Page 74 of Eligible Best Friend

“Lia Wescott, will you marry me?”

“Yes, Ford. Of course.” I drop to my knees and slam my mouth against his. The ring can wait. I need a little public make-out session with my future husband first.

* * *

Five years later…

Ford

I bite the inside of my cheek as Mitch’s new partner stammers through the report. Arnesh is now a paramedic with his own EMT and I’m back in Fargo. Only I work at a hospital as their newest ER physician.

The poor rookie finishes her report and smiles.

“Thank you. Good work.”

She beams and Mitch rolls his eyes. When she walks away to tend to the cot, he leans in. “You can be a little harder on them, you know.”

“Nah. That’s your job. Got a minute to hang around?”

Mitch nods and leaves me with the patient. I run through the case and rattle off my orders for the nurse. So many new faces and a few familiar ones.

But one familiar one is waiting on me outside the treatment room, talking to Mitch and probably catching up on the latest Fargo EMS gossip.

When I finally finish, I find my wife, Great Plains Life’s newest flight paramedic, showing Mitch pictures of our one-year-old girl. Ella Elaine Monroe is the favorite of both grandmas and the bane of her three-year-old brother’s existence. But Kellan Ford Monroe can take care of himself and negotiate whatever he wants out of all his grandparents.

Both kids adore their older brother, Jayden, and he has his hands full between them and Cass’s twins.

I’d like to say I fought hard for custody, but my lawyer did all the work for half the fees. Gerald Wescott’s contact was worth four times what he charged. I’ve had joint custody for the last four years and once Cass started dating her now husband, she even apologized.

It’s not exactly water under the bridge, but Lia and I have an amicable relationship with Cass and her new husband. Which is good since she’s going to be my boss’s boss next month as the hospital’s CEO. She’s got her family, I’ve got mine, and we both have Jayden. The past can stay in the past. Each of us has too much going on in the present.

“Is my wife spreading lies?”

“Now, Dr. Monroe.” Mitch shakes his head. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to call you that.”

“Technically, you could’ve before.”

“And you would’ve hated me. I gotta go check on the rookie. The whole family going to Ryan’s cookout next weekend?”

Lia grins and tucks her phone away. “He’s on call, but the kids and I will be.”

Five years. I thought I lost it all more than once, but I got more than I could’ve ever imagined. The woman of my dreams, a house full of kids, grandparents who can’t get enough of them, and siblings of my own. And it’s all because of this woman right here, wearing a flight suit that can’t possibly hide a body I can get lost in for hours.

I spent a lot of time trying not to dwell on why life wasn’t working out the way it was supposed to, but I wouldn’t have wanted to end up anywhere else with anyone else. Everything happened the way it was meant to.

Lia leans in close. “That reminds me. Jayden’s with Cass tomorrow night and your mom wants to take Ella and Kellan overnight. We get the night to ourselves and I hear you do this thing with your tongue . . .”