Page 126 of Anything for You
I give her a sheepish smile, trying not to show her how much it meant to me to have her grandparents’ blessing like that. They are amazing people, and they have accepted me and Maddy into their family, completely and without question.
“It’s definitely you,” Emma says through a watery laugh, watching as I take her left hand and slide the ring onto her finger, bringing her hand to my mouth and kissing her fingers just below the ring.
“I love you,” I whisper.
“Love you,” she whispers back, and I can feel it flowing out of her, straight into me.
Then I cup her face in my hands and kiss her, pouring every ounce of love and devotion I have for her into the kiss, letting her know without words that she’s mine, always and forever.
When we break apart, Emma curls right into my lap and Maddy scoots over next to me. And with my girls beside me I take a deep breath, everything I ever needed right here on our living room floor.
Emma
“Em, this taco bar fucking rocks,” Molly says, a plate in one hand and a taco in the other.
“Did you use the same place I used for our wedding?” Hallie asks with a mouthful of guacamole.
“And for mine,” Julie smirks. “I may have gotten married in a backyard, but it was still a wedding. And I’m pretty sure you told me that taco bar fucking rocked too.”
“Sure did. It was the best. I figure it’s our thing now. Taco bars for big celebrations. Anyway, it’s Maddy’s favorite.”
“And yours.” Molly puts down her plate and comes over to admire my engagement ring again. “We’re not just celebrating an adoption today anymore. It’s engagement o’clock up in here and we’ve got another wedding to plan. Hang on, I’m going upstairs to find my wedding binder. We can get started now.”
She flies up the stairs before anyone can make a move to stop her, even though I’m in no rush to dive into any kind of wedding planning. I want to enjoy the now for a while longer.
After Jeremy proposed this morning, the three of us stayed all tangled together on the living room floor for a while before it was time to go to the courthouse. I shouldn’t have been surprised that all our friends and family showed up for Maddy’s adoption hearing, but it just knocked me over, seeing everyone there for her, and for Jeremy and me too. Like Hallie said to me on the phone the day she first called me about Maddy, we don’t do anything alone in this group.
My grandparents also drove in for the day, and they are sitting on the couch with Maddy between them, laughing with the Parkers. Mimi and Pops bonded with Maddy immediately when they met her a few months ago. They’ve gone back and forth a lot so they could really get to know her, and she’s going to spend a week with them next month during spring break.
When Maddy heard I was planning a party for the day her adoption was finalized, she asked if we could do it here in our office. She said it’s where she met me for the first time so it was a special place and, well, I couldn’t argue with that. We closed for the day, and everyone is scattered around the main level.
Strong arms wrap around me from behind and I smile, leaning a head back on Jeremy’s shoulder as he presses a kiss to my temple. Maybe there will come a time when his proximity doesn’t give me butterflies, but today is not that day.
“Tell me something true, Ems.”
I turn in his arms so I can see his face, lean up to kiss him, and watch his eyes go soft the way I love.
“I’m really, really happy. I also ate like ten tacos, so I kind of feel like I need to lay on the floor.”
Jeremy chuckles and tightens his arms around me while I wind my arms around his neck.
“Good. That’s my plan. To keep you loved up and happy and well fed and well sexed for the rest of our lives.”
He grins at me and kisses my nose, and happy, playful Jeremy, with his gold-ringed eyes and tousled brown hair falling over his face and the white button-down shirt stretched over his muscular chest and his sleeves rolled up over the forearms that make me weak in the knees is really a sight to behold.
“Stop checking me out, Pretty Girl,” he whispers with a smile. “Your grandfather is sitting right over there so I can’t do any of the very bad things I want to do to you when you look at me like that.”
“Get used to it, Jer. I’m going to be looking at you like this for a long, long time.”
He kisses me again, slow and sweet, and my heart does a long, slow roll in my chest.
“Counting on it, Ems.”
He pulls me closer to him and starts to say something else but is interrupted by the sound of the front door to the office opening.
We turn to the entrance and watch as a man steps through the door. He’s tall and broad, with purposefully disheveled light brown hair and a day’s worth of scruff on his jaw. Trendy blackrimmed glasses are tucked into the neck of his shirt, and his whole look is giving hot nerd meets billionaire CEO. Something about him is weirdly familiar.
“Is that…” I trail off, thinking I can’t possibly be seeing who I think I’m seeing.
