Chances (Mystic Nights #1)(51)

“No? Really?” Tawny couldn’t help but beam. She’d be a migitjoo.

Aliya nodded, and Tawny reached for her hand.

“I couldn’t be happier than I am right now in this moment,” Tawny confessed. “When do you want to marry?” she asked the couple.

Jonathan and Aliya looked at each other. They had discussed this only yesterday. Both turned to Tawny and simultaneously and gave her their answer. “After the baby is born. In September.”

Tawny did the math in her head. Her future daughter in law was further along than she’d thought initially. It must have happened that very first night.

Tawny nodded and reached for Aliya’s hand. She respected their wishes to wait. “Okay, then September it is. But you’re going to have to let me throw you an engagement party, and we can announce the baby then too.”

Jonathan looked down at his fiancée, who nodded her head to his mother’s request. “Okay,” she said softly.

Holding her future daughter-in-laws hand, she noticed she had no ring. “Where is the ring?”

“I haven’t had time for that. It was . . .,” he stammered and looked sheepishly first at his mother, then Aliya.

Again his mother clucked her tongue. “Go get this girl a ring. Now. I very well can’t announce this engagement and have a party if there isn’t one. Jonathan, you’ve always done things a little backwards, but this takes the cake.”

Aliya laughed and Jonathan joined in the laughter. “Yes, Mother.” He replied like the chastised child he was.

“Now go. I’m home. You have the day off. Go spend it with your fiancée, but bring her to my home tonight for dinner. I’ll invite the others. We will announce your engagement then. The party will be in two weeks. Now, go because I have a lot to do.” His mother was back holding the reins and issuing her commands, and she would have it no other way.

Tawny watched her son leave, so tall, and handsome, like his father, she thought wistfully. She was happy that he would settle down and marry this woman. She was perfect for him. They would be very happy together. And a baby! And with her children’s happiness in mind, she went to her office across the hall from Jonathan’s.

Her casino, her people, her reserve, were good now. And she was back. She looked at the pile of papers waiting on her desk and reached for them. She gathered the papers as she sat at her desk. Yes, it was good to be home, she thought. She knew her purpose. Knew her mission. Keep the family together, keep the family and the bigger family strong. Keep them happy. It was always for them. That had been the sole focus of her life for thirty years even if a small part of her heart always remained elsewhere.





Chapter 25




(The Epilogue and the sneak peek into Book 2: Triple Diamonds)

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Aliya danced in her fiancé’s arms. The smaller ballroom in tower one had been decorated festively for the engagement party Tawny had planned.

“Are you sure you want to wait until September?” Jonathan asked as he effortlessly twirled Aliya around the dance floor.

She laughed. “I didn’t want to rush it. You?” she confessed. She’d been having those same thoughts all week.

“I didn’t want to rush you. When you said, let’s wait for the baby . . . I just thought that’s what you wanted.”

“Well, it’s all happened so fast, and then I thought to give your family time. . .”

Jonathan interrupted her. “What’s one more surprise,” he nuzzled her neck. “They’ve gotten to know you better these past two weeks, as have I with yours. Let’s just do it.”

“Really?” Her eyes flooded with emotion.

He pulled back to gaze into their depths. “Why not? I know this is forever. Plus, I really like the thought of us being married when this little one arrives. He reached down to her flat stomach which was just starting to expand with his child.

Aliya nodded through her tears. “When?” she asked. She had been regretting the decision to wait as well. She was thrilled he had suggested it.

“Next week,” he stated bluntly. “Well keep it small, just our families.”

“Do you think your Mom will be okay with that?”

“Most assuredly.” He glanced at his mother across the room. Dawn and Eve were both by her side. He waved at her and she waved back watching her son proudly. Joseph was approaching and took his mother’s hand, indicating the dance floor.

Tawny graciously accepted and they joined some of the other couples. Joseph smoothly maneuvered his mother so they danced near Jonathan and Aliya.

“Mom,” Jonathan craned his neck in his mother’s direction. “We decided not to wait. Small wedding. Next week. Just the two families.”

His mother shook her head and laughed. “Of course, Jonathan. Anything you say. Still full of surprises.” She had secretly hoped they would change their minds.

Tawny happily allowed Joseph to twirl her under his arm. He too was an excellent dancer. Both her sons were. Just like their father.

Joseph congratulated the couple, and when the song ended he brought his mother back to where she had been standing before with his two sisters.

She thanked him for the dance. “I guess your next dance will be as mother of the groom,” he teased her. Both Dawn and Eve gave him questioning looks, and Tawny quickly filled them in on what the couple had decided.