Willa swayed again, but happily this time. I’m not imagining this. He loves me, and this is real. “Were you that sure I’d say yes? What if I said no?”
“I would have asked you again. And my family would have gathered for that, too. They love you.” Lance’s expression changed and his eyes filled with desire. “My uncle gave me advice on how to keep a marriage happy.”
“Did he?” Willa asked. She’d already decided she’d say yes to Lance, but after the week he’d put her through, she didn’t mind making him sweat for a little bit.
Lance bent and whispered Uncle Allesandro’s advice in Willa’s ear. A flush of desire rocketed through her. That’s real, too. “I like that.”
The Cinderella coach pulled up to the curb beside Lance and Willa. Several children and one adult exited. The driver asked if Lance and Willa would like a ride.
Willa looked up at Lance. “Would it be overly corny if I asked you to ask me again as we rode in that coach?”
Lance smiled. “I’ll ask you a hundred more times if this day ends with you saying yes.”
Willa stepped up into the coach and settled beside Lance. She took his hand in hers and couldn’t help but feel her parents were with her just then. “It won’t take a hundred. Just once more.”
As they rode down a side road, fireworks began to go off in the background, but Willa didn’t turn to look at them. She didn’t care about anything past Lance and the love he was no longer afraid to express.
“Willa Chambers,” Lance asked as he took her hand in his and held the engagement ring out near her left hand, “will you marry me?”
“I will,” Willa said as happy tears streamed down her cheeks. “I damn sure will.”
Lance slid the ring on her finger and pulled her into a deep kiss. The kind of kiss that was worthy of the fairy-tale setting.
Chapter Twenty
Several months later, Lance guided Willa into a room of the house they’d purchased together. His hands were over her eyes. “If it’s not perfect we can change any part of it you’d like.”
“I’m sure I’ll love it.”
Lance removed his hands and watched his fiancée’s expression closely.
She was silent for a long moment, then she turned and flung herself in his arms. “It’s perfect. It’s exactly as I always imagined it would be.”
Lance puffed with pride and hugged her closer. He’d meticulously planned every detail of the library from the rolling ladder to the chairs he imagined Willa would enjoy curling up in while she read. “With this last renovation completed, we can move in.”
“Maybe, not just yet,” Willa said with an odd smile. “You need to plan out one more room.”
“I do?” Lance didn’t think he’d missed a single room during the renovations.
“We’re going to need a baby room,” she said. “We’re having twins.”
Lance’s jaw dropped as her words sunk in then his hands went to her stomach in wonder. “Twins? How long have you known? Why didn’t you say anything?” I’m going to be a father. Lance hadn’t thought he could be happier, but the idea of Willa having his baby . . . his babies . . . filled him with undeniable warmth and put a huge, stupid smile on his face.”
She nodded. “I wanted to wait until—until I was sure. Plus, Emily was still pregnant. I wanted to hold off our announcement until she had Jamus.”
Twins. “We’re having twins.”
Willa laughed. “We are.”
Lance frowned. “We need to get married.”
“We are getting married.”
“I mean now. Right now.”
Still chuckling, Willa said, “What about the big wedding your mother was planning?”
“One phone call and we can have all that ready by next weekend.”
“You’re crazy. Kenzi’s wedding should come before ours.”
Lance smiled unapologetically. “Trust me, no one will mind.” He cupped her slightly rounded stomach. “Twins. We’re in trouble.”
Willa wrapped her arms around Lance and hugged him tightly. “Yes, but we’re in it together.”
He kissed her deeply. “We sure are. We took the long way home, but we got here.”
Willa snuggled against him and sighed happily. “We did. We finally did.”
Epilogue
With the holidays approaching, and the general state of happiness of his family, Lance didn’t feel that the timing was right to share what the private investigator in Aruba had uncovered.
He couldn’t involve Asher. He was enjoying being a new father.