AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“This is not how I imagined doing this, and I know you deserve a hell of a lot better, but I don’t want to waste another day, another hour, another minute, or another second of you not being mine. Officially. Ruby, I love you. I think I might have been half in love with you before you even turned around when I saw you at the Pit Stop. I can’t tell you the exact moment it happened, but sometime over this summer, I fell so deeply, so irreversibly, and so insanely in love with you that I can’t think when you’re not here. I can’t breathe. I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. Last night, I was so worried and?—”
“I’m sorry.” I rushed to explain, “My phone was dead, and I went to my mom’s and spent the night. I didn’t get your messages until this morning.”
“You don’t have anything to apologize for. You should never have felt like you had to leave in the first place. I should have told you how I felt a long time ago. I can’t change the past, but I can make you this promise for the future. I will love you every second of every day for the rest of my life. I promise to support you wherever your dreams and career take you. You don’t have to make any decisions or promises now about what that’s going to be. We’ll work it out, whatever happens, whatever obstacles. As long as I have you, I don’t care what the rest of it looks like.”
Tears began to fall down my face as Kane bent down on one knee and held the ring up in his right hand. “Ruby Sky Rhodes, will you make me the happiest man in the world and be my wife? Will you marry me?”
“Yes!” I nodded as he slid the solitaire diamond on my ring finger.
He stood, and I threw my arms around his neck, careful not to touch his shoulder.
He wrapped his good arm around my waist and held me tightly. “I love you, Ruby.”
“I love you, Kane.” I sniffed back tears as I looked at my ring and hugged his neck. “When did you get this ring?”
“It was my Margie’s.”
Kane and I both jumped a little, then looked over to see Otto standing in the hallway. “I gave it to him and told him he was only allowed to put it on the finger of his shooting star love.”
More tears fell down my face. I did have it. I had a shooting star love.
EPILOGUE
“Sometimes the best endings…are just the beginning.” ~ Miss Dottie
“Where is she?” Harper asked excitedly, as she scanned the crowd of people at the airport.
“She’s coming,” I assured her as I lifted Ruby’s arm and kissed the back of her hand beside the ring I’d slid onto her finger two months ago.
She beamed up at me. I still couldn’t believe that we were going to be married in a week’s time. Our engagement was short, but we both knew what we wanted. It would have been even shorter if we’d been able to have the people who meant the most to us with us sooner.
But now, it was happening. We were at the airport to pick up Taylor, whose flight had been delayed two times due to weather. Remi was flying in tomorrow, and we’d be back here to pick him up, and then our wedding party would be complete. We’d decided to take an unconventional route when it came to asking people to stand up for us. Remi was going to be Ruby’s Man of Honor, and Taylor was going to be my Best Woman.
Ruby’s phone buzzed, and she pulled it out of her pocket.
“Oh my gosh!” she said in surprise as she read the message.
“What?” I asked. “What is it?”
Before she could answer, I heard Taylor yell, “Peanut!”
I turned just in time to see Harper running into Tay’s arms.
“Mommy!”
I watched as Taylor spun our daughter around in her arms, hugging her tightly. When she finally put her down, Taylor walked straight past me to Ruby and threw her arms around her.
As I watched the two most important women in my life embrace, a wide smile spread on my face. They’d grown close over the past few months. Taylor couldn’t be happier that we were together and that Harper loved Ruby as much as she did.
“What am I? Chopped liver?” I teased.
“Yep.” Taylor chuckled before sighing dramatically and then pulling me into a bear hug.
“How was your flight?” I asked as I took her carry-on from her.
“It was good. I’m glad to be home.”
“Alright, you guys ready?” I started to head toward the baggage claim area.
