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“Yeah,” he talks over me again, this time joined by Dex as he weeps for Summer’s attention.
Fucker, I know how you feel, I cackle silently while I crouch to pet him.
Meanwhile, Easton continues to practically propose to Summer. He was only meant to be the human ring box…
“For you.” Holding the oval sapphire ring in his little hand, Easton waves it around in the late-afternoon sunlight so that rainbows cast from it. The smaller, different-colored jewels that decorate the band sparkle in their yellow, pink, green, and purple hues. “For your finger.”
“Thanks,” she croons, taking the ring from him and coming closer as I continue waiting for Easton to let me propose with the whole speech I had prepared. The words are all there on the tip of my tongue until Summer stops right in front of me so that I have to tip my head back to find her eyes. “It’s so pretty.”
All I can do is nod in return when her eyes begin to glass and glisten. The smile on her lips grows wider as she continues holding the ring and obviously trying to gather herself. The ring is stunning with all the muted colors that are perfect for my rainbow girl.
“Did you really need me to grab more candy from the store?” she asks, perusing the entrance. As though she’s just noticed the additions to her fall decor. Given how little Easton is, we’ve kept it pretty light on the scary stuff inside the house.
The flower arrangements I had the florist hide away in the pool house are all laid out on the stairs and trailing the stone floor toward the living area where we had our first real date. Small votive candles that I lit when she left are all starting to snuff out.
“What took you so long?” I ask, grasping her ankles and slowly trailing my hands up to her knees.
Breathily, Summer replies. “We were all out of Ding Dongs.”
“Din Dons?” Easton forgets about everything to rummage through the store bag she felt on the floor by the entry table with Dexter in tow to help. “I like Din Dons.”
If I had any doubts about how incredible she is, this right here—her constant need to make Easton happy—would erase them all. As it stands, it makes me love her impossibly more. More than I ever thought it was possible to love someone in this all-consuming, possessing way.
With an audible swallow and a hitch to her breath, she molds her hand to my face. “Parker…”
“From the moment I laid eyes on you, Sum, I knew that you were a phenomenon. You are a once-in-a-lifetime kind of adventure.” The tears that were already glistening in her eyes drip from her long lashes as I take the ring from her hand and fist it in mine. “I’m not just in love with you, Summer. You are all I think about. All I’ve ever needed. All I will ever want. You are my long-awaited rainbow after the shitshow storm. You and East…the two of you are the only things that have made the hell all worthwhile. You’re my family.”
“Oh God…” Blowing out a breath, she blinks the tears loose with an overwhelmed smile that she can barely keep from trembling. “Oh my God, Parker.”
“The whole spiel I had prepared was a lot more eloquent and made a whole lot more sense…but really, I just want my ring on your finger, and I want to call you mine forever.”
With a hiccup, Summer holds out her right hand when I adjust so that one of my knees touches the floor. “I’d really love that.”
“Wrong hand, baby,” I chuckle as she looks at her fingers.
“I’m sorry…it’s that…I just…holy shit, babe.”
With my heart pounding and my blood rushing through me, I press my lips to her left wrist before taking her hand in mine. My thumb strokes over her knuckles as I kiss the tips of her burnt-orange manicured fingers.
“I love you, Summer O’Shea. More than I will ever be able to tell you, but if you marry me, I promise to spend the rest of my life showing you. Every second of every day. When you’re right beside or not.” Threading the ring on her finger, I hold her watery gaze while I ask, “Will you be my wife?”
Summer’s only reply is a nod as she pushes her finger through the ring until it’s where it’s meant to be and she falls into my lap. Straddling my thighs, she crushes her lips to mine with her hands tunneling into my hair while my arms wrap tightly around her.
“Cuddle?” Easton asks, launching himself at us from one side while Dexter tries to climb us from the other.
And really, all the best-laid and executed plans in the world couldn’t make this moment any more perfect. As far as happy endings go, this is the beginning of an epic ever after.
Epilogue
SUMMER
Five months later…
The sun is shining down on the beach, as if it’s lighting my way to my future.
On my uncle’s arm, I slowly make my way down the sandy aisle and toward my soon-to-be husband. The band plays a soft tune that I can barely hear as I drown out everything but the sight of him.
My love.
