Act Your Age, Eve Brown (The Brown Sisters #3)(101)

“I could say the same to you.” He waved the flowers at her, and she finally took them. Flower transference dealt with, he caught her free hand and met her eyes. “Good. So, to recap: I love you. You love me. We’re going home now. Home for both of us. And everything’s going to be fine,” he said steadily, holding her gaze, “because I’m going to trust you, and believe in you, and give you whatever you need.”

“And I’m going to stay,” she replied quietly. “I’m going to stay, and I’m going to love you, and I’m going to try. You taught me how much that matters.”

Those words burned in Jacob like a forest fire, but they left the opposite of destruction in their wake. Because Eve’s love didn’t hurt. If his current feelings were anything to go by, it healed.

“Just to be clear,” he said gruffly, after taking a moment to collect himself, “by accepting these flowers, you have formally agreed to coupledom and commitment, et cetera—”

“Oh, is that what the flowers mean?” she laughed.

“Absolutely.” He hesitated, then pushed through, because she loved him. “Do you have any complaints?”

“Nope.”

Jacob grinned.

Then Eve dropped the daisies, grabbed his arse, and kissed him so hard she almost knocked his glasses off. Tessa turned up the music to obnoxious heights. A few more cars beeped, possibly in outrage, but Jacob liked to interpret the noise as support. Either way, he wasn’t about to stop kissing this woman for anything. He wrapped an arm around the softness of her waist, hauled her closer, and sank into the familiar sweetness of her lips.

He was still grinning when they came up for air.





Epilogue


One Year Later

I can’t believe you got Mother in a hairnet.”

Eve raised a hand to shield her eyes from the late-afternoon sun, squinting in Joy’s direction. “Hardly.” The net sat on top of Joy’s immaculate bob at a jaunty angle, more like a beret than a food safety aid.

“You’d better do something about that,” Danika said dryly, “before Jacob spots her and has stern words.”

“I think Dad’s got it under control, actually,” Chloe murmured. The three sisters watched as their father abandoned his place beside Montrose and Aunt Lucy at the grill to come up behind his wife, saying something that made her laugh as he gently tugged the hairnet into place.

Joy rolled her eyes at him, but she didn’t protest. Instead, she turned a flawless smile onto the next Gingerbread Festival attendee in the queue and set about taking their order. Above her hung a burgundy-and-gold banner that read BREAKFAST FOR DINNER WITH CASTELL COTTAGE.

It was Jacob’s second year securing a place at the festival—and this time, they had a bigger stall, since they’d been such a success last year. Eve had looked into hiring temporary help, but Mum and Dad had—rather shockingly—volunteered their assistance instead.

And Jacob—equally shockingly—had accepted that assistance, despite what he privately termed their grave lack of appropriate qualifications or experience. And despite the fact they’d once accused him of running a sex cult, et cetera.

“What are you smiling about, Evie-Bean?” Chloe demanded.

“Probably something Jacob related,” Dani supplied dryly.

Eve didn’t bother to defend herself. She was too busy rolling her shoulders after hours of serving scrambled eggs, tipping back her head to feel the sunshine on her cheeks, and generally enjoying this moment. Her sisters were beside her, her parents were properly supervised, and Jacob was somewhere in the vicinity hunting down strawberry lemonade. Breakfast for dinner was going fabulously well, with a queue that had barely shrunk all day. And half an hour ago she’d watched a toddler take one bite of her black forest gateau, grin, then put his face—his whole face—into the cake. Which she certainly deemed a success.

In short, everything was right in Eve’s world. Everything was absolutely perfect.

Although—she cracked open one eyelid to check the glittery pink face of her favorite watch, a birthday present from Tessa—this break was scheduled to end in five minutes. Where on earth had Jacob gotten to?

“Why, just look at you three,” Gigi cooed, popping up out of nowhere in a cloud of Chanel No. 5 and individual Russian lashes. “Sunning yourselves while your parents slave away. I thoroughly approve.” She opened her mouth as if to say more, but then Shivani appeared, holding a gigantic ice cream cone and commanding her attention.

“Look, Garnet, it’s as big as my head. Take a picture.”

“Oh, very good, my love.” Gigi whipped out a baby pink Polaroid camera and snapped. The diamond ring on her left hand reflected a blinding shaft of sunlight. “You’ll never finish it.”

“Watch me,” Shivani snickered.

Gigi snorted and slipped an arm around her waist.

“I want one of those ice creams,” Chloe murmured as the pair wandered off.

As if on cue, Red strolled over with both hands full. “Good thing I got you one, then.”

Eve blinked at his sudden appearance, then stared after Gigi and Shivs. “Is it just me, or has our entire family returned in the space of thirty seconds?”

“Charming,” Zaf said, as he, too, appeared from thin air. “What about me?”