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Kyle and Bea held pure white frosted cookies that Maddy suspected were wedding bells.
Chelsea lifted a treat that was frosted in fall colors—gold. It was a diamond ring, with blue lines for the facets of the gem on top of the gold ring, which had been cut out expertly.
“What is going on?” she asked. Ben entered the kitchen from around the corner that led into the living room, and he carried a black box.
Her breath caught in her throat.
“Madeline,” he said, oh-so-serious as usual. “I’m in love with you. I’m crazy about you. I want to spend my life with you.” He spoke in that sexy,I’m-in-control-herevoice he often used, almost like he wasn’t nervous at all. Maddy knew the man in ways others didn’t, and she watched his pulse flutter in his throat.
He was nervous, and that only made Maddy’s anxiety increase.
Ben arrived in front of her and got down on both knees. He slowly opened the black velvet box in his hand to show her the ring. He looked at it, and then up to her, and Maddy beamed down at him. “Will you marry me?”
Maddy looked over to her children and back at him. “Did you ask my kids to come here just for this?”
“Yes,” he said. “I needed the help, and I figured you’d like to have them here for Thanksgiving. So I asked them to come.”
Tears filled her eyes. “You’re amazing.” She loved him, and they’d been talking about marriage and weddings and an engagement for months now. She loved having him in her life, and in her children’s lives.
“Is this Maddy-code for yes?” he asked. Those gorgeous blue eyes searched hers, and Maddy decided she didn’t need to torture him.
“No,” she said. “That’s not Maddy-code for yes.” She took his face in her hands and leaned down, almost touching her lips to his. “Yes, I’ll marry you. No code necessary.”
He kissed her, and Maddy kissed him back while her kids cheered. So many emotions ran through her, she couldn’t categorize them all. She pulled away from Ben and held out her hand so he could slide the diamond onto her finger.
She’d never thought she’d wear another wedding band. She’d never thought she could love another man as much as she loved Ben. She’d never thought her journey in life would lead her here.
Ben stood and took her into his arms. “I love you, baby.”
“I love you too,” she whispered just before her squealing daughter arrived. Maddy hugged her again, laughing with her. Then she gripped Kyle in her arms, tears filling her eyes the way they had when he’d come to her for help when he and Bea’s wedding venue had flaked on them.
She hugged Bea last, saying, “Thank you so much for coming.”
“Of course,” she said, grinning. “Kyle and I love the cove.”
“Where’s my grandbaby?” Maddy asked, just now realizing that Knox wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
“Asleep in his crib,” Kyle said. “Come on, Mom. Try the cookies and tell us which ones you like best.” He cast a look over to Chelsea, and Maddy sensed a competition between them. She took a bite of the wedding bell, and it was flaky and moist at the same time. There was a bit too much frosting for her liking, but she grinned at her son.
She took a bite of the diamond, and this frosting was too weak. She would never say so, and she said, “They’re both amazing.”
“Told you she wouldn’t pick,” Chelsea said. She rolled her eyes, and Maddy looked around for her fiancé.
“Where’d Ben go?” she asked.
He came into the kitchen then, another specialty market box marked with a Thanksgiving dinner, and she couldn’t believe his level of detail. She wanted to kiss him again, this time without the audience, but she helped him get it unpacked and get the turkey breast into the oven to get heated.
“I’ll do it,” Bea said, coming to Maddy’s side to take over. “Kyle, Knox is fussing. Will you go grab him for your mother?”
“Oh, this is Daddy,” Chelsea said, lifting her phone as it rang. She bustled into the front of the house to take the call, and Maddy took the opportunity to grab Ben’s hand and duck into her bedroom with him.
“You’ll move in here permanently, right?” she asked as she closed the door behind him. He stayed with her sometimes now, but she wanted him here to live here.
“Yes,” he said. He took her into his arms again and lowered his head to kiss her. It started sweet and slow, but as things tended to do with Ben, it turned heated and passionate rather quickly. She tipped her head back, and he slid his mouth along the column of her throat.
“Thank you for getting my kids here,” she said breathlessly.
“I’m regretting it a little,” he admitted.
