Saylor

“Well….” Grady and Owen stare at each other, having a silent conversation only they’re privy to before Grady’s cheeks turn red, and he shakes his head.

Owen laughs a little harder. “Fine, I’ll go first.” He stands up from the rocking chair and pulls me into a hug. “I love you, Say.”

“Love you too?” I reply, desperate for him to throw me a bone and tell me what the hell is going on.

“Do you know what today is?”

“Uh…Friday?” I offer.

His breath of laughter fans across my cheeks before he weaves our fingers together and guides me to the bottom step of our porch.

“Today is the day that I dread every year,” he informs me.

My brows furrow. “What?”

“Ten years ago today, I made the biggest mistake of my life. I broke your heart because I was young and stupid and thought you deserved better than me.”

“Owen….”

He smiles and cups my cheek. “Let me finish, Say. Every year, I would dread this moment. Hell, I would dread the weeks leading up to it. The day I lost you. So…I wanted to change that. I wanted to replace the worst mistake of my life with the best decision I could ever make.”

I look over at Grady. He’s resting his elbows on the railing, watching us with a look that could rival a kid on Christmas morning.

I take a deep breath and turn back to Owen. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I love you.”

“You mentioned that part.”

He laughs and shakes his head as if I’m the most entertaining person he’s ever met when I’m about two seconds from smacking him and demanding he spit it out. Because a small part of me already knows what he’s going to say, but I don’t want to jinx it.

Heart racing, I lick my lips and mutter, “Throw me a bone here, Owen. What are you trying to say?”

“That I love you.”

I glare at him.

“And I will never stop loving you,” he continues. “And that it doesn’t matter what life throws at us…I know that we’ll make it. I can’t imagine a day without you, Saylor. I don’t want to imagine a day without you. I want you to be mine in every sense of the word. I want to grow old with you. I want to give Grady brothers and sisters with you. I want to buy a house together and get the damn dog with a nerdy name that you find way more amusing than anyone else does.”––I laugh––“I love you.” His hand disappears into his front pocket before he pulls out a little black box and slides down on one knee. “And I want you to be my wife. Will you marry me, Saylor Swenson?”

With my hand over my mouth and tears in my eyes, I turn to the little boy who’s watching us from the porch.

“Grady, are you okay with this?” I ask. “Me marrying your dad?”

His smile is hesitant before he gives me a nod that breaks the dam on my emotions.

Swallowing back my tears, I look back down at the man on his knee in front of me with a little black box cracked open to reveal a gorgeous, round-cut diamond ring that’s more than I ever could’ve dreamed of. The man who stole my heart all those years ago and refused to give it back. The man who gave me more miracles than I can even count. The man who is asking me to marry him, and with his son’s permission. I’d be a fool to say no.

“Yes,” I whisper. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

He stands back up and slips the ring onto my left hand as I try to hold back my tears. His thumb brushes against the back of my hand before he wraps his arms around my waist, twirling me around a few times, then presses a kiss to my lips. One that erases each and every insecurity and amplifies every memory of the moment he broke my heart all those years ago. Because I don’t regret it. It made me stronger. It made us stronger. And it brought me Grady. The little boy who stole my heart just like his daddy did.

When he pulls away, I press my forehead to his chest and breathe in his familiar scent that feels like home. This is a dream. The best dream I could’ve ever asked for. And I don’t ever want to wake up.

Owen’s arms tighten around my waist as he calls out, “Your turn, bud.”

With a jerky nod, Grady wipes his hands on his brown slacks.

“Fine. I’ll go next,” he mutters before skipping down the steps with a manilla folder in hand. He must’ve had it tucked next to the wall since I hadn’t noticed it before.