“Let’s head back to the resort. All of this sun and heat is making me sleepy. I need a nap before the bonfire.”
EPILOGUE
Soleil
The dress I chose wasn’t like the dresses I usually wore. I usually chose more structured dresses—either the top of the dress had boning, or the bottom of the dress had a little petticoat or crinoline or something to make it flare out. Those dresses gaveshe means business. The dress I wore to the bonfire gaveshe’s ethereal. It was an ivory color with no structure, so it flowed over my curves. It hit me mid-knee and made me feel like some kind of fairy princess.
“You really like that dress,” Spencer commented after he watched me twirl to make the bottom of the dress spin for the tenth time.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re right. I do. I feel a little like a princess.”
“With that dress, those shoes, and your hair hanging down like that, . . . you look like a princess.”
I grinned at him as we stepped off the elevator, into the lobby. We took the entrance that led out to the beach, holding hands and walking at a leisurely pace. “I really do love it here. We should come here every year to celebrate how we met.”
“We should.”
“Wow,” I said, looking down the beach to the spot where the bonfire was already going. “Last time, we came in early June. Now we’re here in early May, and the crowd is way different. There’s hardly anybody down there. Are we early?” I looked up at the sky. The bonfire usually started right before sunset. The beach was dark with the exception of light coming from both the bonfire and the strategically placed tiki torches.
“Maybe we are a little early, but I see a band on the stage.” He pointed. “And the fire dancer.”
I followed his fingers and clapped gleefully. “And the taco truck. Good. My mouth is so set on tacos.”
I was so focused on the taco truck that I almost missed it. I literally almost missed it. I looked down and stopped walking. Extra-large hearts had been carved into the sand, and they were filled with red rose petals. “What is this?” As I began walking again, over the sound of the waves crashing on the shore, I could hear a woman crooning the lyrics of “Portuguese Love.” “Somebody’s singing Teena Marie.”
“Somebody is singing Teena Marie,” he agreed, seeming unbothered by that fact.
“That’s the song you had that violin quartet play for us when we ate dinner on the seashore that night.”
“Yeah. I like that song. I think my parents danced to it at their wedding or something.”
I wanted to say more, but there were so many thoughts running through my mind.
“Come on.” He tugged me a little because the truth was that I was dragging my feet. “Let’s get closer.”
I let him pull me toward the bonfire. As we got closer, I noticed that the faces in the small crowd that were gathered were all black. That was an oddity because in my experience, bonfire participants weren’t typically black. Then I realized that I recognized the faces. “Spencer Charles, what is this?”
At the edge of the last extra-large heart, he stopped walking and dropped to one knee. It was so stereotypical, but I couldn’t help the way that my hand flew to my mouth. The crowd waiting at the bonfire started to slowly move toward us. Spence reached into the pocket of his shorts, bringing out a deep-red velvet box.
“Soleil, since the moment I spotted you in the line to do a meet and greet with that bum-ass nigga, Wilcox, you had my attention. You were joy, beauty, goodness, and pure class wrapped up in the sexiest package I had ever seen.”
While I was awed by his words, I was also glad that he was saying them before anybody made it over to us. I wanted his words to be just for my ears.
“I knew you were wrapped in a gorgeous package. Then you opened your mouth. You gave me a chance to get some insight on you, to get a glimpse of who you are. That’s when I knew that you were just as beautiful inside as you were on the outside.
“I never planned to come to Iredia with the team. You tried to give your trip to your dad. Somehow, God shook all that shit up and made it so we were both here, both open, and both available. You accept me. You accept my daughter. You accept my job. There’s nobody like you, and if there was, . . . I wouldn’t want them. I would only want you. You’re my sunshine, and I want you to be my sunshine forever. Will you marry me?”
I smiled down at the beautiful man who had stolen my heart a year earlier, the man who convinced me that, even though there was pee and doo-doo in the dating pool, there were still good guys waiting on the shore. “Of course, I’ll marry you. You knew I wasn’t gonna say no.”
He slid the ring on my finger and stood from the sand as our families and friends descended on us. “I was hoping.”
“Whatever.” I waved my hand at him playfully as I studied the gorgeous ring he’d put on my finger.
“She said yes!” he yelled out to our families. “She said yes!”
Mikayla was the first person to reach us. She crashed into me, almost taking me down to the ground. “Yay!”
I caught her up in a hug. “Yay!” We danced around together. After dancing with Mikayla, I went to my dad and fell into his open arms. For some reason, my eyes clouded with tears as he held me.
