Sarah stretched out her arm, and Lilly pattered over and nestled into the hug. “We’re crying because we are happy,” Sarah said. “Mick has asked me to marry him, and I said yes.”

“Does that mean you would be my daddy?” Lilly’s buttercup face tilted back so she could see him.

Mick’s gaze captured Sarah’s, wanting so much, but taking his cue from her. Sarah smiled softly and gave a slight nod. Mick let out the breath he was holding. “I would be”—his voice had gone gruff with emotion—“so honored for you to be my little girl.”

“Good. I’d like that,” Lilly said, as if life were that simple. And sometimes it was. Then she leaned her tiny body against the two of them and plopped her thumb into her mouth. And somehow, at that moment, kneeling on the wet bathroom floor, his arms around his new family, he felt like he had come full circle and it was the absolutely perfect place to have gotten engaged.

*   *   *

Two hours later the limo pulled up in front of the theater. The red carpet was rolled out, cameras were flashing as the stars posed for the paparazzi and the press. Farther down the line were the camera crews from the entertainment channels. “You ready?” Mick asked. Sarah nodded, her eyes warm with love. She looked sensational in a midnight-blue silk sheath dress she had purchased on a shopping trip with Lilly and Jane. It clung to her curves and accentuated her lean body and her endless legs. Her hair no longer looked like a lawn mower had rolled over her head while she was sleeping. The Soho hair salon had transformed it into a chic pixie cut with an edge. She was wearing the diamond opera necklace he’d purchased at Tiffany & Co. Sarah had tied it in a knot, which bumped gently between her breasts as the long, looped strand of diamonds swayed and sparkled. Mick’s gaze traveled to the two rose-gold slender bangles and the delicate whisper-thin diamond one on her elegant left wrist. His gaze traveled farther past her healing hand, to the brilliant flawless 3.2 carat diamond on her ring finger, which seemed to float above the simple platinum band, twinkling and sparkling at him, promising family and happiness and forever. He had planned to set the stage for the proposal: music, rose petals, chocolates, and champagne . . . He shook his head and smiled. The best-made plans laid low by a simple question.

“How about you, Auntie Jane?” Sarah’s voice pulled Mick’s attention back to the present. “Are you ready to face the madding crowd?”