It's Our Time (Carolina Rebels 3)

“What’s that?” I ask curiously.

He doesn’t say anything right away. His hand is resting on my hip and he gives it a squeeze. “I’ve loved you for a long time, Sydney. I want to keep on loving you and taking care of you and Savannah. You two are the most important people in my life.” Where is he going with this? Ian takes a deep breath. “Will you marry me? Be my wife? Be mine so completely, let me be a part of your life, and give you the kind of life you want?”

I sit up, my eyes wide. “What?” He’s proposing?

Ian chuckles. “You’re supposed to say yes; not what.”

“Are you sure?”

He frowns. “What the fuck kind of question is that, babe?”

“I don’t know! I was half asleep when you started talking and now you’re proposing!”

“What’s your answer?” That warning tone is in his voice. Who knew he’d lose his patience when it came to one of the most important decisions of my life?

“What do you think?”

He starts to smile. “Say it. Make it real.”

Leaning over, my mouth only a breath away from his, I whisper, “Yes.”

I took my dad to the airport this morning. I think we’ll be okay as long as he stays out of my relationship and keeps his opinions to himself unless he’s asked for it. I didn’t tell him about how I’m now engaged either. Today has been good and busy, but now, we’re sitting down having dinner like a family. Never would I have thought something so simple and mundane would make me so happy.

“When do you want to get married?” I ask Sydney. “This summer?”

She glances over with surprise. “So soon?”

“You want to wait?” I frown. “What’s the point? If you want to marry me, why would we wait a year or two?” Her mouth opens, but I can’t stop just yet. “We were practically together for two years when we were teenagers and then again the past two years. It’s not like we don’t know one another and we need time to make sure we don’t discover something that could be a deal-breaker. So, what’s the problem, babe?”

Sydney avoids looking at me, pushing around her green beans or trying to find a way to help Savannah, which means I’m not going to like what she has to say. “I said yes because I love you and I think that is our future—”

“But?” I interrupt.

“But…” She shakes her head. “I don’t know. It seems so soon and this entire thing doesn’t seem real. I don’t want to rush us or push into something before we’re ready.” My mouth opens, but she holds up a hand to stop me. “Our relationship has never run on the timeline we’ve wanted and I just don’t want us to somehow screw it up by making it happen when we actually want it to.”

“So, this is about you being scared?”

Sydney sighs and with that one sigh, I can tell that she truly is worried.

“Babe.” She lifts her gaze to mine. “It’s different now than it was. It doesn’t matter what happens or if we make mistakes as long as we’re both fully committed to making it work. I’m not going anywhere. Ever.”

Sydney seems to think about this for a minute. “It’ll be small with just the people we’re really close to?”

“Whatever you want. Once I find you a ring, we’ll tell everyone and pick a date, okay?”

She nods. “All right.”

I grin. This is good. I told her to give me a week to pick out the ring. I did give her the option of picking it out herself, but apparently, I seemed too eager to do it myself, so she declined.

Tonight is a family date night, so to speak. Sydney and I haven’t been out in a while, and we didn’t really want to put Savannah on Logan again, even though he probably would watch her. So, I told her that we’d go out and take Savannah with us. Hence the family date night. We’re having dinner a little earlier than usual. After this, we’re going to the movies to watch one for kids.

Sydney is a little nervous because she’s never taken Savannah to the movie theater before. The movie we’re watching has been out for a little while, so hopefully there won’t be that many people in there. Plus, it is a Monday. That has to help. Then, it won’t be so bad if we have any issues with Savannah. I don’t think we will because she loves to watch movies at home. If she can sit and watch it at home, why can’t she do that in a theater?

When we get inside the theater, Savannah doesn’t want her own seat. She wants to sit in my lap. So far, there’s only us in here. Sydney holds out the small bag of popcorn. She didn’t want to get any, but this is Savannah’s first experience. She needs to have it done right with a bag of popcorn and a soda.

“Mmm. So good,” Savannah says. “What we doing?”

“We’re going to watch a movie, buttercup,” Sydney explains.