Page 66 of Substitute Bride

“You’re imagining it.” He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. Then added, “I’m going to see what’s taking the girls so long.”

Rose sighed. He was definitely up to something. It wasn’t her birthday anytime soon, and she hadn’t done anything lately worthy of celebration. She was still trying to figure it out when the door to the family room opened again and Julie came out.

She’d changed into her favorite pink ruffled dress and was holding a single pink rose.

Rose blinked at her. “Why did you put that on, honey?”

Julie was almost shaking from what looked like joy and excitement, but she managed to hold on to a mostly sober expression as she stood in front of Rose and offered her the rose.

“Thank you,” Rose said, accepting the flower with a melting kind of sentiment. “What is that for?”

“Rosie… Rose Beaufort,” Julie said, speaking carefully as if afraid she’d get it wrong. “You were our nanny, and we loved you, and now you’re not our nanny, and we love you more. We never want you to go away. We want you to be with us always.” She took a deep breath as if relieved she’d gotten all the words said. She’d clearly memorized them since they were clearly written by someone much older than her.

Rose was still clueless, staring at the little girl and the rose and having absolutely no idea what was happening here.

Then Jill came in, wearing a long green dress with her hair pulled back with a ribbon. She was also carrying a single pink rose, and she walked over to give it to Rose.

“Rose Beaufort,” Jill began, a smile underlying her seriousness. Her speech was smoother, but obviously memorized and practiced too. “You’ve helped us and taken care of us and made our lives better. We wouldn’t be nearly as happy as we are without you. You’re part of our family, and you always will be. And now we want to make you a part of our family for real. We want you to be our mommy.”

“Our mommy!” Julie chimed in. From the shushing gesture Jill made, this was obviously out of turn.

Rose’s fingers were starting to tremble and the room started to blur as she finally realized what was happening here.

She looked instinctively toward the door, where James was coming in. He was still wearing his jeans, T-shirt, and bare feet, but he was also holding a single pink rose. He walked over, offered it to her, and then he got to his knees in front of her.

Rose made a silly gasping sound and covered her mouth with her hand, hardly believing this was happening.

James pulled a little box from his pocket and opened it to display the beautiful amethyst ring he’d given her for their fake engagement.

She felt a sudden drop in her gut at the sight of it until he started to speak.

“I love you, Rose Beaufort,” he said, his voice hoarse and his hazel eyes absolutely earnest. “I love you with everything that’s in me to love, and my daughters love you just as much. We want you to be a Harwood now. My wife and their mother. I used to be looking for a substitute for something that was missing in my life, but now I know that you’ve created a space in my life, my heart, that simply wasn’t there before you. I picked this ring out for you, but I didn’t give it to you the way you deserved the first time. So I hope you’ll wear it now—now that I can offer it to you for real, in the right way. So would you do us that honor? We promise to love you the rest of your life.”

Rose was choking on the emotion, the roses in her lap, her eyes filling with tears.

Julie whispered, “Please, please say yes!”

“Yes!” she burst out. “Of course I will.” And then she really did burst into tears.

James got up to take her in his arms to kiss her, and the girls were hugging and kissing her too.

They all ended up on the couch together, with Jill explaining that her daddy had messed up his lines a bit and gone off script—evidently the part about the space in his heart hadn’t been in their original play—and Julie was asking if she could please be a flower girl in the wedding and if she could wear a dress down to her feet.

James wasn’t saying anything. He had her wrapped up with one arm, and he was gazing at her face as if he couldn’t believe that she’d said yes.

And Rose knew—with no reservations or insecurity—that all of them loved her completely, exactly as she was. She almost pitied other women who just got to marry a single man.

Because she got to marry an entire family.

EPILOGUE

“Who is Kelly talking to out there?” Deanna asked, peeking through the lace curtains in one of the back bedrooms of the old Beaufort house, a room they’d temporarily turned into a dressing room for the bride.

Rose’s hair and makeup were done, although she was still wearing a satin bathrobe, and she moved next to her sister to look outside at the beautifully decorated backyard and garden. Kelly was out there, already dressed for the wedding, looking sleek and gorgeous in a deep rose sheath dress and high heels. She was talking to a grinning young man who had a casual, breezy air and was very good-looking. “I don’t know who that is. Grandmama, do you know?”

Their grandmother walked over slowly and glanced out the window, her face changing slightly as she did. “He is a Blake.”

Rose understood her grandmother’s thought processes enough to understand this description. Blake must be his last name, and his family must have a long-standing history in the area. “How does Kelly know him?”