She Keeps Getting His Packages And The Billionaire Knocks On Sunday And Stays For Lunch
A Harvest of Happiness
Back in Portland, Frederick kept his promise about cutting back on travel. He actually furnished his apartment, but most nights he ended up at Maya’s place.
“Move in with me properly,” Frederick said one night.
“Not just staying over most nights, but actually living together.”
“Your apartment or mine?”
“Yours,” Frederick said immediately.
“I know it is smaller but it feels like home. I just want to wake up with you every morning and know I am where I belong.”
“Yes,” Maya said, kissing him. “Absolutely yes.”
In March, Frederick sat her down with a serious expression.
“I need to talk to you about something important.”
“Okay.”
“The company has an opportunity to open a permanent research facility here in Portland,” Frederick said.
“It would mean I could be based here full-time. I need to know if you are in this for the long term, because I am.”
“I am completely, absolutely in this,” Maya felt tears spring to her eyes.
“I love you. I want to build a life with you here.”
“Good, because I am going to marry you someday, Maya Abbott. I just wanted to make sure you knew that.”
Maya laughed through her tears.
“Is that a proposal?”
“Not yet,” Frederick said.
“When I propose, you will know. It will be perfect.”
On a Saturday in late August, they drove out to a secluded beach. He got down on one knee in the sand.
“Maya Abbott, you have changed my entire life. Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” she said, pulling him up. “Yes, absolutely yes.”
They got married in October, exactly one year after their first lunch, in the botanical garden where Maya worked.
“Best decision I ever made was knocking on your door that Sunday,” Frederick whispered as they danced.
“Best decision I ever made was answering it,” Maya whispered back.
In March, Maya found out she was pregnant. She told Frederick that evening by handing him the test while he was making dinner.
“Really?”
“Really,” Maya confirmed.
Frederick picked her up, spinning her around.
“We are having a baby! We are having a baby, Maya!”
Their daughter, Rose, was born in November. Frederick was a devoted father from the first moment.
“I never knew I could be this happy,” Frederick told her one night as Rose slept in his arms.
“I spent so many years chasing success thinking that was what mattered. But this right here, this is everything.”
“We are lucky,” Maya agreed softly.
On a Sunday afternoon almost four years after everything started, Maya was in the garden with Rose while Frederick made lunch.
“Lunch is ready,” he called. “Come eat, you two.”
He looked over at Maya and his expression softened.
“What?” he asked.
“Just thinking about how lucky I am,” Maya said.
“How a series of misdelivered packages changed my entire life.”
Frederick pulled Maya close.
“You are my greatest success, Maya Vaughn. You and Rose, this life we have built.”
That evening, after Rose was asleep, Frederick had another idea.
“I want to start a foundation for sustainability education. And I want you to be part of it, to develop the botanical education component.”
“Frederick, that sounds amazing,” Maya said.
“I think it sounds perfect. Let’s do it.”
Maya looked at Frederick and the life they had built together. She felt nothing but gratitude.
Sometimes the best love stories began with the smallest gestures, the simplest kindness, and the willingness to open the door and let someone in.
Maya had opened the door, Frederick had stayed, and together they had built something beautiful.
