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Morgan clutched his daughter tight. “I will never, never let that happen, Ciara. I promise you. But there are some legal issues that still need to be settled. I will win in the end. Don’t you worry. And in the meantime, if any adult ever asks you about Blake, you can tell them she is my fiancée.”
Ciara squinted up at him. “What does that mean?”
“It means we are engaged to be married,” Morgan finally said after an embarrassingly long hesitation.
Ciara squealed out her joy, but seeing Morgan’s discomfort, Blake cut in quickly, saying, “It is a French word, Ciara. I’ll spell it for you and you can look it up in that new dictionary app you got for your phone.”
“But right now we better get back to the house,” Morgan said. “Aunt Aileen and Uncle Jaleel and the boys will be here any minute.”
He took Ciara’s hand and started back toward the car, Blake hanging behind, pretending to pull some leaves off her shoes. But she had the same question as Ciara did when he told her to tell people Blake was his fiancée. What did it mean? It was clear he needed her and his daughter to keep up the front in case his attorney or anyone from Fawn’s camp called or showed up. But what did it mean personally to Morgan?
Judging by his spontaneous freak-out reactions today, she would have to guess he was nowhere near seeing it as more than the original camouflage plan to help his custody suit, despite their erotic nights in her bed.
An hour later when Morgan’s sister arrived with her family, Blake was pouring out cups of the apple cider they had bought at a local farm. Blake had never met his sister and knew he was really close to her so she was a little worried about how it would go today.
But her fears went out the window when the pretty brunette walked in the door and smiled at her. A tall squarely built Black man and their two sons that Blake knew were Ciara’s idols followed her in. Morgan introduced Aileen, her husband, Jaleel, twelve-year-old Kareem, and ten-year-old Weston.
“It was so kind of your brother to invite us to come along,” Aileen said to Blake after giving her a hug. Harper had invited Blake and Morgan and Ciara to Thanksgiving dinner at his house and when she told him Morgan wanted to be with his sister’s family this year, he’d told her to invite them as well.
“You said not to bring anything, but we’ve got a mince pie Aileen made,” Jaleel said.
“They told me the same thing,” Blake said. “My brother and his wife will have my Uncle Phil helping, and he opened a restaurant here in the North Fork because he loves to cook so much. But, thank you, it looks delicious and I’m sure it will get eaten.”
At that point Kareem came strolling in with Misty in his arms. “Whoa,” Blake said. “She never stays in anyone’s arms when we pick her up.”
Aileen grinned. “That boy could charm a snake.”
The three kids piled into the hatchback cabin of Morgan’s SUV, Jaleel and Aileen in the backseat.
Sitting next to Morgan as he drove to Harper’s house in a car filled with children’s voices, Blake had a glimpse of the happy wife and mother role she had dreamed about. Would it ever become real? She told herself to instead be thankful this Thanksgiving for what she had right now. That this was real today, that Ciara’s love was as precious as that of any child she might have had, and she knew Morgan loved her in his own way. Whether it would ever be as much as she already loved him, or enough to base a marriage on, she had no way of knowing and decided not to think about it today.
Harper’s house was smaller than Morgan’s, but there was plenty of room around his big dining room table for everyone. Blake had never been a big eater, but she could not resist any of the wonderful dishes spread across the table. Aside from the roast turkey, they had creamed asparagus, Mexican roasted corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans with almonds and bacon, candied sweet potatoes, butternut squash casserole.
Then there were the cranberry dishes—cranberry sauce, cranberry relish, cranberry biscuits, cranberry walnut salad, wild rice with cranberries, cranberry brownies. Uncle Phil was experimenting with cranberry recipes this month. By the time she tasted the cranberry cheesecake, along with the pumpkin and mince pies, Blake could hardly get out of her chair.
After dinner, Uncle Phil joined the kids in some video games while Blake, Morgan, Aileen, and Jaleel rested with Harper and Marni and baby Jack in the living room.
Harper offered a Grand Marnier or amaretto liqueur as an after dinner drink, and when Blake left the room to help him carry in the glasses, he leaned toward her and whispered, “I knew you and Morgan were a perfect match for each other.”
“I thought it was about helping me find a job and a place to live,” she said, wondering if she was wearing what she felt for Morgan on her sleeve.
“Partly, sure,” Harper said, with a shrug. “But after meeting him about three times, something told me he was the man for you.”
“But he is nothing like my ex.”
“Precisely. Don’t ask me what you were ever doing with Kendall. What an arrogant dork. This time you’ve got a man who knows how to love you.”
“Love? We’re not there yet and may never—”
“Oh, come on,” Harper said. “You think I can’t see the guy is in love with you?”
Her heart raced. Could he be right? Ciara had said the same thing. Still, she shook her head, saying, “It is way too soon, bro.”
“Love doesn’t use a calendar, baby sis.”
10
Christmas was coming up fast and Blake and Ciara were going over the top decorating the house together, adding more things each day now that Morgan had decided he wanted to have a big family holiday here. Ciara brought home a few crafted items she’d made at school, but they had to shop for most of the rest because Morgan had never decorated for Christmas with Ciara before. Being a guy, he didn’t do all that house decorating stuff. In her toddler years he just bought her toys instead. Then later when his business began to take off and Ciara was old enough to want a Christmas tree, he merely hired a service to come in and do it for them each year.
