Page 49 of Candy Cane Dreams
Kate had her mouth full, and she finished chewing and swallowed before she spoke.
"Last year this time I was engaged to be married."
He blinked, feeling like he'd gotten punched in the gut.
"Engaged?"
"We were serious. I'm sorry, I guess this is something you should have known before, but I didn't know that you and I were headed in this direction."
"No. I'm surprised, but it's fine. I understand why that probably wasn't the thing that you would introduce yourself with: 'Hi, I'm Kate, I was engaged last year.'"
She laughed, as he had intended, and it made him feel better too. So she'd been engaged. Wow.
"He broke up with me on Christmas morning. I thought I would never trust anyone again. You know, the way it always happens—after someone betrays you in that big of a way, youthink you're never going to do it again. But you are so much different than he was. I couldn't imagine him loving his daughter the way you love Lilly, and being faithful to anything the way you've been faithful to the candy shop. You're just completely different, and it isn't really even that much of a stretch for me to know that you'll stay with me forever."
That made him feel good. For sure. Those were words that a man could use to keep himself warm for a very long time.
"So that's one of the things you like about me?" he asked softly.
"Your faithfulness? Your dedication? Your perseverance, and your love for your daughter? All of those things are things I love about you. They make you the kind of man that a woman can admire and depend on."
He didn't realize that their meal was going to be a series of her making him feel like he was ten feet tall and could do anything. It was a shock to know that she'd been engaged, but to be compared so favorably to her broken engagement definitely eased that in his mind.
"I don't want to be presumptuous, but I guess I don't want to draw things out too long. I want to make sure that Lilly is okay with us, and that you're sure?—"
"I'm sure. And I don't think we need to worry too much about Lilly. Especially since she began to talk whenever you came. It's obvious that she's okay with her mom being in heaven, and she wants a new mother. I... I couldn't help but think when she was saying that that I wanted her new mother to be you."
Kate's cheeks turned a becoming shade of pink.
He figured, while he was embarrassing her, he could go on. "I would like to have more children too. I'm hoping that might be something you're interested in?"
She nodded. "I love kids. That's part of the reason I became what I did, so I could be around them all day long. But I've always wanted a family of my own."
"It's okay that it's a little bit ready-made?"
"That makes it even better. Lilly is an angel, and I adore her almost as much as I adore her father."
Maybe it was the company, but Jack figured he'd never eaten such great food, and they shared a banana split for dessert. Then they walked hand-in-hand along the river, despite the cold. His heart felt warm and happy.
Kate seemed to be in the same kind of frame of mind. Neither one of them wanted to go home.
But they both had to get up early, and so reluctantly, he led her back to the car, opening the door for her, and drove her to the farmhouse.
"I forgot to leave my light on. Thankfully, the walkway is pretty flat."
"There is that one crack in it that's been there since I was a kid. I'll walk you in."
She gave him a grateful smile, and he wasn't sure whether it was because he was walking her in, whether she was actually scared of tripping on the crack, or she just didn't want the evening to end either.
Regardless, she waited for him to come around and open her door, and then they walked hand in hand up the path that he had walked all his life.
"You grew up here?" she asked softly.
"I did. Up until I was in junior high, and then my parents built the bigger farmhouse that Bryan lives in now."
"And he's not married?" she asked.
"No."
