“Open your eyes.”
I opened them and immediately shut them again. Then I opened them. My cottage… and my greenhouse… they were here by the lake.
They had even moved my raised flower beds. There were pots everywhere holding my plants, waiting to be transplanted. I started crying when I saw my Nan’s begonias.
And that was before Mac led me past the house to see a cleared area just down the hill on the waterfront.
“I want to build us a house,” he said. “Down there.”
I was speechless. I nodded as tears started to flow.
“Oh, Mac, it’s amazing. I… thank you.”
He gave me a small nod and then took a deep breath. He pulled something out of his pocket.
“I know it’s fast. But…” He lowered himself to one knee and took my hand. “I am so in love with you, Suzanna. Will you marry me?”
I stared at me. I was pretty sure my eyes were bugging out of my head. But I knew. In my heart, I knew.
Mac hadn’t been avoiding me. He’d been planning. Setting this up. Doing the impossible.
Building a perfect little paradise for me. For us.
“Yes,” I whispered. “Yes, I will marry you!”
Mac’s somber face split into a grin, and then he was on his feet, kissing me, lifting me up into the air.
“Thank God,” Lucky said loudly. I laughed, looking over to see Kirsten smacking his arm. She did that a lot. But she was smiling.
We were all smiling.
Lucky grabbed a bucket of ice and Champagne from the greenhouse and popped the cork, filling a glass for each of us. Then Kirsten pulled out a shopping bag and handed out four new pairs of garden gloves.
I stared at the gloves, then at my friends.
“What’s going on?”
“Those plants need to get settled, right?”
I nodded slowly.
“Some need to get into the ground right away.”
“We are here to help,” Lucky said, holding up a spade.
“But it’s almost dark out.”
“I can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing,” Kirsten said. Lucky cleared his throat. “Well, almost anything,” she said with a blush.
I looked around at my friends and fiancé. I was too choked up to do anything but nod at first. But pretty soon, I was giving directions. We drank Champagne, transplanted, mulched, and tucked lots of other stuff into the greenhouse to be dealt with later. It was crowded in there but still warm from the afternoon sun. We made sure all the plants had water and weren’t overcrowded.
We even checked the house and made sure all of my business stuff was ready to go.
It was a good thing they brought more than one bottle of Champagne. By the time we walked back to their place and said goodnight, we’d polished off three.
Chapter 42
Mac
“Everything has to be perfect.”
“I know, I know,” Lucky said, trying to calm me down. “I’m on it.”
“I’d feel better if someone else were on it,” I groaned. Lucky didn’t take offense.
“The girls are decorating. The caterer is setting up. Preacher is only halfway drunk. Dev is feeding him and making him drink coffee. Donnie and Whiskey are on kiddie duty. We’re on it.”
“Okay. Where’s Jack?”
“He’s out running errands. Getting stuff we don’t need. Janet keeps texting him more stuff. It is hilarious.”
“What? Why?”
“Because today is the day,” Lucky said. “The big guy is going down.”
“What do you mean?”
“He means,” Cal said, coming in with a bag full of batteries for the LED candles, “your wedding day is the perfect time to prank Jack. Finally.”
“Seriously?” I demanded, glaring at the two jackasses who were about to ruin my wedding day.
“Everyone is in on it. Even Janet,” he said with a wink.
“Oh, God,” I moaned. “What are you idiots up to? Don’t pour a bucket of pig’s blood on him.”
“Gross,” Cal said, wrinkling his nose.
“Don’t worry. It’s nothing bad. He’ll love it.”
“Whatever you say. Just don’t fuck up the ceremony.”
“You have about twenty minutes. Everything has to be timed perfectly.”
“I’m ready. Is she?”
They exchanged a glance.
“What’s wrong?” I said, my heart thudding in my chest.
“She’ll be ready. Mols and Angel are with her,” Cal said, slapping my back. My cousin appeared and slapped my back again. Lucky smirked and lifted his palm. I jumped out of the way.
“Don’t you fucking dare.”
Lucky just grinned and made himself scarce.
“Let’s go out to the deck. It looks great. You’ll see there is nothing to worry about.”
I nodded and took the stairs, following him outside. Getting married at Devil’s Lake was kind of a tradition now. The girls had it down to a science.
We stepped outside to see that Sally and her band were nearly done setting up and doing a sound check. Donnie grabbed two beers from the bar. Kyle, Nick, and Drake were all back there setting up. They refused to let us hire someone for the night, even after I asked them to stand up there with the rest of us.