Page 15 of Seeking Happily Ever After

“Aren’t you just the cutest little girl in the whole world?” she murmured as she unclipped Amelia and lifted her into her arms. The baby giggled and Char lifted her up so she could blow a raspberry on her belly, making her laugh even harder. “You are the sweetest thing in the whole wide world, aren’t you?”

Char could lose herself all day in the sweet sounds of a baby laughing. There was something so profoundly pure and innocent, as if nothing else mattered. It was quickly becoming her favorite thing to do. The idea boards, paint and fabric samples she’d tucked into her bag to show Stephanie Starz were all temporarily forgotten as she lost herself in the baby.

“Excuse me.”

The voice behind her jarred Charlotte from her focus on Amelia. She pulled the baby close to her chest and turned to see a large woman with an even larger bag draped over her arm, standing directly behind her.

“My name is Susan Johnson. I’m the caseworker,” the woman said, as if that were supposed to explain everything. “This must be Amelia.” She reached out and tried to tickle the baby’s chin, but Amelia immediately shied away and tucked her face into Charlotte’s chest.

Char glanced to the counter where Nick was watching, almost frozen in place with wide eyes, and all at once, everything fell into place.

The legal system is definitely not designed to make things easy for a single dad trying to secure custody.

She looked back to Susan, and then the baby cuddled tightly in her arms. She owed Nick a favor. Abigone. And hadn’t he just told her without really telling her that he needed help?

“Yes. This is Amelia.” Char shifted the baby and extended her hand. “And I’m Charlotte.”

“Charlotte?” Susan shook her hand. “And who are you to baby Amelia? Are you a friend of Nick Newton’s?”

A friend? Yes. She was definitely a friend. A friend who owed him a favor.

Looks like I need a wife. You want to marry me?

She didn’t even know what she was agreeing to, or what she was doing. All she knew was that there was a little girl whose well-being depended on a lot of things going right. “I guess you could say that,” she heard herself saying as Nick joined them, coffees in hand. She put the biggest, brightest smile on her face that she could. “I’m Nick’s fiancée. I’m so glad you could make it out to meet with us.”

Fiancée?

Nick almost choked.Had she…what had she…

He glanced from Charlotte to Susan back to Charlotte.

He put the coffees down on the table to keep from dropping them—which, by the way his hands shook, was going to be a very real possibility—and extended his hand to the caseworker. “Hello,” he said as smoothly as possible. “You must be Susan. Thank you for coming out so quickly. And I didn’t realize you’d have a chance to meet…” He glanced to Charlotte.

“Your fiancée?” Susan finished for him and gave him a strange look.

“Right.” He recovered quickly. “Sorry, it’s still all so new, and you know…”

“I didn’t know you were engaged to be married.” Susan watched him with one eye while she pulled out a folder and scribbled something down. “I would have expected that would be in the file here. It’s an important detail.” She looked up at first Nick and then Charlotte, who was the first to recover.

“Like Nick said, it really is all still so new. We decided to just go for it and we’re so thrilled, but we haven’t been able to find a minute to even get a ring.”

A ring?

Shit.

Nick glanced to Charlotte’s unadorned left hand. He hadn’t thought of that. But to be fair, he hadn’t thought Charlotte was going to jump in to be hisfiancée. No, when he’d woken up, that was definitely not part of the plan. But…wow. If he could get his brain to catch up to what was happening, he might be able to start thinking logically and understand the ramifications of what she’d just done. But right now, he was in total survival mode. “Sorry,” he said to both women, no longer really sure what exactly he was apologizing for. “It’s just been so…well, you know how it is with a baby. The sleep deprivation will be the death of us all.”

He smiled at Amelia, who waved her arms in his direction. His heart instantly swelled and he remembered exactly why he was putting himself through all this. It was for her. All of it. The lies and stories would be worth it if it meant she got to stay with him permanently.

“Oh, I remember those days myself.” Susan smiled kindly as she sat heavily in the chair. “If she’s keeping you up at night all of a sudden, she might be working on a tooth.” She directed the comment toward Charlotte, who didn’t miss a beat.

“You know, I think she might be.” Charlotte smiled at Amelia, who immediately giggled.

Nick stood, transfixed, and more than a little stunned at how things were playing out. But he needed to get hold of the situation. And soon. He needed to— “Susan, do you want to hold her?”

He surprised himself with the question, but the woman seemed delighted by the offer. “I…well…yes,” she finally settled. “I think that’s probably a good idea.”

“Great.” Nick nodded at Charlotte, who handed the baby to Susan. “Char, can I get your help for a second? I want to grab some cream and sugar.” He raised his eyebrows and thankfully Char followed him quickly without question.

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