“I was wrong,” I said quickly. “I was an idiot, and I made the biggest mistake of my life. I promise I willneverdo anything like that again. I bet my brothers would be willing to put it in writingthat they’ll personally knock some sense into me if I ever even think of trying anything like that again.”
“Daddy, no fighting,” Noahtsked disapprovingly.
“That’s right,” Nina agreed with a soft chuckle. “Violence isn’t the answer—love is. And that’s why the only thing I can say to your question is yes. Yes, I’ll marry you. Again. For real this time.”
Nina’s response got an unstable cartwheel out of Noah, but my response was to draw her into my arms and kiss her, long and hard, then pause to slip the ring back on her finger.
“Yay! Nina is coming home to us!”
We both laughed at him, and I was reminded of something both my sonandmy wife needed to know, now that our future together was set.
Nina reached out to hug Noah.
“Yes, let’s talk about home,” I began.
They both turned to look at me with twin confused expressions, still cheek to cheek.
“What about it?” Nina asked slowly, like she was waiting for bad news.
“Well, we won’t have far to go, because wearehome. I bought the house from my dad. I couldn’t stand the idea of giving it up and having strangers living here. This is an Ashford home, now and forever.”
“Wait…” Noah said. “You mean we’re going to live here now? With Grandpa?”
I laughed. “No, your grandfather is still moving to his retirement spot. It’s just going to be the three of us here.” I paused. “For now.”
Nina tackled me, laughing and crying. “I never wanted to be too obvious about the lair stuff, but the truth is, I never felt fully at home there,” she admitted, pressing her lips to my neck. “But this house? It’s my dream!”
Nina had her full weight on top of me, which made Noah belly laugh.
“You guys arewrestling!”
She sat up halfway. “Wait, what do you mean the three of us for now?”
I looked up at her and shrugged a shoulder. “Who knows what the future holds?”
“Logan!” She giggled and dropped her head down to my chest. “Seriously? You want?—”
“Yeah, I do want. Anotheryou,” I insisted, and we both settled into the idea of the magic to come.
31
NINA
My now-real sisters-in-law cornered me once we made it back to the house. The movie was over, and the pint-sized chaos was in full swing, so we retreated to the patio as Noah got ready to start opening a pile of presents.
“So?” Gwen squealed. She glanced down at my hand and literally bounced up and down in her excitement. “You said yes!”
She pulled me into a hug and Emilia joined in, laughing.
“What a whirlwind,” Emilia said quietly when we finally drew apart. “Fake marriage to real separation to real remarriage? Is that how it goes?”
I laughed. “I guess? The separation paperwork was still in process, so as far as the legal record is concerned, we’re still married. I guess we’ll just stay married, but this time around we’re going to have a reception to make it official.”
“Floofy white dress and everything?” Emilia asked.
“Princess City,” I joked. “So big that you’ll both have to help me in the bathroom.”
“So I hear we’re celebrating good news?” Candace asked as she joined us. She looked me up and down, her gaze landing on my hand. “Yep, we definitely are!”
