Page 31 of Secret Triplets, Second Chances
LARA
“ Y ou’re being really weird, and it’s freaking me out.”
Zachery frowns at me. “I’m not being weird. You’re being weird.”
“That’s really mature.”
It’s been two days since I broke the news to Jake. And two days since I’ve heard from him, but I’m too afraid to send him a text. At Zachery’s insistence, I dropped the kids off with my parents and am accompanying him on a ‘fun day out’.
We’re at the rose gardens just outside town, a local favorite for anniversaries and weddings. Tall hedges loom around us, bright and green, and though the roses are no longer blooming, it’s still gorgeous.
If only I were in the right frame of mind to appreciate it.
“This way,” Zachery says suddenly, grabbing my sleeve and tugging me down a side path. When he was in my apartment earlier, I felt like we were right back in high school, him insisting I wear a sundress to make myself feel better, instead of my usual shorts and a T-shirt.
“Why are you dragging me?—”
I freeze in the middle of the path, hearing Aster’s laugh. “What was that?”
Zachery’s eyes go wide, and he glances over his shoulder like his boss might catch him doing something he’s not supposed to be doing. “What? I didn’t hear anything. Let’s go down this path.”
“No— that was?—”
The sound comes again, but this time, it’s definitely Daffy, that sharp, loud laugh something I could pick out of a crowd every time. My skin flushes, and adrenaline starts to pump through my body.
My parents would have told me if they were bringing the kids here today — so what in the world are they doing at the rose gardens, an hour outside of town?
Turning, I start stalking in the other direction, pushing through bushes and branches when there’s no clear path in the direction I need to go.
“Lara!” Zachery calls from behind me. “It’s nothing! Let’s just stay on the— ow! — path, please!”
“My kids are here,” I snap, not turning back to look at him.
“That could have been any laugh.”
“No, I know the sound of my own?—”
I burst through a bush and step out into a courtyard.
A fountain twinkles in the middle, and there’s a group of people standing on the other side, all facing away from me.
Zachery emerges from the hedges beside me a second later, laughing, shaking his head, and brushing greenery from his linen shirt.
“I swear, Lara?—”
“Mommy!” Daffy sees me first and runs across the courtyard with Olympic speed. I pick her up and watch as the group of people on the other side turn around, faces changing when they see me.
My mom and dad, Aster and Chrys, Ellie, Shelby Bradson , and?—
“Jake?” I gasp, tears already pricking at my eyes, breath coming faster as I try to figure out what’s going on.
“Lara,” he says, walking toward me. The rest of the group follows until we’re all standing in front of the fountain, Daffy laughing in my arms.
“You’re going to like this, Mommy,” she whispers just before Jake reaches me.
“What’s going on?” I ask, looking around at all the people gathered around me.
“Can I take her?” my dad asks, and I pass Daffy to him, still feeling a little dazed and confused.
Then Jake steps forward, holding out a bouquet of flowers to me. I take them, my heart beating louder and harder than it ever has in my life.
“Lara,” Jake says, clearing his throat, and at once it feels like it’s just the two of us, the rest of them falling away. In an instant, I’m a teenager in a tree house again, watching him climb through the hatch. “I’m sorry for leaving the other day.”
“It’s okay, I?—”
He laughs, squeezing my hands. “I have a lot to say. Is it okay if I get through it all?”
I laugh back and nod, my heart fluttering against my rib cage.
“For a long time, growing up here, the only thing I ever wanted to do was leave Wildfern Ridge,” Jake says, his amber eyes holding mine. The sweet scent of flowers floats around us, and Aster whispers something to my mom, who smiles and pats his head.
Jake goes on, “When I met you, that changed. Suddenly, there was a big part of me that wanted to stay. Once I was friends with you, I saw what everyone else saw in this place. Something special. Something worth keeping.
“The entire time I was gone, I could tell something was missing from my life. And now that I’m here, I never want to leave again.” He pauses, pulls something from his pocket, and starts to lower himself to the ground.
It’s only when he’s on his knee that I realize what’s happening.
“Well,” he pauses, smiling up at me with an open ring box, the diamond glinting in the sun, “except for our honeymoon. Lara Novak, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
I open my mouth, and nothing comes out. Time slows, and I feel the weight of all the people around us watching, waiting, my kids taking this in. Seeing their parents’ love for the first time.
Finally, after what feels like forever but is really only a split second, I say, “Yes! A million times, yes.”
Then Jake is standing, wrapping me up in his arms, kissing my cheek, his hands tightening on me as a promise of what’s to come later when nobody else is watching. My parents hug and kiss me, Ellie hands me a tissue, and Zachery promises he got an amazing picture.
Aster and Daffy wrap themselves around my legs, looking up at me, talking a mile a minute.
“Are you getting married?”
“What is married?”
“Are you going to have a wedding?”
“Will you wear a dress?”
But Chrys doesn’t come over to me. Instead, she walks over to stand in front of Jake, her little chin tipped up as she regards him carefully.
“Are you our new dad?”
I pause, and it feels like we all hold our breath, looking over to him. He presses his lips together, then drops down to his knee, and the three kids gather around him.
“I’ve loved getting to know you guys, and I’d really like the chance to become a part of your family. What do you think about that?”
Aster hugs him immediately. “You can be my dad!”
“Hey!” Daffy says, barging in and fighting for a place to put her arms around Jake. “No, he’s mine!”
I bite my lip, feeling overwhelmed by the moment. How are the three of them going to feel when they realize they have another sibling coming and will have to split him four ways?
Chrys stands back a way, considering, then slowly steps forward and wraps her arms gently around the three of them, saying softly, “Okay, you can be in the family, Jake.”