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“Enthusiastically so. It’s with a humble heart that I ask you for Anastasia’s hand in marriage.”
We all turn to Ed, waiting as he watches me thoughtfully, plucking on his lower lip as he ponders my question.
“Well,” he says, “I guess there’s just one thing left to say. Welcome to the family, Kane.”
“I have to ask her, but thank you, sir. Thank you very much.”Chapter Eighteen~Anastasia~“Oh, my God.”
I’m staring into the box, suddenly speechless.
“Happy birthday, darling,” Kane says. He kisses the top of my head.
“Kane, this is just too much.”
“Nonsense.” He reaches into the box and lifts the amazing sculpture we saw at the beach out of the cardboard and sets it on my countertop for me to admire. “I’ve never seen your eyes light up the way they did when you saw this piece.”
“It’s so lovely,” I whisper and reach out to touch the girl’s hair. I spin and wrap my arms tightly around Kane, my face buried against his chest. “Thank you, so much. You couldn’t have given me anything more perfect than this.”
“Well, we’ll see about that,” he murmurs but kisses the top of my head again, and then he tips up my chin so he can look into my eyes. “I hope this birthday is one you’ll never forget.”
“How could I?” I pull back and turn to the sculpture, examining it more closely. “I’ll always have this to remember. I wonder where I should put her. Maybe I should have some new lighting installed over in the corner and put her on a pedestal to show her off.”
“There’s no rush in deciding that,” he says.
“That’s true. I’ll want it to be a place that I see all the time. Maybe the master bedroom would be better.”
“I’m sure you’ll find just the spot,” he says and reaches for our jackets. “For now, we have more places to visit before the evening is over.”
“I do like it when you’re mysterious like this.” I push my arms into my coat and reach for my handbag. “It reminds me of when we first met. You were ridiculously mysterious.”
“Just private,” he says with a wink and leads me out to his car. Before I can sit down, Kane reaches in and comes back with a dozen roses that he left sitting on the seat. “For the birthday girl.”
“Oh, they’re beautiful.” I smell them, fussing over the beautiful red blooms, and get settled in the car. Kane takes off, merges onto the freeway, and before I know it, we’re headed through Seattle to Tacoma. Kane parks at the museum and escorts me inside through a back door. “Are we supposed to be here after hours?”
He smirks and leads me to my favorite exhibit, the one that we originally met in.
“I can be in here whenever I like.”
I can’t reply. All I can do is stare in wonder at all of the lit candles and the table set up in the middle of the room where the benches once were. It’s set for dinner for two, with more candles and beautiful stemware.
“Kane, are we having dinner here?”
“Aye.” He leans in to kiss me softly. Thoroughly. “Dinner will be served in just a few moments. First, I wanted to tell you how much more this particular room has come to mean to me. It’s where I first saw you, fiercely drawing on your sketchpad, your tongue clamped between your teeth, magnificent blue eyes shining as the image in your head took shape on the page.”
“I’ve always loved this room,” I admit softly, gazing at the glass shaped to resemble the water, and the marine life floating around it. “It moves, which might not make sense, but—”
“It makes perfect sense to me. This space represents home to me, so I wanted to celebrate a piece of your birthday here, with a good meal and conversation, where it all began for us.”
“Kane O’Callaghan, you’re a hopeless romantic.” I can’t help but grin foolishly as he holds out my chair for me, and then takes the one across from me.
“It seems I can be. I never was before.”
We’re served delicious salmon steaks with salads and rice, the servers coming in and out of the room quickly and efficiently. Where they’re coming from, I have no idea, as there was no sign of them when we arrived.
When I can’t eat another bite, I lean back and sigh, patting my belly. “I’m so full. I could curl up and take a long nap.”
“We’ll save the sleeping for later.”
Kane winks and stands, takes my hand, and kisses my knuckles.
“Let’s keep going, shall we?”
I frown up at him. “Keep going? Where?”
“I have a few more things to show you.”
He leads me through the museum, explaining what he was thinking about when he made the glass for each room and what it represents. I’ve seen it all before, of course, but never like this. Not through his eyes. I have to say, it’s absolutely fascinating.
