Free to Love

Chapter 50

Shawn

"Where's Joanna? We shouldn't eat without her," Grace said as she sat down in front of her Belgian waffle on Sunday morning.

"She's sleeping in. I'll save her breakfast, don't worry."

"But we always eat together. You said we should eat as a family," she said, pushing her plate back.

Nolan was obviously torn. He kept looking between Grace and the delicious waffle. Finally he followed suit and pushed his plate back, too.

I pushed my plate away as well. "Okay. We'll wait for her. Can we have a little talk until she gets up?"

Both kids nodded.

"You guys really like Joanna, right?"

Again, their little heads bobbed up and down.

"I love her," Grace said.

"So you know how Joanna and I are really good friends, right? And that's why she stayed with us until her apartment was ready?"

"Yup," Nolan said. "She's our friend, too."

I smiled. "Yes, she is. But things have changed between me and Joanna. We're not just friends anymore. She's my girlfriend."

A look of surprise passed over Grace's face. "Your girlfriend?"

"Yeah. We're going to start dating. You'll probably see a lot more of her."

Nolan was smiling. "Cool."

Grace gave me a serious look. "Will you marry her?"

I was prepared for this question based on our conversation about Brooke.

"We're just dating right now, Gracie. It takes time for people to decide if they want to get married."

"Well, I think you should marry her. Then she can move back in. I miss her," she said.

"Just marry her, Dad," agreed Nolan.

I smiled and then laughed. I couldn't believe how well they were taking this.

"I don't think we're ready to get married. If and when we are, I'll tell you two first. Deal?"

"Deal," they said in unison.

"In the meantime, let's not talk about marriage. It's a little too soon for that. I'm going to go get Joanna now so that we can eat," I said as I stood up.

I went upstairs and knocked softly on her door.

"Come in," she said.

She was sitting on her bed, dressed and waiting for me to let her know I was done talking to the kids.

"How'd it go?"

I sat down next to her and kissed her cheek. "It could not have gone better."

"They're okay with it?"

"More than okay. They are really happy."

She was beaming with joy. "They are?"

"They love you, hun. Of course they are happy," I said.

"I love them, too, Shawn."

Maybe this was crazy, but Joanna saying she loved my children was just as big a deal to me as when she'd said she loved me. I couldn't be with someone long-term who didn't love Grace and Nolan.

"They are waiting downstairs for you. They wouldn't touch their waffles until you came down."

"Then let's eat."