“Baby,” I say, getting up now, wiping her tears away. “It was always you,” I whisper. “It’s always going to be you. My heart doesn’t beat without you. All the future memories are blank unless you are in them. Marry me,” I say, bending my forehead to hers. “Please be my wife.” I hold my breath, not even shy to admit that I would beg her on my knees to make her say yes.
She looks at me, her hand coming up to hold my face. “Forever,” she says. “I’ll love you forever.” I swallow now. “You’re my forever.”
Chapter 31
Alex
I look into his blue eyes, and the only thing I can think of is I don’t think I can ever be this happy. His lips crash onto mine as he pulls me to him, and the taste of tears fills our kiss. He lifts me up and buries his face in my neck. My hand goes to the back of his head. “I love you.” I place my cheek on his head.
The doorbell rings. “That’s the car.” Neither of us lets go of the other one. “We should get going,” I urge, but we still don’t move. He puts me down slowly after a minute and then looks at me. “What?” I ask him, watching his face, and then his eyes find mine.
“It’s time to slip on the ring,” he says with a shy smile as he takes the ring out of the box, and I hold out my left hand. I gasp when I see that the ring looks like my mother’s engagement ring.
“Oh my God,” I gasp when I finally look at it. “You remembered,” I say of the conversation we had when I was sixteen, and I said I wanted the same ring as my mother but oval. I look down, seeing the rose gold ring with the oval-shaped diamond in the middle. Little white diamonds fill the band. “Oh my goodness.” I want to say more, but the doorbell rings again.
“We should get going,” Dylan says, grabbing my hand.
“This sucks,” I say, slipping my hand in his. “Aren’t we supposed to have sex after getting engaged?” I walk down the steps with the dress flowing around my legs. “I’m thinking that is like rule number one. You know, to cement the contract.”
He laughs at me as we walk out the front door, and the driver is waiting beside the car. He opens the back door, and I get in before Dylan. “Engaged,” I say when Dylan sits beside me, and the driver closes the door. I hold up my hand, looking at it. “Like from boyfriend to fiancé in a week.” I smile at him as he leans in and kisses my neck with his arm around my back, pulling me to him. “Is that where you went?” I ask him, wanting to know all the details.
He shakes his head. “I went to Uncle Matthew’s,” he tells me. “The guys were all waiting there.”
“What guys?” I ask, shocked.
“My dad, your dad, Grandpa.” He names the only three guys who really matter in all of this.
“My father?” I say, shocked by this news.
“Well, I asked your mom yesterday, and then today, I asked your father.” His words shock me, and I have to put a hand to my chest. This time, it’s not from the crushing pain but instead from the fullness of it. “I was planning on doing this next week.” He grabs my left hand, kissing my finger with the ring on it. He looks down at it, and his whole face lights up. “But seeing you all dressed up and knowing that we are going to be coming out as a couple, I want everyone to know that you’re mine forever.”
He releases my hand, and I look down at my own hand, so blissfully happy I can’t help the tear that escapes me. “Married.” I look up at him, and all he can do is lean over and kiss my lips so softly. His hand comes up to hold my chin, and he rubs his thumb back and forth. “Can one be happy and then suddenly so nervous that they are going to throw up?” I ask him, looking out of the window once the car stops.
I put my hands to my stomach as I see the whole scene in front of me. We have three cars in front of us. The barricade where the fans are all lined up with their phones out, taking pictures and yelling at the players who are getting out of their cars. The car moves up one more spot and I can see the blue and green carpet now, matching the team colors. The press is all lined up facing the white backdrop that has the foundation’s name and the team name stamped across it. A couple of reporters are there, interviewing some of the players. The car moves one more spot, and my hand goes to my stomach. “Do you want to just go as we always do?” I hear him ask me and look over at him. “We can just walk the carpet as we always do.” His eyes meet mine. We’ve been on the red carpet before, always together laughing and joking.