“Yes. He’s going to have to figure out how to humanely dispose of it. Also, if there’s one in the loft you should check your studio.”
“I didn’t even think of that,” Hadley said. “Here are my keys. The front door code is 0322.”
He nodded, taking her keys and walking toward the entrance to the lofts, which was around the side of the building where Hadley had her art studio. There was also a coffee house and a martial arts dojo. Ethan’s offices were in the new high-rise adjacent to the lofts.
He keyed in the code and as soon as he stepped inside he saw the rose petals on the floor. They stirred memories of the night he’d been planning to ask Scarlet to marry him. He still couldn’t believe it had gone so wrong. He followed the trail to the elevator. Obviously one of Hadley’s neighbors had the same idea that Alec had and he hoped it worked out better for them than it had for him.
He took the elevator up to the residential area and when he got off he noticed the trail of rose petals continued down the hall ending at the door to Hadley’s loft. He was starting toworry that his brother might be waiting for Hadley, and if there was one thing he didn’t want to see it was his brother trying to be sexy for his fiancée.
He knocked on the door. “Mo? You in there? Uh, Hadley is downstairs. She thinks there’s a mouse up here.”
The door opened slowly and he saw that the petals made a path through the entire loft to form a giant heart in the middle of the floor. He stepped inside and turned as the door closed behind him.
His heart raced as he saw Scarlet standing there watching him. She wore a flowy dress that fell to her knees and had a V in the front. She looked so good it was hard to not go right to her and pull her into his arms. He noticed the tiny changes that pregnancy had made to her body and he smiled at her as she stood there.
“So... Turns out I’m not Mo,” she said.
“I’m so glad. I wasn’t looking forward to seeing my brother trying to be romantic with Hadley,” he answered. He had a feeling that this was a good thing. Her being here in Cole’s Hill before Ethan had even sent back his counteroffer seemed like really good news to him.
“Me, too. That would have been awkward,” she said, twisting her fingers together, and he realized she was nervous. “But I wasn’t sure you’d come if you knew it was me. Seems that I’m the kind of girl who likes this stuff.”
She gestured to the rose petals and the heart she’d made in the middle of the empty loft. Inside it, spelled out in rose petals, was a message.
Do you believe in second chances?
“I do,” Alec said, gesturing at the rose-petal message and answering her question. “I never got to say it that night but I love you. I have absolutely no idea how to raise a kid but my folks did a pretty good job with my siblings and me so we can call them for advice. And Bianca has a new baby so you’ll be ingood company... I just want a chance to do this together. That’s what you’re saying, right?”
“Yes. That’s it. I love you, too, Alec. I’ve been so afraid to admit it because love and I aren’t exactly on good terms so there might be times when I might panic and freak out but I want you to know I’m always coming back.”
He could live with that. “I’m going to follow you.”
He walked over to her and pulled her into his arms, kissing her with all the pent-up desire and emotion that had been building inside him for the last six weeks. “God, I missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” she said.
He patted his pocket and the ring box that he still had in there. He’d been carrying it around as if by doing so he’d bring Scarlet back to him. “I want to ask you to marry me, but there’s no hurry. I know it’s going to take time for you to feel safe living with me and our child, but know that’s what I want.”
“I’m going to say yes, but not today,” she promised him. “I want to say yes when we both can believe that I mean it.”
“I’ll believe you,” Alec told her. “You’d never make a promise you couldn’t keep. Isn’t that why you left?”
She nodded and then let her breath out in one long gasp. “Yes. I’ll marry you!”
He carefully lifted her in his arms and hugged her as tightly as he could. “Thank you.”
He took the ring box out of his pocket and put the ring on her finger. He’d picked out a princess-cut diamond and then had two smaller stones put on either side of it. He wanted to take her home and make love to her but it turned out his entire family was waiting outside Hadley’s building when they exited.
“So, did you catch anything upstairs?” Mo asked.
“Just the love of my life,” Alec responded.
Epilogue
One year later
Alec was sitting on the patio of the new home they’d had built just outside Cole’s Hill, holding his tiny daughter, Tara Maria, in his arms while Scarlet lay next to him on the sun lounger. It was a gorgeous morning and the baby preferred to be outside so they spent most of their time outdoors.
Scarlet had decided to continue filming her reality TV show, and her fans were completely over the moon at the pregnancy and the baby. Alec was always monitoring their online footprint to ensure their privacy. He had been careful so that he and the baby were only filmed in the periphery. She had successfully launched her wedding subscription box, along with one for expectant mothers, and was planning one for new moms later this year. He was proud of how hard she worked and that her public seemed to be accepting her new, more mature persona.