Jamal was dozing in the back seat by the time Lucy pulled into the parking lot at Harry's place.
After Lucy turned off the car she didn't get down immediately but remained in her seat staring at Jamal through the rearview mirror.
Sometimes it was so easy to forget that he was only a kid because of the way he acted and spoke.
She giggled when she recalled how he had proudly taken out the card to pay for their movie ticket. Now that was something.
She couldn't wait to watch him grow up so she would see how he would pamper his girlfriend. Hopefully they won't be in the plural.
She had noticed that majority of the kids who had flocked around him at the park were girls.
She spent only a moment contemplating whether to carry him in or wake him up, before he opened his eyes.
He smiled at her when he caught her eyes in the mirror, "I dozed off," he said as though she had missed it, and she grinned.
"So, I noticed. We are here now. Ready to go in?" she asked, and he gave her a nod.
Lucy got out of the car and as she unlocked his door and unfastened his seatbelt, his arms went around her neck.
"Thank you, Lucy. I love you," Jamal said, and Lucy was taken aback when her heart fluttered pleasantly.
"I love you too, Jam. And I had fun today. You were such a gentleman," Lucy said as Jamal broke the hug so she could straighten up.
"Uncle Harry says I come from a family of gentlemen," Jamal said, and Lucy giggled as she locked the car and took his hand.
"Yeah. No doubt about that," Lucy said, thinking she should have gotten something outrageously expensive with Harry's card just to teach him a lesson.
"Those kids at the park thought you were my mom," Jamal told Lucy as they got into the elevator.
"Really? So what did you say to them?" Lucy asked, and he shrugged.
"I told them you will be my girlfriend's mom," Jamal said with a grin, and Lucy giggled.
Once they got to Harry's, Tom opened the door to let them in, "Finally, you're back. I missed you," Tom said as he kisses her.
"She didn't have the time to miss you because she was with me," Jamal informed Tom as he went to meet Aaron and Harry who were playing a round of soccer.
"How did your date go?" Aaron asked, pausing the game to look at Jamal.
"It was very fun," Jamal said filling them in on all they had done.
"I can't believe you gave him your card to pay for our date," Lucy said to Harry with a shake of her head.
"You gave him one of your cards?" Tom asked in amusement and Harry grinned.
"I don't see why not. He has to start learning to be the perfect gentleman, right, Jamal?" he asked, and Jamal bobbed his head.
"Right. Lucy let me pay for our games. And I didn't let anyone steal Lucy," Jamal said proudly and Tom raised a brow.
"Did someone want to steal her?" Tom asked and Lucy giggled.
"A man wanted to join us, but Jamal shooed him off by telling him I had someone I was getting married to," Lucy explained, and Tom grinned at Jamal.
"You did? I should reward you for that," Tom said, and Lucy rolled her eyes, while the men laughed.
"Tell me, what do you want?" Tom asked, and Jamal looked from Aaron to Harry for a suggestion.
"If I were you I would ask for a private jet or a house," Harry suggested.
"Tell him you will think about it," Aaron said, and Jamal nodded.
"I will think about it," Jamal said, and Tom grinned.
"As long as you don't say you want Lucy or all of my shares or the company," Tom said as he patted Jamal's shoulder.
"We need to run now," Tom said as he glanced at his wristwatch and Harry nodded knowingly.
The drive from Harry's to Lucy's would probably take them about thirty minutes and they would need to freshen up and dress up before driving another distance to Bryan'shand Sonia's.
"So, how did your date go?" Tom asked as he drove them to Lucy's.
"It was fun. Jamal was fun," Lucy said with a grin as she told him what Jamal had said about not wanting to hurt Tom but left out the part apart wanting to date their daughter.
Saying that would only make the conversation awkward, and she didn't want that. Things were going well between them right now, and she still had a lot of things she needed to figure out and put in place in her head before ever broaching that subject again.
"Jewel?" Tom who had been laughing called softly, when he noticed she had gone silent all of a sudden.
"Yeah?" Lucy asked as she smiled at him.
"Is everything alright? You suddenly became quiet," Tom said and she nodded.
"Yeah. I'm going to miss Jamal when he goes back," she said with a sigh.
"We can always visit him or have him visit us if you want," Tom assured her.
"Sure."
As they dressed up an hour later, Lucy turned to Tom, "So where are you taking me?" she asked, and he grinned.
"It's a surprise. I'm sure you'll love it," Tom said, and Lucy eyed him suspiciously.
"I don't like surprises," she said as she turned away from him to put on her lens.
"Well, I'm very certain you will love this one in particular," Tom said as he looked her over.
For their date Lucy had chosen a glimmering black midi column dress with a halter neck. Her hair was a tumble of curls which fell over her shoulders. A pair of diamond and emerald drops dripped from her ears.
"Your beauty never ceases to steal my breath," Tom said, and Lucy grinned as she met his gaze in the mirror.
"Let's hope you still think so fifty years from now when my skin is all wrinkly," Lucy joked, and Tom caught her hand before she could turn away.
"I love it when you think so far ahead and speak of it so casually," Tom said with a grin, and Lucy chuckled.
"Why? You think I'm going to let you go? You are stuck with me, love. You're mine," she said as she held his warm gaze, and Tom smiled.
"I think wrinkles would look sexy on you," Tom said, and she giggled.
"Please, no! I'm glad you're so wealthy. I can always have plastic surgeries to look younger and sexier..."
"I had no idea you so desperately wanted to look like your plastic doll aunt Sara," Tom cut in and Lucy's lips dropped open in shock but laughter gurgled out of her.
"You're a mean bastard to say that," she said as she laughed.
"Like fine wine, you will only become more beautiful with age," Tom assured her as he looked her over one more time before leading her out of the apartment.
"Where is this place?" Lucy asked as they drove into the residential area where Bryan's house was located. She doubted there were any restaurants or hotels in the neighborhood.
"The place I'm taking you to," Tom said, flashing her a grin, and Lucy adjusted in her seat as they drove past the open gate into the premises.
"This looks like someone's home not a restaurant," she said, and Tom shrugged.
"I said we were going out on a date. I never said I was taking you to a restaurant, did I?"
"What are you up to?" she asked suspiciously.
"Something good," Tom assured her as he drove around the house to park the car away from view as they had agreed so that Sonia wouldn't be suspicious when she saw too many cars parked outside their new home.
As he drove around the house, Lucy caught sight of Harry's car which was already parked there and saw Matt getting out of his car.
"What's happening?" she asked and he shrugged as he parked the car.
"We are here now. You will find out soon enough once we join the others," Tom said as they both got out of the car.
Tom led Lucy to the back of the house, and she was stunned by the decoration and arrangement of the place.
There were flowers and balloons everywhere she turned and in the middle was a single wide bouquet table like the one at the anniversary dinner party.
"You're here. For a moment I thought you were going to be arriving after them," Jade said as she walked up to them.
"Hello, Lu the drunk! How are you doing today? Are you sober now?" Jade greeted sweetly and Lucy giggled.
"I'm not sure I am. What's going on here? Whose party is it?" Lucy asked curiously.
"You do know how to keep secrets better than Bryan. I'm really impressed," Jade said with a pleased smile as she plucked Lucy's purse from her hand.
"It's Sonia's engagement party. I'm going to be holding on to your phone so you don't sneak off and alert her," Jade said, and Tom watched Lucy as she gasped, her eyes wide with happy surprise.
"Really? Bryan is proposing to Sonia tonight?" Lucy asked Tom and he grinned.
"Yeah. He didn't want you to know about it so you wouldn't tell Sonia," Tom explained and she rolled her eyes.
"I wouldn't have told Sonia about it. Besides, I would have been happy to be a part of the arrangement! I feel cheated," Lucy said with a scowl as she turned to Jade.
"Is everything in place? Is there something I can do?" She asked, and Jade shook her head.
"Nope. Everything is in place. We had too many hands on board. Mia and Jeff took care of the catering, I handled the decoration, and Candace handled the florist. Matt is seeing to the waiters," Jade said and Lucy sighed.
"I see."
"You don't have to look so sad. I'm sure you'd be with Sonia all through the wedding planning process. You will definitely be in charge of that," Tom said, and her eyes lit up again.
"You're right! I actually have a wedding to plan! Oh, my God! I didn't even think of that!" Lucy exclaimed laughing happily, and Jade shook her head in amusement.
"Well, I'm going to leave you both now. I need to get back to my man," Jade said as she turned to leave with Lucy's purse, and then paused to look at Tom.
"By the way, Harry said you offered to take care of our vacation?" She asked, and Tom chuckled.
"Yeah. Why? You don't want me to?" Tom asked, while Lucy looked at them curiously wondering what vacation they were talking about.
"Can I trust you to make sure it's as romantic as possible? Don't go all protective possessive big brother on me and get us separate bedrooms," Jade warned, and Tom grinned.
"I would never think of doing that to either of you," Tom assured her, and she grinned.
"You're such a good brother. When you want to propose to Lucy, I will go the extra mile for you," Jade promised as she pecked his cheeks before walking away.
Tom turned to see Lucy's reaction to what Jade had said but she was merely smiling as she looked around, "I suppose this is the property they purchased?" Lucy asked and Tom gave her a nod.
"Sonia is going to be so happy. This is a dream come true for her. Getting married to someone she loves and having a family," Lucy said happily.
"What about you? What is going to be a dream come true for you?" Tom asked as he watched her with interest.
"Why? Are you going to make it come true?" She asked with a teasing smile.
"Sure. I would love to if it's something I can do. So, tell me," Tom urged her.
Lucy opened her mouth to say it but frowned when she realized she didn't even know what it was.
She pursed her lips as she considered the question for a moment.
If she had been asked this same question a week ago she might have said getting to the peak of her career or owning a house or something, but now she wasn't so sure anymore.
She wasn't sure she had ever had a dream that wasn't tied to her career. All she had been doing until now was merely existing and living for her job.
She had not really lived until she moved to Ludus. Until she met Tom. Until she fell in love with him and met all the wonderful people connected to him.
Yes, independence was still a major personal goal for her. Being able to do what she want, when she wanted and how she wanted. But in Tom's brief absence the independence had meant next to nothing and all she had wanted was to have him back with her.
All these years had she not thought that she didn't need a man in her life? She never would have guessed that she would become happier by letting a man into her life. Yet, here she was.
In the last couple of weeks she had come to learn that there was more to life than her career or even money.
This was begining to make her realize that she did not know herself as much as she had thought she did all this time, and perhaps it was time to really get to know herself and find out what she wanted. Maybe it was time to start dreaming again.
Tom smiled as he watched different emotions flicker on her face. He had expected her to say something about getting to the peak of her career, but seeing how confused she looked, he was somewhat relieved.
Maybe there was hope for him after all.
"What are you thinking about so seriously? Want to own a fashion line?" He asked to get her attention and Lucy smiled as she shook her head.
"Nah! I like working for you too much," she assured him with a grin.
"That's such a relief. I have no doubt how fashion line would be out of business if you decided to be a competitor," Tom said making her giggle as they went to join the others.
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