He puffs out a breath. “Okay, Daddy. Thank you. I wish you were here.”
“Me too, baby. Me too.”
No matter how happy I am to see and talk to him, every visit, phone call, or video call is tinged with the sadness of having to say goodbye. I hate goodbyes. We’re making the long-distance thing work, but as the months tick by, I realize with increasing certainty that I want more. Which is why I end up in my boss’s office, discussing my future with the firm.
It’s been a year since we first met, and Ty is back in New York for Pride. I met him at the airport, and then we came back to my apartment to get reacquainted. Ty wasn’t as much of a wreck after flying the last time he visited. The hypnosis must be working. Even so, I figured he’d appreciate feeling nothing but me. I was right. Now, he’s in the shower while I cook. Butterflies flit in my stomach as I turn the tiny kitchen into a romantic scene, complete with dozens of candles, scattered rose petals, and soft music. I’ve been planning this moment since our last goodbye in the UK.
“Wow, this looks wonderful, Daddy.” Ty stands in the doorway, his northern lights hair damp from the shower, his skin pink, looking somewhat dazed and a little jetlagged. Hegazes at the things I’ve set out, eyes getting wider by the second. “Why, Daddy?”
“Can’t I spoil my boy?”
He opens and closes his mouth. “Yes, but… you do that all the time. Why the candles and rose petals?”
I check the food, which needs to simmer a little longer, then cross over to him, pulling him against me and kissing him tenderly. “I was going to wait until after dinner.”
“Wait? For what?”
I nuzzle his neck and jaw. “To do this.” I drop onto one knee and take a ring box out of my pocket.
Ty’s eyes get even wider, and his mouth drops into a surprised O. “Daddy?”
“I love you, baby. More than I ever imagined I could love anyone. I want to be with you. Now. Tomorrow. Forever. Will you marry me?” I open the box, revealing a polished titanium band with a thin opal inlay in all the colors of the Pride flag.
He covers his mouth with his trembling hands. “It’s— it’s beautiful. Daddy, I?—”
My heart pounds and my mouth goes dry as I wait for his response.
He sinks to his knees in front of me and clasps his hand over the ring box. “We live thousands of miles apart, Daddy.” Tears dance in his eyes. Are they happy ones?
“About that— I can get a transfer to the London office. I’d still have to travel here and to Sydney, but I’d be based in London. Say the word, and I’ll make it happen.”
“You’d move? For me?” he asks, voice quivering.
“Yes, baby.”
“But— That doesn’t seem fair. Your family is here.”
“And yours is in the UK. I’m sick of doing the long-distance thing, aren’t you?”
“I’ve been sick of it for a while,” he mumbles.
I chuckle. “Me too. We’ve made it work, but I think it’s time to take our relationship to the next stage, don’t you?”
He takes a deep breath. “Moving in together? Getting engaged?”
“Too much too soon?”
“No, Daddy. I just wasn’t expecting a proposal this weekend. I definitely wasn’t expecting you to offer to move to the UK.”
“Would you rather move here?”
“I— I would. For you.”
I cup his jaw. “I’m not asking you to, baby. Moving to the UK will be a good move for me. I’ll get more vacation time, for a start.”
Ty laughs.
“I’ll be able to see my folks whenever I come back here on business trips, which will be a lot more often than you’d get to see your mom and dad if you moved here.”
