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“I’ve been craving this all day. When I woke up today, I was telling Hope how I was ready to kill for some good bread. How did you know?”
“I know everything, Luna.”
Especially when Hope passes helpful information like that up the chain of command.
Luna is polishing off the baguette when the main course comes out. “Braised lamb shank in a rosemary and red wine sauce,” the server explains.
When he’s gone, Luna sniffs her plate.
“The alcohol cooks out.”
“And how do you know that?” she asks.
“Because I threatened the chef within an inch of his life if he gave you anything that could hurt our babies,” I say. "Everything here is safe. I'm taking care of you."
She grins over her glass of grape juice. “That you certainly are.”
We eat and talk until our plates are empty and taken away, replaced with dessert. But I’m not paying attention to the food. I’m fixed on the woman across from me.
The way her hair shimmers gold in the candlelight. The way she lights up when she laughs talking about the reality dating show she got my sister hooked on.
When my father died, I watched my mother crumple. I saw what it looked like to be left behind, and I decided then and there that I was never going to let myself be broken that way. That’s what love is, after all. You break your heart and give it to someone else to carry. When they’re gone, you’re fucked.
Love is loss.
It’s also the woman sitting across from me.
It’s Luna sleeping and fucking and laughing in my bed.
She’s the mother of my children and there isn’t a single person on the fucking planet I’d rather break my heart for.
The box is on the table between us before I have time to think about it.
Luna is smiling, a bite of rhubarb and apple crumble in her mouth. “What’s that?”
“Open it and see for yourself.”
She slides her plate out of the way and reaches for the box. Her fingers are trembling. Part of her already knows the truth.
Still, when she opens the velvet lid, her eyes go wide. “A ring.”
“An engagement ring,” I specify. “I figured we should make it official.”
She looks from me to the box and back again. The only part of her moving is her eyes. It’s like she’s frozen.
I pluck the box out of her hand and pull the ring out. It’s an oval-cut diamond set in a circle of smaller stones.
“This belonged to my mother,” I tell her, turning the ring over in my fingers. “Before that, it was her mother’s ring. It’s been in my family for generations.”
Luna claps a hand over her mouth. My name is muffled between her fingers. “Yakov.”
“When my father died, my mother gave me this ring and made me swear I’d wait for the right woman.” I grab her left hand, the ring poised at the tip of her finger. “I know that woman is you, Luna.”
Her blue eyes are glassy with tears. She’s blinking them away as fast as they fall. “Yes. Yakov, yes. I’ll marry you.”
I press the ring onto her finger and bring her knuckles to my lips. “It wasn’t a question, solnyshka.”
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