Wait For Me

“Me too?” Emma asks.

“And me?” Henry shouts.

“All of you. I love you guys so much.”

These three beautiful, smart, funny children might not be mine by blood, but they’re mine in every other sense of the word.

“Jack Allen!” Grayson yells from the kitchen. “Why is there slime running down my wall?”

Jack’s eyes widen. “It was Emma!”

“Emma?!” Grayson yells.

Both kids hop off the bed and run out of the room. Because he hates feeling left out, Henry follows them.

I laugh and dry the remainder of my tears while re-reading the homemade cards.

“I swear to God, I’m throwing all of that glue and slime-activator crap away.”

I look up when Grayson walks into the room. He’s wiping his hand on a towel and stops short when he sees me.

“Have you been crying?”

I shrug. “It’s a good cry.”

I hold up the three hearts. Grayson tosses the rag in the laundry basket and sits beside me on the bed. He opens each heart and looks at me with glossy eyes.

“Well?”

“I told them yes. They’re mine, Grayson.”

“I know they are, sweetheart.” He pulls me into his arms and presses a kiss to my head. “Happy Mother’s Day.”

I half laugh, half cry because I’m so freaking happy. “Thank you.”

“I have a surprise for you, too.” Grayson slides from the bed. He shuffles around in the closet, giving me a delectable view of his tush, and returns a second later.

“Whatcha got there?” I ask, settling against his side as he lies back on the bed.

“Oh, this?” He holds up a sparkling diamond ring, and for the second time this morning, I cover my mouth.

“What is that?”

He furrows his brow. “I really have to explain this to you?”

I laugh and swat at his chest. “I know what it is, but…why do you have it?”

Grayson laughs and shifts on the bed so he can look at me, holding the ring between us.

“Nora Hayes, I love you. Every single day I get on my knees and thank God for bringing you into my life. You love my kids like your own, and for that I’m eternally grateful. There’s no one I’d rather walk through this life with than you. Will you marry me?”

“Yes! Yes, yes, yes!” I throw myself into his arms and pepper kisses over his face. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

Grayson slips the ring onto my left hand, and I sit back to stare at it. “It’s beautiful.”

“Been carrying it around with me for six months, trying to find the perfect time to give it to you. I thought about doing some grand gesture at one of your concerts this summer. But today, it just felt right.”

“I’m glad you did it here—just the two of us and the kids. It couldn’t have been more perfect.”