CEO's Marriage Miracle

‘They all wanted to be part of it?’ Maria asked, a little touched.

‘They all want you to stay,’ Seb replied. ‘Not as much as I do, of course, but maybe close. Apparently I’m a lot nicer to be around when you’re here. Plus they all love you, too. They’re your family as much as they’re mine.’

Family. Wasn’t that what she’d wanted when she’d married Seb in the first place? To have a place she belonged, where she was loved? And it was definitely what she wanted for Frankie, more than anything.

And she could have it if she stayed. If she trusted that Seb was telling the truth when he said he loved her.

She knew they couldn’t be happy the way they had been before, and while the last week and a half had been better, it still wasn’t what she really wanted from a marriage. She didn’t want to have to hold her husband accountable to quotas and objectives every day of their lives. But she didn’t want him to get so consumed with work that he forgot about them again either.

Which meant they needed a new plan. A new negotiation.

Starting with what mattered most this time.

Starting with love.

* * *

‘If I stay,’ Maria started, and Seb felt his heart rise, light with hope. ‘If. If I stay...we need a new plan. Not a contract or objectives like before,’ she added quickly.

‘Good. Because... I want to be the husband you deserve, and the father Frankie needs—really I do. And I want you to tell me what you need that to be. But I’d rather it happen because we’re a team, working together to get where we want to go. Not because we both have our separate objectives to meet or we’re going to fail.’

He’d spent too much of his life afraid of failing already. Too much of his life not being the son his father had given away, and not being good enough to make up for that loss.

Now he wanted to focus on being happy instead. On making Maria and Frankie happy, every single day.

‘A team.’ Maria smiled at him. ‘That’s what I want, too. You and me against the world. Well, you, me and Frankie.’

‘Exactly. Plus... I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, especially since we found out about Leo,’ Seb said. ‘I think... I think the only way to fail at being a family is to stop trying. As long as we want to be together...’

‘And I do.’ Maria grabbed hold of his hands suddenly, and Seb was surprised to see that there were tears in her eyes. ‘That was always the problem, you see. I wanted to stay so badly. But I knew that if I stayed as things were, I’d never be happy. But now...’

‘Now I’ll make it my life’s work to keep you happy. That’s my only objective,’ Seb promised. ‘But... I’m going to need some promises from you, too.’

‘Yeah?’ Maria raised her eyebrows at him. ‘Objectives? Goals?’

‘I like to think of them as...vows. New wedding vows for us both. What do you think?’ He barely remembered what he’d promised the first time round—he’d been too busy staring at how beautiful Maria was in her bridal gown, and feeling the gazes on the back of his head of the hundreds of people their mothers had insisted on inviting.

But this time...this time he knew the vows they made would stick with him through the years. That he’d think of them every morning, and live by them every day.

Even if there was no one else there to hear them make them, and he was dressed in an elf suit rather than a tuxedo.

These were the vows that mattered.

‘Vows,’ Maria said, with a smile. ‘I like it. So, what were you thinking? You want to promise to love, honour and obey me?’

‘Ha! No. You didn’t even promise that last time.’ He frowned. ‘Did you?’

‘Of course I didn’t,’ Maria said, rolling her eyes. ‘But what, then?’

‘How about... I promise to always keep you first in my heart, and in my mind?’

‘I like that one.’ Maria shifted closer, and he lifted an arm to place it around her, stroking her shoulder gently. ‘And I promise to always tell you what I need, and let you find a way to meet that need. I think that sounds better than goals and targets, don’t you?’

‘Much,’ Seb agreed. This was progress. But then his hand stilled on her shoulder. Next was the hardest one. ‘And speaking of needs... Maria, I need you to promise not to run again. If things get hard, or I’m not being what you need, talk to me first. Please. I can fix anything if you stay long enough to let me. But the thought of what would have happened if you’d been able to get a flight out before I got back from Geneva...’ That would have been the end of them. The end of this. Seb shuddered at the thought of it.

‘I won’t run.’ Maria twisted and knelt up on the sofa, taking his face between her small, soft hands. When he looked into her eyes, he saw nothing but love, and marvelled again at how he’d never seen it before. ‘I promise you, Seb. No, I vow. From here on, no running. We stick together and we work through things as a team.’

‘That’s all I need from you,’ he replied.

Maria grinned. ‘Then I think it’s about time I got to kiss the groom.’

With that, she leaned in and brought her lips to his, soft and loving and for ever.

And at last Sebastian felt the knot around his heart loosen, and he knew that everything would be all right from now on. Just as long as they were together.

‘Wait!’ Maria said suddenly, pulling away from the best kiss of Sebastian’s life.

‘What?’ he asked, panicked. They’d come so far. What else could there possibly be to keep them apart now?

But Maria was already on her feet, crossing the room to the fake bookcase, moving it out of the way and opening the safe.

The contract. Their first misguided attempt at fixing their marriage. Of course.

Maria shut the safe again, and brought the thick signed document towards him. ‘Do you want to tear it up, or shall I?’

‘I’ve got a better idea,’ Seb said, taking it from her.

With one last look at the document that had almost saved—

and almost destroyed—his marriage, Seb tossed it unceremoniously onto the fire.

‘Now,’ he said, gathering Maria back into his arms, ‘where were we?’

‘Right about here,’ Maria said, and kissed him.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

IT WAS ANOTHER half an hour or so before Maria and Seb emerged from the snug. She almost dreaded to think how many presents Frankie would have opened by now, but she just couldn’t bring herself to tear herself away from her husband’s arms now she’d found her way back into them at last.

He loved her. Truly loved her.

Time would tell if they could find a balance with the rest of it, but she was hopeful—which was something she hadn’t been in a long time before this week.

‘I gave you Leo’s shares not as a bribe,’ he’d explained between kisses, ‘but so we could have a real partnership. Working together as well as playing together. I figured that way we’re always on hand to remind each other of what really matters most when we get lost in the business.’

And he was right. What she’d wanted all along had been a more equal partnership, and now she was getting one. Their lives would no longer be separate, kept apart by work commitments and a family model that didn’t suit them or their family.

They’d be a real team. And together she was sure they could take on the whole world.

Outside, under the Christmas tree, Leo, Max and Frankie had set up the most complex wooden train track Maria had ever seen. It snaked all the way through the large open-plan living area, with a bridge over a coffee table, before heading back through to the hall and looping round the tree. At some point Leo had clearly excused himself to change out of the Santa suit, but Max was still wearing the antlers, much to Maria’s amusement.

Frankie sat, still in his pyjamas, right in the centre of the whole mess, watching his uncles push tiny wooden trains around the track and making train noises.

It was pretty much perfect.