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  She shook her head, but the huge smile on her face never dimmed. “It is why I chose this place. The place where everything began for the two of you.”

  “You know about that?”

  “He told me it was here, while you were trying to foist him on your sister, that he fell in love with you. It was at the apartment, by the water retention pond, when you were so vigilant making sure baby ducks made it safely back to their mother, that he knew he wanted you to be the mother of his children. That he wanted to spend eternity with you. He has been patiently — and from what he says sometimes not so patiently — waiting for you to catch up to him ever since.”

  “I’ve always known that I wanted to live my life with A.J. That has never been a question. I have questioned if I deserve him. If I will be able to provide him with the happiness…”

  Carolyn cut me off. “Cara, do not ever question your value. Not to A.J. Not to the world. You will have more good days than bad. More smiles than tears. You will have a good life. I know it.”

  I burst into tears. “That is exactly what my mother would have said.”

  “I am honored to be the conduit, Cara.”

  She stood up and hugged me.

  I can’t wait until she is playing with our babies.

  My next stop was my parents’ house. Daddy was home. He was out in the backyard, messing with some plants. I put on the kettle, and when the tea was ready, he joined me at the table.

  “Daddy, I have something I want to talk to you about.”

  He nodded.

  “I’m going to ask A.J. to marry me.”

  “Ah, that is grand. And about time, I might add.” He smiled from ear to ear.

  “With your permission, I’d like to get married on your anniversary. I’m not trying to steal that day away from you and Mom or anything, but it is a date I have known all my life that signified everything good about family and marriage. I know I won’t have a marriage just like yours and Mom’s, but I’d like to use that date. If it is okay with you.”

  “I think your mother would be pleased, as am I.” He quietly took a sip of his tea and seemed to recenter himself. “When are you going to ask the boy?”

  “Tonight. Say a prayer he says yes.”

  My father laughed. It is such a good noise. “The question is not if he will say yes, girl. The question is how you are going to hold him back for the few months until the wedding date.”

  “Are you sure this is okay, Daddy? If it is going to hurt you or make things harder, we can find another date.”

  “No, and sure it will be grand.” My father gets so lilty when he is emotional.

  I went home and cooked a huge roast beef dinner with all the trimmings. I even made homemade rolls.

  I checked in with Suzi, and she said the day had gone surprisingly well. They’d been busy, but had landed a huge contract for a multisite, multishoot, long-term effort. That A.J. would give me all the details, but he was as excited as she had ever seen him. They thought there was a possibility this could turn into a national account.

  Yay!

  Teagan called. She’d finally come up for air. She had gotten everybody together as I had suggested. The lawyers had drawn up all the papers. Morgan was creating a whole new PR approach. It’s really handy to have a sister-in-law that also happens to be a PR genius. The employees were thrilled. It’s now Morgan’s mission to maintain the integrity of the old company, but to infuse it with more contemporary ideas and some really great technology.

  Teagan said Jessie was behind her one hundred percent. The Fishers have decided to live on a boat off some island for a year — so they were effectively out of the way. Things couldn’t possibly have worked out better.

  I took a long bath in citrusy smelly good stuff and thought about everything. About Mom not being here. About the baby. But to my complete surprise, I didn’t cry. When I thought about Mom, I thought about good things. About how she used to play jacks with us on the porch. About how she taught us to dance in the kitchen. About how much she loves my dad. About all that she has taught me. And you know what? Teagan is right. She laid the foundation for me to have a very good marriage. It won’t be perfect, but I will be with the man I love more than anyone or anything in the world, and that’s enough.

  Dinner was good, if I do say so myself. The roast was perfect. The ends were done well enough for me, and the middle was rare enough for A.J. Evelyn entertained us. She is getting really vocal, and she sang us through dinner. When she wasn’t chewing on her toes.

  It reminded me that I still can’t put my feet behind my head, but that is a whole other issue.

  We were finishing up dessert when Suzi’s phone rang. It was her lawyer. She had some papers she wanted Suzi to sign, and she would be out of the office for two weeks. If Suzi wanted to get the stuff with Barry figured out in the next few weeks, she’d have to drive down to the office.

  A.J. offered to go with her.

  When he asked if I minded, I just shrugged. “No problem.”

  Suzi shook her head. “Nope, I can drive down there myself, thanks. I’m taking Evelyn, and we’re going to stop at Walmart on the way back. I need diapers, and they are doing that thing where they mark down all the baby stuff. I don’t really need anything, but I was going to ask if maybe you wanted to do a photo shoot in the next few days. She seems to be growing as I watch.”

  A.J. laughed. “You know, there are a bunch of cameras that you could use. You have access to the studio. You could take the images yourself.”

  “Nope, I’ll surpass your artistic skills, and your fragile male ego will never recover. One photographer in the family is enough.”

  Ten minutes later, A.J. and I were alone in the house.

  That’s when I pretty much started to panic.

  I know the answer will be yes. We’ve talked about it enough. It’s just that it is a whole other kind of conversation when you are actually doing the asking.

  A.J. is a lot like his grandmother.

  He made it easy.

  I came walking out of the kitchen, and he was standing in the middle of the living room. There was music playing softly. He grabbed my hand and spun me around, and we were dancing.

  For about twenty minutes.

  Or maybe it was three.

  We didn’t say a word.

  He kissed my neck, and we broke apart, and he kind of led me to the couch.

  It’s not like this is unusual. We do that pretty regularly, but not as much as we did when we were first together.

  He must have read my mind. “I’m sorry we don’t do that as much as we used to.”

  “Life.”

  “Promise me, Cara. That we won’t let life get in the way of doing things like that.”

  “I’ll make you a promise if you make me one.”

  He looked confused.

  I slid off the couch.

  Down on one knee.

  “A.J., I promise if you decide to marry me, I will do everything in my power to make sure it is the best decision you ever made and to remind you of that every single day.”

  I burst out laughing.

  “That didn’t come out the way I expected. I promised to be a nag.”

  A.J. scooped me up and kissed me silent.

  “Yes.”

  I pulled back.

  “Yes, I’ll marry you. Any day. Any time. Any place.”

  “I was hoping to get married on my parents’ anniversary. At first I thought about my mother’s birthday, but then, I don’t know, I just…my parents have such a great marriage. It seemed like a beautiful tradition and tribute.”

  “I think it is perfect, Cara.”

  “I asked your Gran.”

  “What?”

  “I asked for your hand.” I couldn’t help smiling. You know, like an idiot.

  “You asked Gran for my hand?”

  “Yep. She knew I was going to ask. She had Pepsi chilled in a champagne bucket.”

  It was A.J.’s turn to laugh.
/>   “So I’m assuming she said yes.”

  “Yes, we have her blessing. We should call her.”

  He picked me up and carried me toward the front of the house. “I have a better idea.”

  ALSO BY THE AUTHOR

  THE TEA SERIES

  Hot Tea

  Sweet Tea

  Iced Tea

  Green Tea

  Peppermint Tea

  Tea To Go

  Summer Tea

  Traditional Tea

  Tea & Honey

  Happy Tea

  Dark Tea

  THE TEA SERIES: THE BLENDS

  Romantic Blend

  Perfect Blend

  THE GIRLS SERIES

  Las Vegas

  Hawaii Can Wait

  On the Road (Again)

  Spoiled Fruit

  THE AUNTIE SERIES

  Abbie

  LESSONS, THE SERIES

  Consequences

  Coming soon — Promises

  Learn more about Sheila and her books at www.SheilaHorgan.com