“I’ll tell you what I’m missing,” my dad interrupted.
“Maybe a charter for two is a good idea,” I said, laughing.
“I’m missing a wedding and grandchildren,” my dad said. “When are you kids going to get on with it?”
“Ask your daughter, sir. I’m ready whenever she is,” Hayden replied.
“I wanna finish college, Dad. Life’s so good right now. I just want to enjoy it for a while, just as it is.”
My dad huffed and turned back to the dining area where Michael and Landon were arguing about something.
“You know, we could get married this summer,” Hayden said. “We don’t have to think about the babies thing until you graduate, but I’d like to marry you before you finish school.”
“You would?” I said, stroking his chin with my finger, and he dipped to kiss me.
“I really would.”
How was it possible I’d gotten this lucky? As much as life had turned on a dime that afternoon down by the river, it had shifted again the day I’d met Hayden Wolf. And for nothing but the better. I had him in my life forever and that gave me a certainty that no matter what was ahead of us, the future was only full of happiness.
“I’ll marry you this summer—hell, I’d marry you tomorrow. But let’s not do the babies quite yet. I want you to myself for a while longer.”
“Want to do it in Taormina? I know how much you love Italy,” he asked.
“I don’t care where we go. I just don’t want my honeymoon to be on a yacht.” It might rain a lot in England, but I’d never missed the constant sun of the Mediterranean and the Caribbean.
He pulled me closer and kissed the top of my head as we stood watching our families laugh and joke together. “No yachts, I promise. Just you and me and whoever else we want to invite, wherever you want it to be.”
“As long as I get to walk down the aisle to you, then the rest will just fall into place.” As long as I had every sunrise and sunset with him by my side, nothing else mattered.