Hazel meets my eyes and I nod. She reaches for the flowers and I pass them back to her, and the other two kids walk over to us. I reach into my pocket and palm the ring box I put there this morning.
When I get down on one knee, Allie releases a shocked gasp and covers her face with her hands.
“Allie Douglas, I’ve loved you for a very long time now. You’re everything to me, and…” I grin and shake my head, because now I’m the one who’s choked up. “If you’ll be my wife, and if you, me and the kids can be a family, it’ll make me the happiest man in the world. So please, Allie, marry me?”
She’s nodding her head and leaning down to kiss me at the same time. “Yes, yes, yes.”
Everyone around us cheers as I slide the ring with a round solitaire onto her finger. She looks down at it and then back at me, her lips parted with shock.
“It’s beautiful!” she cries.
“We helped pick it out,” Vi says. “We knew you’d love it.”
“I do. It’s so perfect.”
I stand up and hug Allie while burying my face in her hair, soaking in a few moments of just me and her. I knew when I decided to propose today that it wouldn’t be the most intimate setting, but I also knew Allie would want to include the kids.
My mom and Aunt Jo are here, too, which meant a lot to me. When I look over at them, they’re both wiping their eyes. Mom gives me a big smile and comes rushing over.
“Congratulations!” she says, hugging Allie and then me. “I couldn’t have asked for a better daughter in law.”
“Aw, thank you,” Allie says. “I feel the same way about you.”
Mom’s smile gets wider. “And this means I get to be a grandma!”
“Well, not immediately, Allie says, laughing. “But yes, someday for sure.”
Mom looks over at Max, Vi and Hazel and says, “Those three are my grandbabies now.”
“Oh.” Allie’s expression softens and she takes my mom’s hand. “Yes, they are. Thank you for that.”
Mom looks to the sky and puts her hand up. “And two of them are girls, thank you, Jesus! I finally got some girls!”
She goes over to the kids and I hear her tell them they can call her Grandma from now on. Allie and I laugh and keep accepting the congratulations of everyone at the cookout.
It’s just about sunset by the time we get another moment alone. Almost everyone is gone, and we’ve finished cleaning up when I turn to her and say, “I better get on the road.”
I said goodbye to Mom and Aunt Jo when they left the cookout earlier. Allie calls the kids downstairs so I can say goodbye to them, too.
“Try to get in some skates this week,” I tell Hazel. “I should be able to get us a little ice time at the Carson Center when you guys come next week.”
“No way!” She jumps up and down with excitement.
“Yeah, it’ll be fun.”
“I can ice skate, can I come too?” Max asks.
“Sure.”
“Badass,” he says, grinning.
“I’ll just take photos,” Vi says. “Me and ice skating don’t mix.”
I don’t want to make the situation awkward for the kids, so I just wave at them, but I’m surprised when, one by one, they come up and hug me.
“See you next week,” Vi says, jogging up the stairs.
“Have fun at training camp,” Hazel says, following her.
“See ya,” Max says, heading for the kitchen.
Allie walks me out to the car then, and we kiss and hug for a solid fifteen minutes before I say, “Maybe I should just get up early and drive there in the morning.”
She laughs. “We talked about this already. You’d have to get up at like 2:00 a.m. You’ll feel better for the first day of training camp if you go now.”
“Yeah, but I’ll feel better right now if I leave really early.”
She kisses me again, saying, “Go. Before I change my mind.”
I get in my rental car and she leans around the driver’s side door to kiss me one more time.
“I love you,” I say.
“I love you, too. Call me when you get there, okay? Even if it’s after midnight.”
“I will.”
I close my car door and she presses her palm to the window. I put my palm on the glass against hers and we stay like that for a few seconds before she pulls her hand away and kisses her fingertips, blowing me a kiss.
She steps away from the car and I reluctantly start it. There’s a churning in my stomach as I remember the last time I pulled away from Greentree Falls, when Allie told me to leave and never come back.
But as I look at her in my rearview mirror this time, the dread and anxiety aren’t there. We’re not two teenagers with impossible choices to make anymore. Now, we know that what we’ve got is rare, and we’re committed to the dreams we have together.