Lily’s head bobbed so vigorously her curls bounced. “Yes. Absolutely yes. A thousand times yes.”
They both looked at Oliver. The boy was silent, wrestling with the conflict playing out behind his too-old eyes.
“If you make her cry.” Oliver spoke with a slow cadence, his eyes moving from the knife back to Dominic. “I will never forgive you.”
“I will make her cry.” Dominic met the threat with quiet honesty. “Sometimes. We will fight. We will disagree. But I will never make her cry from cruelty. Only from joy. Or from being stubborn.”
“She is stubborn.” The corner of Oliver’s mouth twitched, just barely, as he looked down at his wood carving.
“Impossibly stubborn.” Dominic agreed, leaning back with a small huff of a laugh. “I love that about her.”
Another silence followed. It lasted longer this time, filled only by the rhythmic scraping of the boy’s knife. Then Oliver nodded once, a sharp, decisive motion.
“Fine.” He picked up his knife and went back to his whittling like the most important conversation of his young life were already behind him. “You can ask her.”
“Thank you.” Dominic rose from his chair, his expression solemn as he treated the moment with the gravity it deserved. “Both of you.”
“When are you going to do it?” Lily bounced on her heels, unable to contain herself any longer. She clutched the back of a kitchen chair. “Can we watch? Please? Please, please, please?”
“Tonight.” Dominic headed for the door, his steps lighter than they had been when he entered. “At the carnival.”
“The carnival?” Lily gasped, pressing both hands to her cheeks. “In front of everyone?”
“In front of everyone.” He paused at the threshold and looked back at them. “She deserves to know I am not ashamed of her. I want the whole world to see.”
“That’s so romantic.” Lily sighed, the word coming out dreamy and drawn out as she stared at the ceiling. “Like something from a novel.”
Oliver rolled his eyes, but he was smiling now. He didn’t try to hide it anymore as he worked his blade.
“Not a word to your mother.” Dominic pointed a finger at them both, his eyes twinkling. “It’s a surprise.”
“We won’t tell.” Lily mimed locking her lips, then throwing away the key with a dramatic flourish. “Promise. Cross my heart.”
Dominic left the room. Behind him, he heard Lily squeal into her hands and something that might have been a rare laugh from Oliver.
Two down. One to go.
Nell was waiting when he emerged from the kitchen. She stood in the middle of her shop with her arms crossed and a smudge of flour on her cheek. She wore an expression that told him she’d spent the entire time he was gone trying to figure out what he was up to.
“What was that about?” She stepped toward him, her eyes bright and curious, a faint tilt to her head as she tried to read him.
“Nothing.” He tried for an innocent smile, though his racing pulse betrayed him.
“Nothing.” She echoed the word, her gaze narrowing as she crossed her arms. “You walked into my kitchen, shut the door, and had a private conversation with my children about nothing.”
“That’s right.” He shrugged, letting a teasing smirk tug at his lips.
“You are a terrible liar.” She shifted a step closer, eyes probing his face, searching for a crack in his composure.
“I am an excellent liar.” He stepped forward, closing the space between them with measured ease, letting the heat from his body brush against hers. “You just know me too well.”
She didn’t flinch. Nell never did. Her chin lifted, her stance steady, her look sharp and unyielding, even as he pressed her gently back against the counter.
“Dominic...” She tilted her head slightly, a faint exhale escaping her as she studied him, the tension between them humming like a wire ready to snap.
“Are you going to the carnival tonight?” He changed the subject before she could interrogate him further, reaching out to steady himself on the wood beside her.
She blinked in confusion. “I… What?”
