As they sat down at the restaurant, the waiter brought them Menu and left them to look at it for a while. After they ordered, Grace fidgeted on her seat next to Lucas.
"I don't know why I ordered, I can't eat a thing", she breathed out, breaking into a smile "My stomach feels like it's an arena of butterflies, I'm so happy!", her smile widened as Lucas pulled her into his side, kissing her hair with a smile.
Lillian smiled and raised her eyebrows.
"Well, you barely ate anything for breakfast", said Lillian.
Grace slightly gasped.
"I was too curious about what was going on to eat! And you kept silent all the time!", as Grace said that, all four of them laughed.
Gustave smiled as he looked at Lillian.
"How did you manage to stay silent? I would start talking on my elbow if I were in your position!", he quipped, sending them all to chuckles.
Lucas gently squeezed Grace's upper arm as he hugged her around shoulders and looked at Gustave.
"Which is why you weren't delegated for the job!", quipped Lucas, causing Gustave to playfully hit him with his napkin "HEY!", he exclaimed, making them all laugh again.
He felt Grace's gaze on himself and looked down at her. They shared a smile and Lucas gently kissed her forehead, causing her to lay her cheek on his shoulder and close her eyes for a moment, breathing him in.
Lillian smiled warmly at the sight of them so happy.
"Well, I won't lie to you, Gustave, it wasn't easy", rolling her eyes playfully, Lillian added "Especially with Grace asking every five minutes 'Where are we going?','What's going on?', 'Where is he?'", by now, Grace was hiding her face in Lucas' shoulder, her shoulders shaking from giggles. Lucas caressed her long brown hair, chuckling along with Gustave at the way Lillian was retelling their journey.
Gustave gave Lillian a sympathetic look
"I know just what you mean. I barely had any sleep last night thanks to this vampire lurking around the mansion, checking is every note in its place, fixing the rose petals arrows for 50
times per hour", he smirked at Lucas' facial expression that was a mixture of shock and laughter "And then he woke me up at dawn to make Grace's cookies and let them be half burned!"
As they all laughed, Grace wrapped her hands around Lucas' waist while he went on to defend himself.
"Hey, I could do it myself, but then you would have a stroke because I dared to enter your precious kitchen!", laughed Lucas.
Gustave glared at him, his lips twitching.
"How considerate of you to think about my mental health after you tested it for several times by now!", quipped Gustave, sending them all to another fit of laughter.
At that moment, the waiter came with their meals and they all started to eat, except for Grace who only took a bite of her chicken and a few French fries.
Lucas looked at her, his eyebrows slightly creased in concern.
"Sweetheart?", he whispered "Are you alright?"
Grace gave him a nervous smile.
"I told you I won't be able to eat", she murmured silently "I never can when I'm this excited."
Lucas' eyes softened and he softly smiled at her.
"Well, seeing that I was responsible for you feeling that way, let me see can I do anything to help you", he winked at her and Grace creased her eyebrows, smiling.
She watched as he took one French fry and brought it to her lips.
Her lips curled up as she looked up at him, knowing that he remembered their conversation at the train.
I would even feed you.
With a small smile, she opened her mouth slightly and took a French fry from his fingers. And another one. When he went even further and cut her some meat, both of them started to laugh silently.
"I told you I would feed you", he chuckled "Circumstances are of no relevance."
Grace giggled, feeling her blood warming up from his tender love.
"But, you also said that you will share YOUR French fries with me and all I can see is you picking them up from MY plate!", she playfully scolded him only to let out a little laugh of disbelief as Lucas stole one French fry from her plate and popped it in his mouth.
Lucas silently chuckled as he chewed and then took a French fry from his own plate and fed Grace with it.
"Better?", he teased her gently.
Grace giggled.
"Much better", she accepted a short sweet kiss from his lips and then they both continued eating.
Lillian felt tears in her eyes at seeing her little sister so happy. In order to hold them at bay, she wiped her lips with a napkin and looked up, smiling.
"So…Did you discuss the date?", she asked.
Grace and Lucas shared a look and he shook his head.
"No, we didn't. But I don't think we should wait that long", he glanced at Grace who nodded.
"I agree", she said "Life's too short to wait", she silently said and took his hand that was resting on his thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze "We all know how life can be unpredictable and how quickly we can lose it."
A silence prevailed at the table as they all realized that she was talking about a stabbing attack that nearly cost Lucas his life.
He brought her hand up to his lips and gently kissed her knuckles as he looked at her.
I'm fine, my love. I'm fine, thanks to you.
Lillian nodded.
"Alright. But we still have to prepare everything, send the invitations, organize catering", she glanced at Gustave who nodded "Sooo…is two months too long for you?"
Grace looked up at Lucas only to see him smiling thoughtfully, causing her lips to curl up.
"What?", she silently asked.
His fingers moved from her shoulder to ghost over her cheek as his smile warmed her heart.
"Two months from now means it's going to be February", his eyes caressed her with love and gentleness and he softly added "We could get married on Valentine's Day."
A silent gasp escaped Grace's lips and her eyes sparkled as she smiled happily at her love.
"That's perfect!", she breathed out and looked back at Lillian, smiling widely "Is that enough time?"
Lillian nodded with a smile.
"February 14th it is. Now, we need to make a guest list, make invitations, send them, organize the venue, find the priest…", her voice drifted away as she noticed amused looks from everybody around the table "What?! I had almost two days to think about all that will have to be done and…", she started to explain, but Grace interrupted her.
"Two days?! TWO DAYS?! You knew about this for two days and you didn't tell me?!", she quipped, laughing in mock disbelief.
Lillian put fingers on her temples and rubbed them, letting out a breath.
"Ugh, I don't know who was more tiring of the two of you! All that nervousness, doubting, thinking, rethinking, then thinking some more, whining how perfect you are, swooning, staring, smiling, dancing around, more rethinking…", as all at the table laughed at hers retelling of the last two days, Lillian shook her head, pretending to shiver "I wanted to drink a whole box of aspirin!
Grace reached out and took Lillian's palm in her fingers.
"You are the best sister on this world, Lillian", she smiled through her tears and Lillian smiled happily, gently squeezing her hand back.
—--
After the lunch, Lillian went back to the orphanage and Gustave went home to make sure that his staff didn't burn up the entire dinner course.
Grace giggled madly at Gustave's antics while she and Lucas decided to take a stroll in a park nearby.
She snuggled into his side as they walked.
"Is he always so worked up about his kitchen?", asked Grace, still giggling.
Lucas huffed a breath out.
"Something must have snapped in my cousin's head from all the falling as a kid", he chuckled as Grace laughed "I swear, he was the clumsiest boy ever! He would trip on something the minute he was up on his feet for a day!", as Grace's laughter grew stronger, Lucas started to laugh himself "I tried to be beside him as much as I could, to make sure that he doesn't scratch his knees at least for a day, but it was a mission impossible!"
Grace giggled as she looked up at him.
"Ooooh, you were trying to look after him! That's so sweet!", she said, wiping tears of laughter.
Lucas playfully snorted.
"Yeah, much good did that get me! Clumsy fool would usually grabbed me for support which often resulted in him pulling me down with him in the mud!", said Lucas, sending Grace into hysterics.
"Oh, what a pair you two are!", she managed to squeak out as both of them started to stumble from laughing so hard.
Lucas hugged her shoulders, holding her close as they walked toward the exit of the park, a comfortable silence falling between them.
He looked down at her, his eyes twinkling.
"You know what I just thought of?", as she looked up at him, he smiled "What do you think that we go home and I give you a grand tour of the entire mansion? You never saw all of it and pretty soon, you will be the mistress of it."
Grace felt her heart skip a beat and she smiled lovingly as he slowly nuzzled his nose against hers.
"I'd like that very much", she whispered and closed her eyes, welcoming his warm lips as he kissed her.
He gave her a long, sensual kiss that sent her head spinning.
"Good", he whispered "Lets go, my lady."
—--
About half an hour later, they entered the mansion and Lucas took Grace's coat and put it on a peg near the doors.
He offered her his arm.
"Shall we?, he murmured gently and she smiled and put her palm in the crook of his arm.
"Lead the way", she softly said.
Lucas showed her downstairs first. There were a meeting room, his office, their little rose garden, a room where he stole a few kisses from her before meeting Susan and Harry, a dining room and, of course, the kitchen
Passing by the kitchen Lucas shook his head at Gustave's grumbling about something.
He glanced at Grace.
"This is a forbidden area", he quipped, only to wink at her a second later "But, rules are here so we can break them!"
Grace giggled, squeezing his palm.
"I'll remember that!", she said and followed him upstairs.
On their way up the grand staircase they passed by a few of Lucas' house staff and all of them smiled and nodded politely at the young couple.
Grace returned every greeting with a warm smile, earning herself a kiss on knuckles from Lucas.
"All of them helped me with preparing everything today", he said as they reached the upper floor, making her eyes water.
He stopped in the middle of his step and looked at his love.
Grace let out a shuddering breath, quickly wiping her eyes.
"It was perfect", she mumbled "I've never been so happy, Lucas."
He gently smiled as he cupped her cheeks.
"This is only the beginning, my love", he whispered as he placed a sweet, short kiss on her lips "I will dedicate my life to make you happier than you've ever been, my angel."
Grace smiled through her tears and kissed him again, their kiss turning into a long, sensual one.
As they pulled apart, she gave him a wobbly smile and he kissed her knuckles as he continued to walk.
They passed the ballroom, a big dining room and after that, he brought her into a grand library.
Grace gasped as she entered, looking up, up, up…
"There's no end to it!", she slowly twirled herself, taking all the books in "Lucas, it's beautiful!"
Lucas smiled happily.
"I am glad you like it. If I am not working in my office, you can usually find me here", he showed toward the settee in front of the fireplace "I lost count on how many times I fell asleep over there!", he chuckled.
Grace smiled warmly at the image he painted to her.
She slowly walked between the shelves, looking at the spines of books, pulling out some of them from time to time.
"I love libraries", he heard her silent murmur as he followed her between the shelves "They were my safe haven when I was running away from one orphanage to another", at those words, Lucas took her palm in his as he fell in step with her "Libraries didn't charge for entrance. It was warm inside and I would spend days just sitting and reading", she sadly smiled "That's how I started to learn foreign languages. I've found books on studying languages, then some dictionaries…later, I would take books written in French and Spanish to see how much can I understand and I always asked for the same books in English to check my knowledge", she pressed her lips tightly together, looking down.
Lucas' heart clenched painfully. He stopped and slowly turned her toward him.
She slowly looked up at him.
He gently caressed her right cheek.
"You knew how to keep yourself off the street. You didn't go the wrong way, Grace. You were a fighter, a survivor even back then. And you knew how to keep yourself on the right path", he slowly put a stray curl behind her ear "You are amazing, my love. You knew right from wrong
even in the hardest time of your life", he came closer to her, their breaths mingling "I can only hope that our children will be just like you, Grace."
She let out a shuddering breath as she looked up at those eyes she loved so much.
Our children.
Her heart thumped fast, her eyes shone with happy tears as she smiled at him.
Our children.
She watched as he inched closer and gently kissed her lips, wrapping her in his arms, holding her close.
She was home.
—--
I can see it in your eyes and feel it in your touch
I know that you're scared, but you've never been this loved.
It's a long shot, baby, I know it's true
But if anyone can make it, I'm betting on me and you.
Just keep on moving into me
I know you're gonna to see
The best is yet to come.
And don't fear it now
We're going all the way
That sun is shining on a brand new day
It's a long way down and it's a leap of faith
But we're never giving up
'Cause I know we've got a once in a lifetime love.
Everybody's looking for what we've found
Some wait their whole life and it never comes around
So don't hold back now
Just let go of all you've ever known
You can put your hand in mine.
And don't fear it now
We're going all the way
That sun is shining on a brand new day
It's a long way down and it's a leap of faith
But we're never giving up
'Cause I know we've got a once in a lifetime love.
I close my eyes and I see you standing right there
Saying I do and they're throwing the rice in our hair
Well the first one's bor
And a brother comes along
And he's got your smile
I've been looking back on the life we had
I'm still by your side.
So don't fear it now
We're going all the way
That sun is shining on a brand new day
It's a long way down and it's a leap of faith
But I'm never giving up
No
Don't fear it now
I'll never let you go
When you're by my side
I know I've made it home.
It's a long way down
And it's a leap of faith
But I'm never giving up
'Cause I know we've got a once in a lifetime love
Lifetime love
Yeah, it's a lifetime love.
("Once in a lifetime" - Keith Urban)