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“Thank you, Lorna,” I nod, fully aware that Seraphine is confused about what is going on.
“Okay, you guys are just being weird and secretive now,” Seraphine laughs. “What’s the deal?”
“Come, I want to show you something,” I tell her as I stand up and hold out my hand for her to take.
I walk her through the hallway and down toward the guest bedroom where she stayed when she was here. Lorna has kept the door closed for me so that it can be a big surprise reveal. Hell, it’s even a surprise to me since I have been at the hospital and haven’t seen it yet either. I gave Lorna a few ideas, then let her have complete creative freedom. Sheisan artist, after all, and I have the utmost confidence in whatever vision she created. I feel the excitement itch at my skin as I reach for the door handle, and as soon as I throw the door open, I think I am almost as stunned as Seraphine is.
It’s beautiful.
Lorna has done aperfectjob. She has turned what was once a starkly modern guest bedroom into a cozy, enchanted, and absolutely lovely baby nursery. I don’t know how she managed to put it all together so quickly—she must have recruited a few of her friends to help. But with the money I gave her, she has done nothing short of creating a fairytale nursery for the babies.
The walls are hand-painted with gorgeous murals, the ceiling has soft, twinkling lights hung from it, and the two bassinets are surrounded by the friendly faces of all manner of stuffed animals. In the corner of the room is a tall bookcase filled with storybooks, and next to it sits a rocking chair with hand-carved armrests. She even managed to camouflage the baby monitors that sit next to the bassinets waiting for naptime and the massive amount of equipment Dr. Gideon insisted we have on hand for little Brenna doesn’t look quite so intimidating thanks to Lorna.
Seraphine is shocked and at first, a bit confused. We had talked about staying together now, but I don’t think the reality of it has actually hit her yet. That is why I take this moment to do what I should have done a long while ago.
I drop down onto one knee and pull a small, crushed velvet box out of my pocket. Instantly, tears start to stream over her cheeks as she covers her mouth with one hand in surprise.
“Seraphine, you are the most wonderful thing that has happened to me in a very long time, and I love you more than I thought I could ever love again. I should have asked you this question the moment that I first knew I was falling in love with you, but I was too scared to do it. Now, the only thing that scares me is the thought of not waking up to your beautiful face beside me every single day.”
I pause to crack open the box and show her the stunning diamond ring that I had picked out and kept at bay since before she ran out of my house that night. I kept it tucked away all this time, not knowing if I would ever get the chance or the courage to actually give it to her.
“Please do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
“Yes!” she says in tears as I stand up and kiss her.
I can hear Lilly’s eavesdropping squeal of excitement from down the hall. I imagine that Lorna is there listening and smiling beside her too.
I kiss Seraphine, and then realize that in all of this excitement, I still have something else that I want to show her here in the house. There are still more surprises to reveal.
“There’s something else,” I say after I put the ring on her finger.
I pull her excitedly along with me as we walk past Lilly and Lorna, not stopping for them to gush over the exquisite ring just yet, and I reach the other side of the house where my home office is. Beside it, is a room that has been empty since I bought the house. Since Lilly wanted her dance studio space to be inside her giant bedroom, there wasn’t really a purpose for this empty room—until now.
And if Lorna did such an amazing job on the babies’ nursery, I could only imagine what she and her friends did with this next surprise.
I open the door and reveal what is now Seraphine’s new fully stocked home art studio. It is equally as impressive as the job that she did on the nursery. There’s a drafting table by the window, shelves filled with paints and blank canvases for Seraphine to use, and even some of the local artisan’s work decorating the walls.
“You did all of this forme?” Seraphine asks as she turns around and hugs me again. “How can I ever thank you for all of this?”
“You just did,” I smile. “You agreed to be my wife. Besides, you can’t be an office assistant forever, not that I don’t think you do a great job at it, and I definitely needed your help. But you have the soul of a creative and being stuck sitting at a desk in my office taking notes isn’t what you’ve dreamed of doing with your life. I want you to be happy, Seraphine.”
She looks overjoyed, and then picks up on something that I inadvertently said.
“What do you meanneededme? Don’t you still need me at the office?” she asks. “Did you replace me already? I would understand if you did. I mean, it’s been several weeks since I’ve worked there so I couldn’t have expected you not to fill my spot with someone else.”
“No, I didn’t replace you,not yet. But I am going to,” I say. “And it’s not just because you don’t need to worry about money anymore, being married to a billionaire. It’s because I have one final surprise to show you.”
“How could there be anything more? The nursery, the art space, the proposal—you’ve given me everything that I have ever dreamed of and never expected to happen. You’ve given meeverything.”
“Not yet,” I grin. “But I’m trying.”
We walk back out into the living room, where Lilly and Lorna are now sitting in front of the fire, wiggling the babies’ toes, and watching them look at the flickering flames in the hearth. Even the babies seem to already be happy here.
“Do you like it?” Lilly asks Seraphine excitedly once we step into the room. “Don’t you justlovethe nursery? And I bet you will be able to paint all sorts of cool things in that art studio. Maybe I could even come in there sometimes and paint with you too?”
“Of course, you can! I would love that,” Seraphine says as she gets ready to sit down on the couch beside them.
I gently hold onto her hand to show her that we aren’t quite ready to sit down yet.
