“No problem and no need to mention it ever again,” Jacob says. “I’m sure I didn’t look so good based on the available facts at the moment.”
“But now I realize what really happened. You two really were brought together by fate, and as I can clearly see fate did a great job. You belong together and you have my blessing.”
He turns toward Jacob and offers his hand which Jacob quickly accepts. They shake, but it’s not enough.
These two long time friends embrace and it looks like things are back to the way they were…and how they should be.
“How did you find us?” I ask.
“Well, your fiancé here seems to think I’m not so bad as a business buddy.”
“I knew you’d win,” Jacob says.
“Win what?” I ask.
“It looks like we’ve all got a lot of catching up to do,” Jacob says.
“We sure do,” I say.
“Let’s grab one of those famous Belgium beers and have at it then. Last time I was drinking alone. This time I want to drink with family.”
“Family,” Jacob says.
He extends his arm out and brings his fingers together with a locked wrist.
My dad stacks his hand on top of Jacob’s and I stack mine on top of dad’s.
“Woooooooo…” Jacob begins as all three of our hands lower. “…aaaaaaaaah!” he finishes and we quickly raise our hands to the sky.
The sky. Where my head has been since I met him…lost in the clouds.
Mia makes a small sound from inside her stroller. We must have woke her with all the excitement.
“You too!” Jacob says.
He very carefully puts his hand on top of Mia’s tiny, tiny little hand and we do a very modified version of our hand gesture again, this time including her.
“One for all and all for one.”
“That’s how families work!” dad says.
“That’s right,” I say. “Families. My family. Our family. The perfect family.”
“The perfect family,” we say in unison.
EPILOGUE
Mina
Two months later
“We understand what your business needs and the deliverables and the due dates,” I say into the teleconference from my computer in the house.
“And you can hit the due date. That’s what we’re most worried about,” the client from Melbourne says.
“Not a problem. To be honest our internal projections have us delivering everything a month ahead, but we’re just adding in extra time for safety and wiggle room. I promise you you’ll have everything by the due date, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it arrives earlier, much earlier.”
“You guys really are the best in the business.”
“Thank you. If it weren’t for clients like you we’d be nothing.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” he says. “Without Jacob we wouldn’t even have a business. Our consultants tell us we rely on him too much these days but I told them I’d never switch.”
“Nor will we,” I say.
“And it’s nice to see he found love. I’m so happy for you.”
“Thank you,” I say. I love that all of Stone Solutions clients make business so personal and nice.
“Can I see the ring?”
“I’ll never get tired of showing this stone from Mr. Stone off,” I say raising my hand to the webcam.
“Wow! That is beautiful. And a big one too. Come to think of it, maybe we need to renegotiate our rates,” he jokes.
I laugh. “When we win we all win together. And to be honest I think he splurged quite a bit. This was years of money he saved up by not going on dates and all those things until he met me. I feel very special and very fortunate.”
“And you are. Please send our regards to Jacob and we’ll be in touch.”
“Will do.”
“And congratulations on the pregnancy!”
“Thanks!”
“See ya.”
“See ya,” I say and the conference call disconnects.
I stand from my chair and stretch up toward the ceiling.
I walk out of the room and almost bump right into Jacob.
“Well I think we can crash into each other, especially our lips,” I say puckering up and pointing at my lips.
He kisses me gently on my lips and suddenly I feel his hand on my ass squeezing firmly. “Hey!”
We both laugh.
“All finished with Singapore?” I ask.
“Yep! All finished with Melbourne?”
“Yep! Hmmm,” I say. “ Seems like we’ve got some time on our hands now don’t we?”
“It does certainly seem that way doesn’t it?”
“It does. I just wonder what in the world we can do to fill it?”
I feel his hands tickle my sides and I try and squirm, but it’s too late. He’s carefully scooping me up and carrying me to the bedroom.
I don’t know what I love more…that his appetite for me hasn’t wavered one bit even though I’m putting on weight and have a child inside me.
Or the fact that in addition to having the perfect family life I’m able to balance the career side of things too. I love challenging myself creatively and dealing with our clients and solving their toughest challenges. At first I had to ask Jacob for a lot of help, but the more I do it the more I’m getting the hang of it, plus I’m learning the ins and outs of each of our clients much better now and Jacob says that soon I’ll be able to predict what they need before they even know what they need. Wouldn’t that be something?
And speaking of something, Jacob is building something very, very special and completely beyond belief.
A castle.
Yes, a real castle.
He bought a plot of land in the countryside and the stones are being set as we speak. He said he wasn’t joking when we were in Bruges. I’m his queen and I’ll live in a castle, at least on the weekends when we go out there.
And it will give our kids an even bigger place to play and a bigger space means more room for even more kids.
We’re barely starting and we can’t even stop thinking of how big we want our family to be.
And speaking of big I look at his face and see he’s still carrying me like I’m as light as a feather, even though I know I’m anything but now.
Once my pregnancy got confirmed we celebrated a little too much. I guess we really haven’t stopped come to think of it. I’ve been eating everything in sight yet he hasn’t mentioned it at all, looked at me funny, or lost his appetite for me one bit.
I already know we’re going to be very active late into this pregnancy, and the next…and the next…and the next…and the…
EXTENDED EPILOGUE
Jacob
Fifteen years later
“But boys don’t babysit, dad,” my son Jackson says. “That’s a girl’s job.”
“First of all it’s not just a girl’s job. You choose a babysitter based on their qualifications, trust, and how well they get along with your kids…not based on their sex. Second of all you never know who you’re going to meet babysitting. Babysitting is the reason you’re here with us today.”
“Jacob!” Mina says.
“Hey, it’s true and you know the rule. Never lie to the kids. They’re too smart and they’ll know anyways.”
“TMI dad. TMI.”
“Don’t think of it as babysitting, son. Think of it as being the king of the castle and you’re watching over your tribe.”
“My tribe?”
“Your people. Whatever you want to call it in your mind. You’re a young man, right?”
“Yeah. I play football, remember?”
“Of course! And in football you have to protect the quarterback from getting tackled or even hit, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Same thing applies. You’re going to protect the Smith kids tonight just like yo
u would protect the quarterback on the football field.”
“I guess that makes sense.”
“Well, you know what doesn’t make sense?”
“What?”
“Why you’re not dating that oldest Smith girl yet. She’s a real looker and I’m pretty sure the reason you’re going over there in the first place is because she told her parents to offer you the job.”
“She’s older than me, dad.”
“Why should that matter?”
“She won’t be there anyways. If she was there they wouldn’t need someone to watch the kids.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she suddenly came down with something at dinner and had to rush home. And when she does that knight better be protecting his castle when his queen arrives.”
“Dad!”
“I’m just saying.” I turn and see Mina with her eyes closed shaking her head but most importantly she’s smiling like she always is.
“Since when did you become Chuck Woolery Mr. Matchmaker?”
“What’s that?” I yell and point out the window.
“Where?” she says looking outside.
I grab one of the balls of cookie dough off the sheet and stuff it in my mouth.
“Must have been nothing,” I mumble.
She turns and looks at me. “Uh huh. Nothing, huh? What’s that!” she yells and pinches me on the butt. “Must be biting spiders in the house.”
“I like biting spiders,” I say and I kiss her neck carefully even though I still have a mouthful of cookie dough.
“Did you get cookie dough on my neck?”
“No and if I did you wouldn’t be able to tell?”
“And why is that?”
“Because you’re the sweetest thing in the world already.”
“What’s that!” she yells.
“What?”
“The nicest husband who I love more than anything in the world, with maybe the exception of the seven children we have together.”
I love that she always counts Mia as one of our children. How couldn’t she?
Mia was the one that brought us together when she started off as the boss’s babysitter. But now things are much, much different.
She’s not only the boss of the house but of Stone Solutions too.
Granted when we need muscle or a tough decision I step in and consult, but taking a step back and handing her the reins has been the best thing for both of us.
I built the company up on my own and it feels good to hand it over to the best business mind I know. Putting the succession plan in place way before it’s necessary was a great idea.
Not only that it gives her the sense of satisfaction she craves from still working. Surely she’ll retire early at some point, but not until we’ve groomed the kids to take over for us.
And speaking of kids my new role allows me what I value more than anything any company could ever provide me.
More time with my family.
And that includes their grandpa, Mike.
We take them fishing and play sports and all kinds of things with them in the mornings when their mom is working. Then in the afternoon I do a bit of work and mom puts on her mom hat and rushes the kids off to all their practices, recitals, sleepovers and all the other things they have going on.
And when her day runs long I’m more than happy to drive the minivan wherever the kids tell me it needs to go.
A minivan. Who would have ever thought?
Certainly not me, but then again I never thought a brave girl from the third floor would come up to my office asking for more responsibility. And fifteen years later that ‘responsibility’ would be mother to my children, head of our household and business, and woman that I love and cherish more than anything in the world.
I may have been the boss when we met, but now we’re both bosses of family inc. The most important thing we’ve ever put our minds to and luckily the easiest.
It comes naturally when you love what you do and there’s nothing I love more than her and our family.
Together. Forever.
A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS
Book 1: Baby Lust
Book 2: Veteran
Book 3: Built
Book 4: Bambino
Book 5: Rescued
Book 6: Leader
Book 7: Professor
Book 8: Burned
Book 9: Worldly
Book 10: Pistol
Book 11: Policed
Book 12: Driven
Book 13: Lucky 13
Book 14: Lumberjacked
Book 15: Protector
Book 16: Carpenter
Book 17: Italian Stallion
Book 18: Gardener
Book 19: Budapest Billionaire’s Virgin
Book 20: Billionaire’s Babysitter
Book 21: Cocky CFO
Book 22: Fireman’s Filthy 4th
Book 23: Mechanic
Book 24: SEAL’s Secret
Book 25: Police, Pooch, and Smooch
Book 26: Fireman’s Fake Fiancée
Book 27: Billionaire’s Virgin Ballerina
Book 28: Bitcoin Billionaire’s Babysitter
Book 29: Veterans Day Daddy
Book 30: Cowboy’s Christmas Carol
Book 31: Police Officer’s Princess
Book 32: Statham
Book 33: Bodyguard
Book 34: Greek God
Book 35: Billionaire Single Dad's Babysitter
Book 36: Mountain Man
Book 37: SEAL’s Justice
Book 38: Royal Romance
Book 39: Doctor Mountain Man’s Special Delivery
Book 40: Crocodile Dan D
Book 41: Mountain Man’s Secret Baby
Book 42: Doctor Bad Boy’s Secret Baby
Book 43: Cop’s Babysitter
Book 44: Nanny for the Cop Next Door
Book 45: Small Town SEAL’s Saving Grace
Book 46: Cop’s Fake Fiancée
Book 47: Billionaire’s Nanny
Book 48: Cowboy’s Babysitter
Book 49: Steamy
Book 50: Brother’s Best Friend
Book 51: Possessive Professor
Book 52: Firefighter’s Babysitter
Book 53: Soldier’s Secret Baby
Book 54: Ward’s Independence Day
Book 55: Doctor Next Door
Book 56: Possessive Policeman
Book 57: Coached by the MMA Fighter
Book 58: Boss’s Babysitter