The door clicked and all the adult voices dried up, telling her that for all their lighthearted banter, they all knew she and Demitri had blown up last night.
Footsteps came toward her, but she stayed seated at the table, frozen with her back to him, begging lightning to strike her.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Demitri grumbled to someone. “I’m fixing it.”
His hand came into her averted field of vision, gently taking the knife out of her hand, then the fork.
She dropped her head into her hands, covering her eyes. Hiding.
“Come on, Natalie,” he said, not angry or aggressive. Firm, but tender. His touch on her shoulder was insistent. “We need to talk.”
“Mom?” her daughter questioned, becoming aware of adult attention falling on Natalie and Demitri.
“It’s okay, gumdrop. I just need to talk to her for a minute. We’ll be right back,” Demitri said in that voice that almost sounded... No, she wouldn’t tell herself it was loving. “Come on,” he urged Natalie. “Or do you want to do it here?”
No.
She rose, vaguely aware of Theo handing Demitri something as they left, only realizing after Demitri had guided her down to the end of the hall that it had been a security card. They entered a private lounge, silent and still, that was probably used for weddings and private dinners. It had a wet bar off to the side and a handful of trendy backless sofas sprinkled throughout. Floor-to-ceiling windows offered a view across Central Park to die for, sunlight glancing off it from a low angle that made it sparkle under the glitter of light snow.
“What I said last night...” she managed in a strained voice, hardly able to face him. “I didn’t mean it to sound as though being part of your family isn’t good enough for me. Of course they’re wonderful. Zoey...” Already meshed. She wished...
“I’d say forget my family, but I don’t want you to forget them. They’re as much a part of what I’m offering you as I am. They already care about you, Natalie. They’re your backup plan, and they’re never going to let me get away with hurting you. Not that I’ll let myself get away with it,” he muttered.
“Because you’re afraid of their disapproval? That’s what I meant last night!” She clenched her hands, turning to glance warily at him, holding her breath to try to get through this without busting open.
“I’ve had nothing but their disapproval all my life. I’m used to it. No,” he said firmly. “Their approval is the last thing I was trying to get when I asked you to marry me. I want your love, Natalie.”
His words wrung her heart like a wet rag. And scared her, because once her heart was involved, she was a pushover. She shook her head, trying to stop him from continuing, but he approached with purpose. Determination.
“You love me.” He was a fallen angel, brutally handsome, sweetly attentive as he committed his cruelty with delicate care, ambling forward so he stood directly in front of her. He tilted up her chin so she couldn’t avoid his eyes. “That wasn’t part of the fantasy. It’s real. Your love is mine, Natalie. And I won’t let you show it to me, then refuse to give it to me. I want it. I’m taking it.”
She caught back a sob, eyes on fire as she searched for a place to look. Her lips quivered and her throat thickened.
“And I’m going to give you my love so you can show me how to make it better and stronger.”
She blinked, trying to see him through her swimming eyes, certain she’d misheard.
His hand cupped her cheek, and he wiped the tears brimming her lashes. “You’re going to accept my love, Natalie. You’re going to let me give you everything you need. And if I miss something, you’re going to tell me so I can do it right.”
“It’s not that easy. Zoey—”
“You’ll help me do right by her, too. And any kids we make together.”
“But—”
“No, listen. I realize that your mom put Gareth first. I know she had no choice, but what did that teach you? That your needs come second. Don’t throw Zoey at me and tell me she trumps your right to be happy. You don’t have to settle for a few weeks of fantasy, Natalie. You can have this all the time. You can have me. You can have a man who pays the bills and sends Zoey to expensive schools and tells you to work for my brother if you want to, not because you have to. I’m going to open my firm in Montreal and stick around, whether you want me there or not, because I want you. I want to be with you. I love you.”
His words caught and rent deep in her chest, where secret dreams like ice dancing and husbands who came home resided. Where every aspect of her life wasn’t all on her. It was a joint venture. A loving, laughing partnership that she’d convinced herself she didn’t need.
But she wanted.
So badly.
Was this really happening?
Her brow crinkled as he dug a velvet box out of his pocket and offered her its contents. A diamond ring. “Will you marry me?”
Natalie began to tremble all over, but with a kind of joy that made the world look sprinkled in fairy dust.
“You could have anyone. You know that, right?” she managed to stammer.
“Natalie, you are the only woman I have ever loved. The only one I’ve ever proposed to. You could have anyone, and I will never look lightly on the fact that you are willing to take me. Are you? Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” she admitted in a whisper, as though she was confiding it to Santa.
He took the ring and threaded it onto her finger. It was incredibly tasteful, of course. The man could be outrageous, but never tacky or ostentatious.
He kissed her knuckles, then her lips. She clung to the connection, trembling, still not quite believing, but the sweetness of his kiss filled her up so no empty spaces were left.
“I do love you,” she told him, awed and humbled by the gratitude and thrill she read in his eyes.
“I love you, too,” he said against her lips, pulling her close to crush her with careful arms. Heads tilted together, they both smiled so big they could barely kiss, hearts battering against each other.
“Thank you for coming back,” she said sheepishly.
“Always,” he promised.
“Should we tell them?” she asked him after they’d shared a few more kisses.
“I want to see Zoey’s reaction,” he admitted with a rueful grin. “I’m crazy about her, you know. She’s as easy to love as her mother.”
Their faces must have told the story. The minute they appeared, beaming and glued to each other’s side, everyone clapped and champagne bottles were popped. Natalie showed Zoey her ring and said, “Demitri and I are getting married. What do you think of that?”
“I like it,” Zoey said, as if she’d been asked to judge the ring. “It’s pretty. If you get married, does that mean you can have a baby? ’Cause I want a little brother.”
EPILOGUE
NATALIE EMERGED TO typical chaos in the back garden of Rosedale, Nic and Rowan’s Greek island home. The men were barbecuing and talking politics around watching the children. The women were back and forth to the kitchen, trying to keep everyone sunscreened, fed and hydrated.
Oh, how Natalie loved when they were all together like this. It wasn’t easy, but they made the children’s birthdays a priority and Evie’s was tomorrow.
“Who did you find?” Demitri asked Natalie, coming forward to take their nearly three-year-old nephew, Zephyr, off her hip. He’d been cuddly while he’d still been sleepy, but now he energized as he leaped for his uncle. Demitri gave him a light toss in the air before kissing his grinning cheek. “About time you woke up, champ. Everyone’s been asking for you. Zoey,” he called across to where the children were taking turns riding down the minislide into the little wading pool. “Look who woke up.”
“Jaya’s awake, too,” Natalie said in answer to Theo’s questioning glance. “She’ll be out in a minute.” They’d all converged here this morning, but jet lag was taking its toll on some more than others.
Demitri handed off Zephyr to Zoey and came to hook his arm around Natalie’s waist, always affectionate, but especially so when he was relaxed and happy, as he was when they were around his family.
“Zoey, you don’t have to carry him,” Jaya said as she came outside and gravitated to her husband. She still sounded sleepy, and Theo cuddled her into his side, rubbing her back.
“I like to,” Zoey said, turning back with Zephyr clinging to her like a rhesus monkey. He was half her seven-year-old height and she was all bones these days, growing like a cornstalk, front teeth missing so she lisped. “I carry my other cousins all the time.” She started to turn away, then turned back again. “Mom, you said I’d probably never have cousins from you, only from Daddy. Now I have four.”