Chapter 5 - THE QUESTION THAT CHANGED EVERYTHINGAs the door clicked shut behind Marcus, the heavy tension in the room melted away, replaced by a quiet, warm intimacy.
Daisy stirred on the bench, rubbing her sleepy eyes and sitting up. She looked around the room, spotted Elena, and beamed with pure, unadulterated joy.
She stood up, walked across the floor in her red velvet dress, and grabbed the hem of Elena’s skirt.
"Are you still sad, Elena?" Daisy asked, her big blue-gray eyes searching her face.
Elena knelt down, wrapping her arms around the little girl and burying her face in Daisy’s curls to hide the fresh tears of wonder springing to her eyes. "No, sweetie. I’m not sad at all anymore."
Daisy pulled back, tilted her head with serious, four-year-old contemplation, and asked the question that had been hovering in her heart since they first met.
"Then... will you be my new mom?"
The entire restaurant held its breath.
Arthur Vance smiled softly, turning toward the kitchen doors with a polite nod. "I think I’ll check on the dessert menu," he muttered, giving the two of them space.
Theo stepped forward, kneeling beside his daughter and Elena. His dark eyes were filled with a raw, terrifying vulnerability that terrified and thrilled him all at once.
"She asks big questions," Theo whispered, his voice thick with emotion. "She doesn't usually do that. Not since her mother left us two years ago."
"Theo..." Elena breathed, her hand resting gently on his arm.
"I know it’s fast," Theo said quickly, his hands shaking slightly as he took her other hand in his. "I know we just met tonight. But from the second I walked out of that service hallway and saw you holding my daughter’s hand... I knew my life had just changed forever. You don't have to answer right now. But please... don't walk away."
Elena looked from Theo’s hopeful, earnest face down to Daisy’s beaming smile.
She thought of all the Christmases past—the lonely apartments, the cold rejections, the rings that felt like crimes, the men who couldn't see her worth.
And then she looked at the man who worked with his hands to build an honest life, and the little girl who had chosen her when the world had turned its back.
She squeezed Theo’s hand tightly.
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"I don't need time to think about it," Elena whispered, a radiant smile breaking across her face as the snow fell softly outside the bistro windows. "Yes. I will."
Daisy squealed with delight, jumping into both of their arms as Theo pulled Elena into a deep, tender kiss that sealed a Christmas Eve none of them would ever forget.
