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“Since they’re gone,” Meredith said loudly, “I propose a toast for two of the best people I know.” She raised her glass of champagne, and everyone else followed suit, including me and Allison.
“Thank you all for being here,” Allison replied, “and for making me feel so welcome and accepted despite the fact that you don’t know me.”
“The fact that Nick is willing to do so much,” Gran said, “is very telling.”
“But Nick doesn’t really know me that well either.”
“No, but he’s got very good instincts about people.” Then Gran looked straight at me. “And he’s not afraid to follow them.”
That wasn’t subtle at all, but thankfully, she didn’t insist on saying any more.
Everyone was much more relaxed for the rest of the meal. They served our dinner of steak and rice with mixed vegetables a few minutes later. We even had a makeshift wedding cake the restaurant had prepared, and we enjoyed dessert together.
It wasn’t too long after that the twins and Ben were sleeping on the couches by the window. Jake’s daughter was napping in her carrier. Catching up with the family was always great, and I loved that Allison was feeling at ease around them.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Nick
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By the time we drove home, it was way past the twins’ bedtime. It was already eight o’clock.
Allison kept glancing into the backseat at them. “I bet they’ll wake up and stay up for hours once we’re home.”
“Allison, tomorrow is Sunday. Even if we stay up late, we’ll sleep in tomorrow.”
“That’s right,” she said, then added, “husband.”
For most of my life, I’d been certain that I would never want anyone to call me that. I wasn’t even sure when I decided, but it was probably around the time I found out that my dad had another family. Or maybe after, when I saw the disaster he’d left in his wake. No clue. But I didn’t mind Allison calling me husband at all. Maybe because I knew it wasn’t real.
When we arrived at the house, we were both silent for a few moments, neither of us making a move to get out of the car. Finally, Allison whispered, “I can’t believe we’ve gone through with this.”
“I’m feeling exactly the same. But we’ve come this far. Let’s do this.”
She quickly got out of the car. Damn, the woman was fast. I always liked opening doors for her, but she wasn’t giving me the opportunity.
Allison’s prediction turned out to be wrong. The twins didn’t even wake up when we took them from the car seats and brought them inside. We carried them upstairs and lowered each one into bed.
“Let’s just get their shoes off and that’s it. Don’t take their clothes off. I don’t want to bother their sleep,” Allison said.
As I took off Jack’s shoes, I had a flash of a memory of Mom bringing the three of us home after a birthday party and telling us that we had to be in bed by eight. We were a bit older than the twins were, but not by much. I remembered Mom reading us bedtime stories... and virtually nothing like that with Dad.
The idea that Jack and Annie wouldn’t know their parents saddened me. But they were going to have Allison and, at some point, her real husband.
Hell no!
The thought of her calling someone else husband didn’t sit well with meat all. I had no idea why I had so much trouble processing it or making peace with the fact that this was a temporary thing.
We left the room, and something shifted between us.
Allison stepped away. “Leo left your suitcases downstairs. We could make space for your stuff in my dresser. And we can take your empty suitcases to the garage once you’ve unpacked.”
I ran a hand through my hair. “Let’s not deal with any of that tonight. There’s no hurry. I’ll just take what I need and do everything else tomorrow. Is there enough space in your bedroom to put a second dresser for my things?”
“We could do that,” she replied. “I’m going to change into something more comfortable and then bring linens downstairs.”
“Thanks. I’ll open the pull-out.”