“People always think she’s going to be cold or aloof, so she worries how she’ll come across. Honestly, that woman has more hang-ups than I do.”
“I saw some of your hang-ups the other night,” he said. “I’m sorry I talked to the critic. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“It’s okay. He was right, but then so were you. I really wanted him to love it and for the fashion world to think that nothing had changed for me,” she said. “But everything has.”
“Has it?”
“Yes. Even the parts of my life that I thought wouldn’t be changed,” she said.
“Have I influenced that change?” he asked, needing to know more about what she was thinking. But what he really wanted to know was the one thing every man knew not to ask. Did she love him? Did she see a future for them together? Because that was what he truly wanted. He knew it and he also knew that it was only a matter of time before he had to ask her to marry him.
“A little bit. You’re changing me now and I think I’m changing you as well,” she said.
“Do you mind that?” he asked.
“I’m not sure yet.”
“I . . . I had a new idea for a video game based on your fashion show the other night,” he said.
“You’re kidding . . . what happens? Do mercenaries crash the fashion show and first-person-shoot the critics?” she asked with a laugh.
He laughed with her; pleased that she’d remembered what his other game was about. “Not exactly. I think you might be toobloodthirsty when it comes to critics to design a game involving them.”
“Perhaps,” she said, with a quick grin. “What’s the game about?”
“It’s a social media type game where the user buys a design house and uses fabrics and clothing to create a line and then sell their creations to make money. I might need your input on some of the elements.”
“I’d love to help you with it,” she said. “I like the idea of us doing things together.”
“Me, too,” he said. “I really like you, Fiona.”
She gave him one of those shrewd looks of hers. “Me, too. In fact, I?—”
“Alex and Fiona, come and join us for brunch. Everything is ready,” his mom said.
Alex chafed at the interruption. He wanted to know what else Fiona was going to say. But he put his hand on the small of her back and directed her to the table. His mom smiled over at him; seeing how happy she was, he let his annoyance fade away.
He’d find out what Fiona had on her mind later when they were alone. Right now he wanted to enjoy this celebration of Mother’s Day with the women who were important in his life. He knew that things were far from solid between him and Fiona, but he couldn’t help feeling that they were getting there.
He was definitely going to ask her to marry him and despite his not knowing how to be a father, he knew he would be a good one to Bella Ann because he loved her. He couldn’t imagine his life without Fiona and Bella Ann in it and he was going to do everything in his power to make sure that they stayed with him.
Filming endedafter the meal and the crew left them alone. Fiona had been trying all day to tell Alex that she loved him. It had taken her no time at all to realize that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him when he came to her defense at the fashion show the other night. But that was just one of the reasons.
She also admitted that she fell a little in love with him when he told her he didn’t know how to be a parent. And in the quiet of the night when he’d held her he had whispered that he was afraid to care too much for her and Bella Ann in case he lost them both.
She’d accepted the offer of a ride home from him so they could be alone. Just their little family, she thought. Alex had gone out and purchased a Porsche Cayenne because he’d said he was going to need a bigger car as long as they were together.
“Brunch was so nice today,” she said to keep from blurting out her feelings. “Your mom is really sweet. I can tell she’s ready for you to settle down. She told me that you have resisted her best matchmaking efforts.”
“Well, she is definitely not a professional like Mona at Matchmakers, Inc. Seemed to me her only criterion for my potential mate was that she was female and the daughter of a friend.”
Fiona laughed, but inside she wondered what Marlene really thought about her. She was definitely not the girl next door and never had been. Her life had been chaotic—after-school activities had been replaced by photo shoots and midweek jaunts to Paris or Milan.
“I am female so I have that going for me,” she said.
“You have everything going for you,” he said. “You aren’t at all the woman I pictured in my future and yet at the same time you’ve become the only woman I can see myself with.”
She reached over and caressed his thigh while he was driving. It was late afternoon and the traffic wasn’t too bad. It felt so safe in the car with him. She realized that there was a level of competency to everything that Alex did. He was confident in all his abilities.
