Tinsley is dressed in her yellow Belle gown, and she’s twirling around the room with a wooden spoon, singingBe Our Guestfrom the soundtrack, which is playing from Blake’s phone in the middle of the bench.
His laughter is warm as he keeps an eye on her while he flips a thin crêpe on the skillet over the stove. There’s a stack of the thin pancakes on a plate next to him. I’m seriously impressed.
My mouth waters and my stomach rumbles as I take in the spread on the dining table. There are bowls of fresh berries, a plate of hashbrowns, and a platter of croissants with a variety of different fillings—ham, shredded chicken, tomato, sautéed mushrooms, avocado, and three different cheeses.
The soundtrack transitions intoSomething There, and my heart stutters when Blake spots me, and his grin widens.
“Morning, pixie.”
“Good morning,” I say, stepping into the chaos.Mychaos. “What’s all this?”
“We’re making breakfast, Mama,” Tinsley says, bouncing around me. “France breakfast.”
“French,” Blake corrects with a laugh as he plates up the last crêpe and turns off the stove.
“I can see that,” I say, arching a brow at him.
He shrugs as he moves towards the dining table.
“We were up early, so we thought we’d surprise you. These and the hashbrowns are dairy-free and gluten-free for Sprout,” he says, placing the crêpes on the table next to the fruit, “and everything else is for us.”
“It’s wonderful.Merci,” I say, taking a seat opposite Tinsley.
“You’re welcome.” Blake presses a kiss to the top of my head as he passes on his way to turn the music down.
After he takes a seat next to me, he smiles at Tinsley. “What should we do today?”
“Can we take my new soccer ball to the park? I want to learn to be a Matilda.”
He glances at me, and I nod.
“Sounds like a great idea. Why don’t I call Everett and a couple of the boys to come meet us?”
“The one who catches the ball in the nets? I want to be like him.”
Blake laughs. “You don’t want to kick the goals like me and Everett?”
She shakes her head. “I want to be the only one allowed to catch the ball.”
“Fair enough, Sprout. I’ll give Zac and Noah a call after breakfast and see if they’re free.”
She grins at him before piling berries onto her crêpe and stuffing it into her mouth.
My heart warms at the bond they’ve formed. It’s hard to believe that yesterday I was bracing myself for another battle for her against my ex-husband, but less than twenty-four hours later, he’s not even an afterthought.
Thanks to Blake, the man I’ve fallen head over heels for, I can finally breathe.
Epilogue 1
Juliet
SIX MONTHS LATER – BREST, FRANCE
Christmas lights stretch across the square near the port, glowing gold against the darkening sky as we walk home from visiting the Christmas market at Place de la Liberté. Tinsley walks between me and Blake, swinging our hands as she stares at everything like it’s a fairytale. For me, it is.
I’d lost hope of bringing my daughter to my homeland before she turned eighteen, convinced it would always be another thing Edward would control. But somehow, the man standing here with us made my dream a reality. When he and Everett told me to organise the paperwork for Tinsley’s passport, I’d just stared at them. We’d been bracing for a custody battle against my manipulative, abusive ex-husband, and instead, for the first time, I had two men in my corner who weren’t afraidof him.
“It’s freezing,” Tinsley declares.
