“We love you, Chloe.”
I crouch down, pulling them both into a hug. “I promise, I’m staying. I’m so sorry I left. I made a mistake, but I’m here now, and I’m not going anywhere ever again.”
“Do you promise-promise?” Mia asks.
“I promise-promise.” I look up at Jonah, who’s watching us with so much love in his eyes that my chest aches. “I love your daddy, and I love you two more than anything in the world. This is my family, and I’m staying.”
Both girls cheer, and then they’re pulling me inside, talking over each other about everything I missed, about the picture they drew for me, about how Daddy burned the bread and Grandma said it was because he was sad.
Carol appears from the kitchen, wiping her eyes. “I told you to drive safe.”
“I did. I promise.” I hug her, and she holds me tight.
“Welcome home, sweetheart,” she whispers.
That night, after the twins are in bed and Carol has gone home, Jonah leads me upstairs to our room —not my old room, butourroom— and closes the door.
“I have something for you,” he says, reaching into his nightstand.
He pulls out a small velvet box.
My heart stops. “Jonah?—”
“I’m not proposing. At least, not yet.” He opens the box to reveal a delicate silver necklace with a small key pendant. “But I want you to have this. It’s a key to the house. To our life. To everything I have.” He takes it out, fastening it around my neck. “You’re not the nanny, Chloe. You’re not temporary. You’re mine. Ours. And when you’re ready —when we’re both ready— I’m going to ask you to marry me and make it official.”
I touch the key, tears spilling over again. “I’m ready now.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’ve never been more sure of anything.” I kiss him, deep and certain. “Ask me.”
He laughs, shaking his head. “Not like this. You deserve something better than me in jeans in our bedroom on a random Tuesday.”
“I don’t want better. I just want you.”
“You have me.” He pulls me closer, his forehead resting against mine. “You’ve always had me. From that first day when you walked in covered in snow and took charge of the flour explosion. I’ve been yours since then.”
“Then I guess we’re both idiots who fell fast.”
“The best kind of idiots,” he repeats, and then he’s kissing me, and we’re falling onto the bed, and everything else falls away.
Later, wrapped in his arms with the key pendant resting against my heart, I finally feel like I’m home.
Really home.
Forever home.
Epilogue
Six Months Later
Jonah
I’m having a cup of coffee, taking a break from the bakery when I hear Chloe in the bathroom.
Again.
That’s the third morning this week she’s been sick, and I’m starting to worry. She keeps saying it’s just stress —end of the school year, final report cards, the wedding planning— but something in my gut tells me it’s more than that.
