gift she believed it to be.
“Agreed.”
“So, from now on, birth control,” she insisted.
“Agreed.”
“You’re being awfully compliant.”
“The truth? I would prefer to wait a couple of years before having children.”
“Oh.” She hadn’t considered he wasn’t keen on starting a family right away.
“But my grandparents are in their seventies,” Vik continued. “If my children are to have the benefit of Deda and Babulya’s presence in their lives, we cannot indulge me.”
“I see.” Wow.
Once again, she was reminded that while she and Vik might be motivated by different hopes for the future, they both had them. And lucky for her, they dovetailed, as surprising as that might be.
“I hesitate to point this out,” Vik said. “Because I do want to gift my grandparents with the next generation of our family.”
“What?” Maddie couldn’t believe how comfortable she was having this discussion naked and sitting in his lap on the bed.
“Won’t it be difficult to start your school if we have a baby right away?” he asked.
She gave him a self-deprecating grimace. “I say all the time that money doesn’t matter to me, but the truth is, I’m counting on it to be able to ‘have it all,’ as they say.”
“You plan to have a nanny?” He sounded almost shocked.
And she loved him all the more for it. “Probably, but not to raise our children. However, if we are ever going to be able to leave the house, we have to have someone besides your grandparents we can trust to care for our children.”
“Yes.”
“So, we’ll have a nanny, someone who fits into our family, preferably matronly in both appearance and age.” So, sue her if Maddie didn’t want a beautiful young woman living under Vik’s nose in their house.
“What do you mean about the money then?”
“I have every intention of hiring qualified staff who share mine and Romi’s vision to run the school.”
Vik’s dark brow furrowed. “But you will both still give a great deal of time to the school. You will have to.”
“Yes, but we’ll make it work. Romi and I already discussed what would happen in the event one or both of us had a family.”
“I’m not surprised.”
“My father would be.” He’d always assumed she had no business sense if she didn’t want to be part of his business.
“Jeremy only sees part of the picture when he looks at you,” Vik agreed pragmatically.
“That’s all he’s interested in.” Jeremy Archer had never wanted to give the time necessary to get to know who Maddie was, not before Helene’s death and definitely not after.
“He can break out of his tunnel vision.”
“So you say. I’ve witnessed no evidence.”
Vik shook his head, clearly done with the topic. “You’ll need an efficient and knowledgeable personal assistant.”
“Exactly.” A nanny for convenience, not necessity, but a PA? That Maddie would need to make sure things got done.
Vik’s phone rang before they could continue their discussion. It was Conrad, excited about the opportunity for a live interview with the newly engaged couple on an evening celebrity-news show.
And so it began.
* * *
The next weeks passed in a whirl of activity. Interviews as a couple, interviews by herself. The media furor around Maddie and Vik’s engagement was even bigger than the initial craziness Perrygate had spawned.
Vik slept at her apartment every night while decorators and contractors worked overtime getting Parean Hall habitable for them. Maddie interviewed domestic staff while overseeing the changes to the main rooms and the master suite. She did her best to make sure both her and Vik’s design aesthetic was incorporated in their new home.
And could hear his voice saying “I told you so” when she realized she knew enough about his preferences to do that.
Maddie went back to her secret volunteering in her brown wig and contacts, dressed in clothes from the local superstore. Every minute spent with the children cemented her determination to do more.
She also scheduled a visit with the therapist she’d seen in the immediate months after her skydiving accident, when Maddie had realized the time had come to break away from her past. Dr. MacKenzie was vocal in her praise for how far Maddie had come in dealing with both her mom’s death and her father’s emotional neglect.
However the therapist evinced some concern about the marriage that Vik said he intended to be real and yet was connected to a very lucrative contract for him. Dr. MacKenzie asked Maddie to consider carefully her reasons for agreeing to the engagement.
So Maddie did and, even more importantly, she talked to Vik about it.
“Yes, the contract your father offered is beneficial to me, but getting married right now is important for you, too.”
“You think I said yes to the whole marriage thing because of the school, don’t you?” Had she?
She’d told herself on that crazy, surrealistic day that was exactly why she needed to consider the idea seriously.
But Vik just shrugged. “Even if the scandal had blown up like it could have, you would not have given up on the school. Romi would have been the public face to run it and you would have been the silent partner as I now will be.”
She loved his confidence in her. The pleasure of it masked the full import of his words for a moment, but then it settled in.
“You will?” When had Vik offered to partner with her and Romi in founding the school?
“We made promises to see one another’s dreams fulfilled. Marriage to you will give me AIH. I’ve told you that I will ensure it provides for your dreams as well.”
Maybe she should have expected something like this, but she hadn’t. “You really are my white knight.”
“I thought you did not believe in fairy tales.” His voice and expression were teasing, but something told her he liked her claim.
“Maybe I just believe in you.” He had always been the exception, the one man she trusted—even when she hadn’t thought she had a reason to.
Refusing to admit it didn’t make it any less true.
“You do,” he said with a mix of implacability and smugness that should have annoyed
