Author
Anna DeStefano is the award-winning, nationally bestselling author of more than twenty-five books, including the Mimosa Lane novels and the Atlanta Heroes series. Born in Charleston, South Carolina, she’s lived in the South her entire life. Her background as a care provider and adult educator in the world of crisis and grief recovery lends itself to the deeper psychological themes of every story she writes. A wife and mother, she currently writes in a charming northeast suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, not all that different from her characters’ beloved Chandlerville. She is also a workshop and keynote speaker, a writing coach, and a freelance editor.
Get to know Anna at annawrites.com and the Anna DeStefano: Author page on Facebook, where she shares her inspirations, her challenges, a healthy dose of honest optimism, and tidbits about upcoming projects.
Let Me Love You Again (An Echoes of the Heart Novel Book 2) Page 27