Fallon looks at me with large, shining eyes, wiggling in place. “Please, Mommy? Please? Can I marry Dean?”
I don’t know what seventeen-year-old boy is best friends with a three-year-old girl, but I guess Dean is different. Perhaps because he’s been taking care of his little sister for so long. But even so, I don’t think he was expecting to be the very first crush of my baby girl.
Clearing my throat and getting my laughter under control, I say, “Honey, I think you’re gonna have to ask him.”
Her eyes get even wider, if possible and she jumps up and down. “Okay! I gonna ask him now.”
She’s ready to run to him where he’s chatting with Dr. Martin, but I stop her. “Fallon, I think you should wait. Because –”
“But Mommy, I got a plan.”
I’m suspicious. “What plan?”
“I gonna ask him a gift. And he has to gimme it ‘cause it’s my birthday.”
“What gift, honey?”
“I gonna ask him to marry me.” When I still don’t understand, she says, exasperated, like I’m the kid, “As a gift, silly! I gonna ask him to marry me as a gift.”
And then, she’s running away before I can say another word to her, and I can’t help it. My laughter comes out.
Oh my God, she’s going to trick him. Not gonna lie. I’m kinda proud of my daughter.
When I come to my feet, Simon sidles up to me. His arm goes around my waist and together we watch Fallon dash up to Dean. She stumbles in her path and my feet are ready to move and rescue her. But Dean is there. He gets to her in a flash and gathers her in his arms. His face is bunched up in a frown as he says something to her, smoothing down the wayward strands of her hair. Fallon shakes her head in response, and he kisses her forehead, smiling at her.
As I watch them together, I realize I know a thing or two about crushes on lonely, dark-haired guys. Not that my sweet girl’s crush is going to amount to anything. Obviously.
Right?
Before I can really think about it, Simon asks, “What was that about?”
I switch my focus from them to my husband. If I tell him, he’s not going to like it. He is possessive of his daughter. He’s going to be upset knowing that Fallon chose Dean over him for her marriage plans.
“Nothing.”
Simon looks down at me and I trace his stubble, causing him to squeeze his arm around me before placing his splayed palm over my belly. I almost moan at his touch, squeezing my thighs together, keeping his cum from leaking out like he told me.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he whispers.
“Like what?”
He presses his palm over my stomach. “Like I’m a hero or something.”
“But you are a hero,” I say, bringing my hand over his and threading our fingers together. “You’re my hero. And Fallon’s. And you’ll be his hero, too, when he comes.”
“It’s a him, then.”
“You know it.”
He chuckles, and I go up on my tiptoes to kiss him.
When his lips are moving over me like this, with love and passion and promise, I’m not afraid of the future, of what’s to come.
I’m happy. Excited.
In fact, I’m excited about this party, too.
In a little while, our house will be full of people I love. I’ll get to see Renn and Tristan after a long time. They travel a lot because of Tristan’s paintings, so sometimes it’s hard to get ahold of them. I hope they’ll finally decide to get married this year. I can’t wait to be her maid of honor. Matron of honor. Whatever.
I’ll see Violet with her husband, Graham. I’m especially excited about that because I just love how they met. Every time we see each other, I make Vi tell it to me, right from the beginning. They’re such an unlikely pair. Vi with her ex-fiancé’s super-hot dad. I love how Renn gets all hot and bothered whenever Graham, the silver fox, walks into a room. Tristan hates that.
Even Penny isn’t immune to Graham. Not that she’s interested in dating anyone because she’s busy with her residency. Maybe tonight, along with Renn and Vi, I’ll change her mind.
Not to mention, maybe Dr. Martin will finally convince Simon to come work at Heartstone again. I know one of these days, Simon will break and go back to the job he really loves.