“Mr. Reno, are you going to marry Mommy?”
Thanks to years in courtrooms hiding his reactions and sheer force of will, he did not lurch. He thought carefully about his response and settled on, “That’s a question you should probably ask your mommy.”
“I’m asking you.”
“That’s something your mommy and I would have to talk about,” he said carefully. “And we haven’t yet.”
Lily considered this gravely. “Would you marry her if she wants to?”
“I would.”
She nodded as if she’d suspected as much. “I’d like it if you got married. I’d get to be a princess full time.” And with that, she went back to cutting shapes.
Lily hummed a tuneless song beside him. He sat there in a red paper crown, on the back lawn of a yellow cottage in Cobbler Cove, holding a stuffed seal, and watching a four-year-old cut a blue crown out of construction paper. It dawned on him that he never, ever, would’ve guessed his life would lead him to this moment. Nor would he have ever guessed he could feel so settled. So exactly where he was meant to be.
The back door opened, and Grace stepped outside in bare feet. She took one look at him in his crown, holding a seal, and she laughed. He stood up, brushed the grass off his jeans, picked up Lily, and followed.
Grace was staring at the rice cooker when he came in. She turned around and her hands were on her hips and she had what could only be described as a baker’s look on her face.
“There’s rice already cooking.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“And chicken marinating in the fridge.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“In lemon and rosemary.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Reno.”
“Ma’am.”
“You went to the grocery store.”
“You get up early and work long hours at the bakery. The least I can while I’m your houseguest is get supper started.”
All of them wore crowns at supper, although the cat rebelled pretty quickly and shook hers off.
“Mr. Reno, you should always wear a crown.”
“You’re right. I should do that when I have a home of my own.”
“You already have a home.”
“Where’s that, Princess?”
“Right here.”
He had to set his fork down and stared at his plate, fighting a losing battle with his emotions for several seconds. He finally glanced up at Grace, who was still staring fixedly at her plate.
She swallowed hard a few times before managing to say to Lily, “Eat your peas.”
* * *
He stood on the porch while Grace tucked Lily into bed. A half-dozen kinds of frogs were singing tonight in a pleasing chorus of different tones. The first stars came out as the last hint of light faded behind the mountains to the west.
