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“Holy crap.”
Cam chuckles and pulls a ring out of his pocket. “Before we go inside our new house, I want to do this out here first. Mary Margaret, you are everything I’ve never looked for. I feel like we’ve taken a long, twisty road to meet where we did, but I’m grateful. I don’t know what I’d do without you in my life. You’re kind, smart, hardworking. And, frankly, I even love your temper.”
I reach out to brush my fingers down his cheek.
“Please marry me, Mags. Make a life, a home with me. I promise I’ll never make you regret it.”
“Of course, I’ll marry you,” I reply with a huge grin and then sigh when he puts the emerald on my finger. “Is this my grandma’s ring?”
“Yes. Your ma gave it to me when I went to ask them for your hand. I know it’s old-fashioned, but I wanted to do that.”
“And I love that you did.” I lean over and kiss his lips, then wrap my arms around his neck as he lifts me and carries me toward the door. He sets me down and then picks me up again, his arm under my knees and behind my back this time to carry me over the threshold.
Cam opens the door and steps inside into our new home, and I can see the ocean through the windows. But more than that, I can see our future here.
Our children.
Christmases and summer celebrations.
I see our life. And nothing has ever been so sweet.
Epilogue
~Tom O’Callaghan~
Five Years Later
* * *
It’s a charmed life that I lead. I have the luck of the Irish in spades when it comes to my family. It’s been that way since the day my sweet Fiona agreed to marry me and then gave me five beautiful children.
Now, those children are having babies of their own and fill my heart with so much joy and pride, it feels as though it might just burst with it.
“I have to go speak with my Rachel,” I say to Fiona before kissing her on the cheek. “I have a wee something for her.”
“Give her my love. I’ll save your seat.” My bride winks at me before I leave the room and walk down the hallway to Rachel’s room, where my Maeve is helping her daughter get ready for today.
“May I come in?” I ask after a soft knock on the door.
“Of course, you can, Grandda,” Rachel says with a big smile.
As I take her in from tip to toe, I shake my head in absolute amazement. “It’s a vision you are, my darlin’ girl.”
Maeve smiles and hugs me. “I’ll see you both out there. Your dad will be here in a minute, Rach.”
Rachel nods happily, and I gingerly hug my granddaughter, not wanting to mess up her beautiful white dress.
From the moment I met her as a surly fifteen-year-old girl, I felt a connection with her. There’s not a moment we share that our heads aren’t together as we chat and plot. Rachel has a special little place in my heart, and she will until the day I’m no longer on this Earth.
“You’re sure about this Brian?” I ask her with a smile, and she laughs.
“I’ve loved him since I was seventeen,” she says.
“And you’re only a woman of twenty-two.”
“You were nineteen when you married Grandma. You said so yourself.”
I nod, unable to argue. The truth is, I like this Brian, but it feels as though he’s taking my girl from me, and that makes me a wee bit sad.
“I wanted to give you this,” I say and open my hand, revealing a brooch that belonged to my grandmother. “It’s sapphires, so it’s something blue. Belonged to my grandma, so your great-grandma, and I know she would have loved you very much. She’d want you to have this.”
“Grandda,” Rachel whispers and brushes her finger over the sparkling blue stones. “I’ll pin it to my bouquet. It’s so beautiful. But are you sure you don’t want to give it to…well, to someone related by blood?”
I frown and take her sweet hand. “Darlin’, you are my family by something just as strong as blood. You’re my granddaughter of the heart, and I couldn’t love you more. Couldn’t be more proud of you. Your grandma and I have plenty of nice things to give to all of our grandchildren, and we chose this for you.”
“Thank you,” she whispers and then sniffles. “Okay, I don’t want to ruin my makeup. It took an hour to get me like this.”
“Brian’s going to pass out, and that’s the truth of it.” I kiss her cheek and then turn to leave, just as Hunter comes to the door and almost passes out himself at his first look of his daughter.
“Wow,” he says.
“It’s a vision she is.” I shake his hand and pat his shoulder. Walking your daughter down the aisle isn’t an easy thing. “Good luck, my boy.”
