Mrs. Cline laughed. “Y’all are better than all my soaps put together.”
“Just another day at Angel Creek Hospital.” Karen sighed. She motioned to Madison. “Go put this on, then go with him. I’ll finish up here if that’s okay with Mrs. Cline.”
Mrs. Cline seemed to consider a moment. “Okay with me, although I’d prefer if y’all just rolled my bed into wherever they’re going. I have a feeling the rest of the show is going to be really good.”
Madison smiled. Yeah, she had that feeling too.
Levi’s fingers closed over the velvet box in his pocket.
He’d gotten Karen to help him set the stage.
The stage that really was a bit late, considering, but still something he wanted to do for Madison.
Something he wanted her to have when she looked back on their pre-marriage time together.
When their kids asked how he’d proposed, he didn’t want her to say, “Well, we thought I was pregnant and he blurted out that we were getting married. Then, later, in his bathroom floor, I told him I wasn’t pregnant but he said he wanted to marry me anyway.”
Nope, that wasn’t what he wanted her to remember when someone asked about how he’d proposed.
He wanted her to have romance.
He’d fallen for her at first sight, right down to remembering what she’d worn, something he usually didn’t pay attention to with women.
He’d wanted to re-create the moment, to get down on his knees, and ask her to marry him properly.
He’d considered proposing at the lake.
After all, what was more romantic than an evening spent at the lake in privacy? It’s where they were getting married, where they’d be spending the first part of their honeymoon in the small lake house. The second part was a surprise.
She’d mentioned one night that she’d always wanted to see the Grand Canyon. He’d finagled a hotel room overlooking the canyon where they could lie in bed and watch the sun rise. Plus, if he got her alone at the lake, he might get distracted by the fact they were alone and then he might forget to propose. He doubted it, but when alone with Madison, he seemed to have a one-track mind and it involved seeing how quickly he could put a look of ecstasy on her face.
Pretty darned fast.
“You need me to wipe the drool off your chin, lover-boy?”
“Nah, Karen.” He grinned at the charge nurse. “You’ve helped enough, thanks.”
At that moment the bathroom door opened and Madison stepped out wearing her cartoon-covered scrub top. He smiled. Perfect.
She was perfect.
Perfect for him.
Made for him.
And the moment was perfect. Just as he’d hoped for.
They were in the same room they’d first met. She was wearing the same top. Only this time, when he looked at her, he knew what that crazy beating in his chest was.
Placing his hand over his heart, he dropped to one knee.
Madison’s eyes widened. Her lips parted in surprise. “Levi?”
He knew his love for her shone in his eyes, on his face, that she could probably see the wildly beating pulse at his throat, that she could probably see the banging of his heart against his ribcage. He knew she loved him, knew she’d already agreed to be his wife, yet still he could barely breathe. Reminding himself that he had this in the bag, that she wasn’t going to refuse him when her love for him shone just as brightly in her eyes, he pulled the box from his pocket, popped it open, and took her just as unsteady hand into his shaking one.
“I love you, Madison, with all my heart and all my being and all that I am.” He’d never spoken truer words. Never. “Will you do me the honor of spending the rest of your life with me as my partner, my everything, my wife?”
Not knowing he’d planned to propose here, in front of them, Karen and Mrs. Cline ahhed collectively.