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Nick had made her convert from The Friendly Toast’s cheese omelets to their famous banana waffle, and she looked down at the food on her platewith anticipation. The waffle was enormous, piled with whipped cream and sliced banana and…
She leaned in, her heart stopping in her throat when she realized what was glinting back at her from the whipped cream.
She looked up at Nick, tears springing to her eyes. “What…”
He reached for her other hand and looked into her eyes. “I wanted to get on my knees, Lex, but I know you don’t want the attention.”
She shook her head as the first tears fell from her eyes.
“I know the future isn’t guaranteed. There are things we want that we may not get, and things we don’t expect that will get in our way. But I don’t want to predict the future, Lex. I just want to live it — all of it — with you. I couldn’t think of a better way to let you know how much I love you, to let you know that you’re the only thing I want. Anything else is…” He laughed and looked at her plate. “Well, it’s just whipped cream. And I have a feeling that however it comes, there will be plenty of it.” He took a deep breath. “So what do you say? Will you meet the future, whatever it brings, with me? Will you marry me, Lex?”
She tried to say yes, but the words stuck in herthroat. She nodded, forcing the words through the emotion clogging her throat. “Yes. Yes!”
He jumped to his feet and came around the table, pulling her into his arms, and kissing her like they weren’t surrounded by hungry diners. He reached down and plucked the ring off her waffle, sliding it onto her finger, whipped cream and all.
He held up her hand, unable to contain his excitement. “She said yes!” he shouted to the restaurant.
The other diners burst into applause and a shout of “Congratulations!” came from somewhere at the back of the room.
Nick leaned down to kiss her again, then held up a hand like he’d just remembered something. “Wait right here.”
“Wait… what?” She watched him head for the door. “Nick…?”
He stepped outside the restaurant and she looked around, smiling nervously at the people still smiling at her.
Then they were all piling into the restaurant — her parents, Ronan, Julia holding John Thomas, Elise, Declan, even Thomas Murphy, the Murphy family patriarch, blue eyes shining with happiness.
And finally Nick, the man of her heart.
They filled the restaurant with smiles and laughter and tears, each of them pulling Alexa into a hug, Julia and Elise demanding to see the ring.
“Welcome to the family,” Ronan said, wrapping his arms around her.
“Thank you.”
She looked at her parents as they all settled around a bigger table, wondering how they felt about Alexa becoming a member of the Murphy family.
She had a feeling they already knew there was something to the allegations against MIS. There was no other way to explain the rescue they’d staged at the apartment building. They would have to talk about it eventually. Alexa wasn’t looking forward to it, but she wondered if maybe her kidnapping had changed more than her own perspective.
She was alive. That was all her parents seemed to care about right now.
Her waffle had reappeared at the new table like magic, and everyone shouted over each other to be heard as they ordered their own food. Her quiet breakfast with Nick had turned into a chaotic free-for-all, and she remembered her conversation with Elise about the Murphys being a lot.
As if she were reading Alexa’s mind, Elise grinned at her from across the table.
Alexa could only laugh. Maybe she didn’t need to think about it all so much. When she got right down to it, life was a mixed bag.
Her accident had nearly killed her and had left her unable to bear children, but it had made her strong, and it had led her to Nick.
Frederick Walker had intervened in her life against her will, giving her opportunities she’d believed she’d earned, but she’d made the most of them, had used them in the service of good until she hadn’t been sure it was good anymore.
She’d lost her job at the AG’s office, but she was starting to see that there might be a role for her at MIS, one where she could be part of helping people who didn’t have anywhere else to turn.
She looked around the table, watching as Ronan handed John Thomas to Julia to nurse. Declan reached for a piece of fruit from the bowl in front of Elise, and she slapped his hand with a scowl. Thomas Murphy shook his head, sipping his coffee with a smile. Her parents took it all in, seeming surprisingly relaxed amid so much activity.
Nick took her hand and leaned toward her. “Are you happy?”
She smiled at him. “I’m happy.”
