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“For the job.”
“The marketing job? I already hired Emma. You know all of this. I don’t need another marketing executive. I can manage all on my own.” My voice quivered ever so slightly.
Brady’s eyes were blazing. “Yes. Yes you can.”
My throat burned as I stared at him, afraid to blink as I watched his every move. “I’m confused. Why are you here? I thought this was what you wanted.”
One large hand swept over his face, straight into his black hair. I itched to do it for him, to soothe that errant curl that now draped over one of his ears.
“Cecelia Grove, you are an amazing manager. An amazing owner. An even better friend and family member.” His voice grew quiet. “You will be an amazing mother. You don’t need anyone to prove that to me. Or to anyone here. You could manage this without me any day.”
“Okay… What’s your point?”
“Today I’m here to tell you that maybe you don’t need me, but I want more than anything to be in your life. In this baby’s life. And I know I still have things to work on. I know I overcommit and overdo things. But I’m working on it. Because I want to work on this with you.”
“It’s not all bad.”
He gave me a small smile. “But I’ve never been more aware of my priorities than when I pushed you out of my life. I was wrong to try to force your hand. And I’m so sorry.”
“Brady…” I started. My voice was thick and froggy. But he held up one hand.
“Let me get this all out. Then you can offer your constructive criticism,” he said.
I nodded, my lips quivering.
“Today I’m here to interview for the role of our baby’s nanny.”
My sharp intake of breath was a mirror of Luna’s. “Wait, I don’t understand. You’re doing what?”
“I put in my resignation to Liam last week,” Brady said. He glanced down at his watch. “As of eighteen hours ago, I am no longer an employee of Leden.”
My jaw went slack. “But you love your job,” I sputtered at him.
Brady laughed, his chest expanding as the deep rumble filled my office. “You know what? I love having a job. But I love you more. And I love this baby more.”
I sniffed. He loved me. He lovedus. “You’re serious about this?” My voice was a whisper now, but I knew that everyone could still hear me.
“Completely. I realized that there was nothing I wanted more than being able to be there for our baby. To be there for you. Life is meant to be lived, the good and the bad, and I’m not waiting any longer. I propose that you amend your job requisition to be this…
Cecelia Grove, I want to be your partner in all things, but definitely in this baby’s life. I want to be home with our baby and help you grow your company in every way possible. I’ll be your biggest cheerleader, our nanny, your brainstorming soundboard, your shoulder to cry on. But mostly I just want to be yours.”
Holy crap.
Eyes wide, Brady’s chest heaved under the bright-white shirt. “What do you think, Cecelia?”
“I think you’ve lost your mind.” I gazed at him through the cloud of tears. Slowly, I looked to where Nancy stood to the side. She sniffled with me. “Nancy, I’m sorry. It seems I will not be in need of your services after all.”
The woman smiled widely, picking up her bag with a careful hand. “It seems not. Congratulations. You’re a beautiful couple.” Moving with surprising ease for a woman her size, Nancy slipped out, leaving just Luna in the doorway.
“Luna…” I looked between them.
There’d always been something odd between them, and right now you could feel the tension build. Luna broke it first, striding up to Brady and jabbing a finger into his stomach hard enough I could hear the quick “oomph” he let out.
“When Mr. Grove took me in here, I had nothing and nobody. He gave me a job and a home and his family became mine.” Luna looked back at me, ice-blue gaze shining. “You might look at her and see someone you love, someone you want. But I see the closest thing I have to a daughter.” She stopped to sniff loudly. “You didn’t have to watch her cry. Even when she thinks we can’t hear her. We do. I do. So God help me, Brady Martinez, if you don’t treat her right, then you’ll have made an enemy for life out of me. Because she—” Luna’s voice broke “—she is my family.”
I stared, my heart aching so hard that I thought it might break. It was the most I’d ever heard Luna say in one setting. But then again, she’d never had to. She’d been there in the background of every dance recital, all the homework sessions in the office, and in the quiet, dark weeks after we lost my father.
I reached for her. “Luna,” my voice rasped.
