Chapter 17 - The Family He Never Expected
Damen proposed to Yolanda on an ordinary Tuesday.
There were no musicians.
No rented yacht.
No photographers.
He did not take her to Paris or arrange flowers across the estate.
He made pasta.
Badly.
Yolanda stared at the plate.
“What is this?”
“Dinner.”
“You own restaurants.”
“That seems irrelevant.”
“The noodles are stuck together.”
“They’re committed.”
She laughed.
Talia sat between them pretending not to know anything.
Damen had made the mistake of asking for her assistance.
She had nearly revealed the plan six times.
After dinner, they walked to the cove.
The boathouse had been rebuilt.
Not hidden.
Not abandoned.
Windows replaced the old boards.
It was now a small community sailing classroom funded in Mateo Reyes’s name.
Children from Newport learned there every summer.
Yolanda stopped at the plaque.
Damen stood beside her.
“I used to hate this place,” she said.
“I know.”
“Now I don’t.”
“That was the idea.”
They walked onto the dock.
Talia suddenly announced, “I forgot something!”
Then ran suspiciously fast toward the house.
Yolanda watched her.
“She is terrible at subtlety.”
“Yes.”
Damen took out the ring.
Yolanda turned.
Her expression changed.
“Oh.”
“That’s not the response I rehearsed.”
“You rehearsed?”
“Unfortunately.”
She laughed and began crying simultaneously.
Damen took her hand.
“I spent most of my life thinking love was another word for leverage.”
Yolanda listened.
“My grandfather used it that way. My father feared it that way.”
He looked toward the estate.
“Then your daughter came through my door and ruined the theory.”
Yolanda smiled through tears.
“She does that.”
“You ruined it too.”
“Thank you?”
“It’s a compliment.”
“Needs work.”
Damen smiled.
“I don’t want to own your life.”
Her expression softened.
“I don’t want you to owe me anything.”
He took a breath.
“I just want to build something with you.”
Yolanda whispered, “Damen.”
“Will you marry me?”
A voice shouted from behind a shrub.
“SAY YES!”
Damen closed his eyes.
Yolanda laughed.
“Talia!”
The girl popped out.
“Sorry.”
“No, you’re not.”
“No.”
Yolanda looked at Damen.
Then at the ring.
Then toward the building carrying Mateo’s name.
There was no betrayal in moving forward.
No erasure.
Only continuation.
“Yes.”
Damen exhaled.
Talia screamed louder than she had at his birthday and ran toward them.
The three collided in a laughing embrace beside the water.
Jacoby emerged from farther up the path.
Damen stared.
“You too?”
Jacoby shrugged.
“She recruited me.”
Talia said proudly, “I needed backup.”
Damen looked at his future wife.
“This is what my life is now.”
Yolanda kissed him.
“Yes.”
May you like
For once, he had no complaint.
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