“Bella Williams has agreed to become my wife.” He held out his hand to her. “And she’s made me the happiest man on this planet.”
Bella walked toward him, aware that she was blushing. None of the Morgans looked particularly surprised by the announcement, and they all looked thrilled. Ruth was dabbing at her eyes and Maria was doing some kind of victory dance.
Billy took her hand in his and faced the guests. “Thank you very much, but tonight is about Erin and Jay, so let’s get back to cutting the cake, toasting their good health, and wishing them the very best of everything for the rest of their days.”
While everyone got on with that, Billy and Bella ended up in the kitchen, which felt right somehow. Billy grinned as she rolled up her sleeves, pinned up her hair, and set to work.
“I don’t think I’m going to persuade you to leave this time, am I?”
“Not a chance. If anyone wants to come and say good-bye they’ll know where to find me.”
He threw a dishcloth in her direction and she threw it back and they ended up wrestling over it and giggling like two kids.
“This is going to be fun,” Billy said.
“What is—us?”
“Yeah, us.” He kissed her nose. “I love you, Bella.”
“And I love you.”
“Will you stay over?”
“At the speed we’re cleaning up I’ll probably be here all night anyway,” Bella joked.
“We’ll work things out.” Billy looked down at her. “We’ll make this work.”
“Yes, we will.” She nodded. “Despite my son and all the Morgans offering us advice.”
“They mean well.”
“Yes, but sometimes I wish they’d all butt out.”
“We could build our own house halfway between your place and mine,” Billy suggested.
“Or we could share our time between both places.”
They smiled at each other. Whatever happened next, Bella was quite certain that Billy was right and that they would have fun. Maureen would be so proud of her....