My nose prickles a little to think of it, even six years later. I can still picture the cautious hope in his eyes as he held out the ring, and the tremor in his voice when he asked me to marry him.
I glance down at my engagement ring, now nestled beside my wedding band. It’s not quite as sparkly as it was that day—mostly because I’m too busy to get it cleaned, with Clara and James to look after—but it’s still just as perfect as the day I received it.
When I look back up, I catch Georgia smiling toherself, like she’s reliving memories of her own. “Thinking about your first Christmas with Leo?” I ask.
She nods. “Yeah. He wanted our first Christmas to be perfect, so he went all out. He made up a little Secret Santa game, and every day, he’d hide another present for me somewhere in the apartment. And he bought five different advent calendars, so I’d have lots to open each night. Chocolate, cheese, ornaments…”
“No one would ever think our guys could be so sweet, would they? Considering what they’ve done. What they do. But they really are.”
Georgia nods. “I think, because they had to keep their emotions locked down so much on the job, when they finally feel like they can let down their walls, all the sweetness just comes bursting out.”
“All the sweetness comes bursting out? That sounds like a Starburst commercial or something.”
She leans across a pile of gifts to give me a friendly shove. “You know what I mean.”
Smiling, I reply, “Yeah, I do. I just?—”
From one of the baby monitors on the end table, a tiny sound emerges.
We both freeze.
Georgia casts a desperate look at the presents as panic flashes across her face. “Crap,” she hisses. “They’re supposed to besleeping.”
I set my hot chocolate to the side. “It might be nothing.”
“I can’t have Lily come out right now,” she whispers. “I haven’t even wrapped?—”
A childish voice comes through one of the monitors, more clearly this time.
“Plié. Tendu. Chassé. And… spin…”
Georgia and I make matchingawwfaces at each other. It’s Lily, going over some of her dance positions while she’s supposed to be sleeping. Which is just about the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.
Jumping up, Georgia says, “I’ll go check on her. Remind her that bedtime isnotthe time for practicing ballet.”
“Would you mind looking in on Clara and James, since you’re up?”
Already hurrying towards the primary bedroom, where we put Lily down to sleep, Georgia looks over her shoulder. “Of course. I’ll be right back.”
Watching her disappear down the hallway, I’m once again glad we decided to add onto the Blade and Arrow building to make the apartments bigger. With six couples living on site, and four of them with kids, it became evident that we needed more room. So Cole had plans drawn up to build an addition, and after a few delays, it was finally completed this past September.
Now Cole and I have a three-bedroom apartment instead of two, with individual rooms for Clara and James. Leo and Georgia also took a larger apartment, since they’re actively trying for another baby. Same with Charlie and Rylan, who are going through IVF for the second time in hopes of giving their son, Sam, a little sister or brother.
Elle and Zane said they’re happy as a family of three, so they’re still staying in a two-bedroom with their little boy, Noel. Finn and Hanna decided to stick with a two bedroom, as well, since they’ve decided—for now, at least—to focus their spare time on taking trips with their two dogs, Ansel and Porter. And Nora and Jackson said they were just fine in the comfortable apartment they’ve shared since Jackson moved in several years ago.
So everyone’s happy. We have enough room for our growing Blade and Arrow family, plus two extra apartments to use when our clients need extra protection. The guys—and Nora, of course—still have their offices on the first floor, so they can work from home except when they have to travel for a job. And we’re still right here in Sleepy Hollow, a town I’ve grown to love in the six years I’ve lived here.
Would I have ever thought my life would end up this way when I first sent that email to Blade and Arrow, asking for help? Not a chance. But life works in funny ways. Sometimes a storm of coincidences brings a rainbow when we least expect it.
My gaze moves to the collage of photos hung above the fireplace. In the center of it is a family portrait we had taken last month. Cole has his arms wrapped protectively around us, me under his left, and Clara, his right. James is sleeping peacefully on my lap. And the look on Cole’s face as he looks at us…
It makes my heart ache in the sweetest of ways.
There’s so much love there.
And that’s the proof I found my rainbow right here. At Blade and Arrow. With Cole, Clara, James, and the rest of my B and A family.
My nose prickles again.
