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June paces forward, slowly at first. And then she stops again, doing a double take to the sky. Her eyes round into sapphire spheres, her lips parting with awe. “Brant…look!” She points as if I hadn’t already seen it.
As if I could miss it.
As if I haven’t been waiting for this moment for months.
With her gaze transfixed to the rainbow sky, she jogs toward me as a breathy, joyful sound spills out of her. “It’s so beautiful. We had so many rainbows in New York when we were apart but none since you’ve been here with me, and I’ve been wishing for one so badly, ever since winter faded, and—” She spins around to face me.
But I’m already on one knee.
June’s words fall off, her lips frozen into an O shape. Her hand flies up to grip her chest, right over her heart. “Brant…?”
“June Adeline Bailey.” I gaze up at her wide, glistening eyes as I dig the ring box out of my front pocket. I bought it in March and have been carrying it with me every single day, waiting for a rainbow. “Junebug.”
“Brant,” she repeats, choking on my name.
“Twenty-two years ago, I tossed a toy elephant into your crib, trying to give you comfort in the only way I could. And I knew in that moment as you gazed at me through the crib slats with your big blue eyes… I knew you were destined to become my comfort.” Emotion sweeps through me, stealing my words for a moment. I swallow. “That’s exactly what you became. You were the laughter on the other side of my tears, the solace to quell my nightmares, and the rainbow after every storm. You saved my life, June Bailey.”
Both hands cup her mouth as tears collapse onto her fingers. She squeezes her eyes shut.
“And I can’t think of anything sweeter than to spend the rest of that life with you.” Rising to my feet, I pluck the ring out of the box, holding it up between my thumb and forefinger.
She lets out a gasp when she looks at it. A breathtaking sound of disbelief.
“It’s rimmed with tiny sapphires. Blue like the eyes I fell in love with. Blue like the sky that gives us rainbows, and the bluebirds that fly over them.” I quirk a smile. “Blue like the prom dress that brought me to my knees.” I take her shaking hand in mine, then slide the diamond over her ring finger. It’s a perfect fit. Blowing out a heavy breath, I lift my eyes to hers. “I want to dare to dream with you forever, Junebug. On top of being my best friend, my lover, my soul mate, my comfort and my courage…will you be my wife?”
She nods.
She nods and sobs and whimpers into her hands. But when she drops her arms and sniffles, inhaling a choppy breath, she asks, “Do…do you want the good news or the bad news first?”
My heart nearly stops. I blink rapidly, trying to read her.
These are happy tears.
Right?
Shit…was this too soon? Is she not ready?
Trying not to black out, I choke out, “Good news first.”
June doesn’t hesitate.
She leaps into my arms, coiling her legs around my hips and linking her hands behind my neck. She kisses my shoulder, my collarbone, all the way up to my ear, and whispers, “Yes…yes. God, Brant, all the yeses. I’d marry you today, a thousand times over, in every version of every lifetime.”
Relief swims through me and I squeeze her tight, finding her mouth as I spin her around in clumsy, happy fucking circles, kissing her breathless until we don’t know whose tears we’re tasting anymore. We cling. We sway.
We dream.
The rainbow fades into the sky, but we don’t.
We’re shining brighter than ever.
As I pull back to wipe the tearstains from her cheeks, I kiss her forehead, setting her back down on her feet. A thought stumbles back to my mind, and I frown. “Wait…what was the bad news?”
June sniffs, inching backward and drinking in a big breath. She places a flat palm over her stomach. “We’ll really need to start saving, Brant. I might need to pick up a second job.”
I glance down at her belly.
I look back up.
