A flicker of hope rose in Noah’s chest. “Are you telling me you’re happy for Cassie to be part of my life?”
“It depends on the type of relationship you have in mind.”
Noah wiped his palms on the legs of his trousers. “I was going to ask…” He took a deep breath. “Mr. Harper, I’d like to ask your permission to marry Cassie. I know this is unexpected and you probably think I’m completely crazy. And I am. I’m crazily in love with her. I want to spend the rest of my life showing her how much she means to me.”
Tony leaned forward. “Cassie has already told me she loves you. I wouldn’t stand in the way of her finding happiness, not when her mom and I had a wonderful life together.” Tears filled his eyes. “Just promise me you’ll always take care of her. That no matter what, you’ll be her soft place to fall.”
Relief swept through him, leaving him light-headed. “I can do that, Mr. Harper.”
“And Noah?”
“Yes, sir?”
“You can call me Tony. ‘Mr. Harper’ and ‘sir’ make me feel ancient.”
“Thank you. I’ll do my best to make Cassie happy.”
“You already have,” Tony said as he shook Noah’s hand. “Welcome to our family.”
“I still have to ask Cassie.”
Tony smiled. “I don’t think she’ll say no.”
With all his heart, Noah hoped not.
Chapter 20
Cassie handed Willow a piece of maple fudge. “Does this taste all right to you?”
Willow nibbled one edge. “It tastes fine to me. What were you worried about?”
“I thought it was a little sugary.”
“If you’re worried, check with Brooke. But for me, it’s perfect.”
“Thanks. Just to be safe, I will ask.” Cassie wasn’t going to risk a substandard batch of fudge going to Wilson Enterprises.
For the last week, everyone had been pitching in to make the limited-edition boxes of fudge. Cassie hadn’t been able to help as much as she wanted, but with her jewelry store closed on Sundays, she could finally lend a hand.
Throughout the week, Brooke had divided her time between the commercial kitchen at the church and her own kitchen in her candy store. So far, even with five times the number of people helping, the quality had met all of her expectations. And with more than eight hundred boxes already in Manhattan, they were heading toward the halfway mark.
As soon as Cassie opened the doors into the retail part of the store, she knew no one was there. The lights were off and the only glow came from the streetlights outside. She walked back through the kitchen and into the storage area, but Brooke wasn’t there either. Hopefully, she hadn’t gone back to Pastor John’s church. It was after eight o’clock at night and the church’s commercial kitchen should have closed two hours ago.
“Has anyone seen Brooke?”
Kathleen looked up from the stainless steel counter. “Someone called her about fifteen minutes ago. She had to collect something, but she should be back soon.”
Cassie made her way across to the tray of maple fudge. Instead of cutting it and hoping for the best, she’d leave it on the counter for Brooke to inspect. In the meantime, she’d make another batch and hope it tasted better than the last.
Willow pushed a pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter into some spicy orange fudge. “What did you decide to do?”
“I’ll leave it on the counter until Brooke gets back.”
“It might pay to place a note beside it. Everyone’s working so hard that it would be easy to pick it up by mistake.”
“Good idea.” Cassie patted her pockets and found a pen.
“There’s a pile of paper beside the telephone,” Willow said helpfully.
