Page 64 of Lucky 22

Christian’s a man of few words, but when he uses them,they’re powerful.

Tears stream down my face as I nod and whisper, “Yes.”

That’s when I notice he’s not holding a ring box, but a cuteHello Kitty purse—another I don’t have. I look at him, and he nods at thepurse. “Look inside.”

I spot a little blue box and pull it out. I think I’m alittle in shock that all this is happening.

“Don’t you want to see the ring?”

Oh, right. I do! I open the box and slip the ring onto myfinger, twirling it in the light. “It’s a perfect fit,” I whisper, and hesmiles.

“Just like you’re a perfect fit for me,” he says, and he’sright. We’re a perfect fit.

Then we’re kissing, and I feel like I’m in the middle of afairy tale. When we break apart, my eyes immediately go back to the ring. Ican’t wait to call my family and friends and show it off. There are like amillion things I suddenly want to do, but I don’t know where to begin.

“This is the best day of my entire life, Christian. You gaveme the proposal of my dreams.”

“The day’s not over yet,” he says with a mischievous grin.

If the baseball thing doesn’t work out, I swear he’s got afuture in romantic event planning.

Because he knows how much I love tea, he made reservationsat The Grand Brightwater Tea Room for us. I swear I’m walking around with eyeswide like a cartoon princess. Everywhere I turn, it’s more magical than before.We sip tea and eat cake, and just when I think, Nothing can top this,he does.

“Our families are meeting us for dinner. And tomorrow, wehave an appointment with a wedding planner here at Wonder Land. I want you tohave the fairy tale wedding of your dreams, Ella Rose, and I couldn’t think ofa more perfect place for it.”

I’m pretty sure I black out for a moment because…justbecause.

“I want you to have the wedding you always wanted,” he tellsme. “But after the baseball season is over. Please. All the planning is up toyou. I won’t be able to help you with any of it, unfortunately, because myfocus needs to be on the game. Especially since I’m starting with a new team.”

It’s not ideal, but I get it. He’s hyper-focused when it’s aregular season, but starting fresh somewhere new? Yeah. That will take onehundred percent of his time and energy. And I respect that.

Plus, it’s not like I’ll be planning our wedding completelyby myself. My family and his will be involved—and the actual wedding planner.So really, I’m confident that we can do this.

Then I remind myself that I’m also working on multiple TVshows, traveling, and still auditioning. It won’t be as easy as I just thought.But hey, I can do it. I know I can.

I will.

It’s just one more thing for me to balance. But I’ll make itwork.

After tea, Christian and I stroll around the resort grounds,making plans for our future. They range from career goals—another World Seriestitle for him, and an Oscar for me—to having our dream home back here inFlorida, where we’ll live with our kids. The thing is, I can totally see it.We’re on track for all of it.

“I’d accept an Emmy,” I say after a moment. “Since I’mworking primarily on TV, that’s the most likely scenario. And at some point,I’ll get that big break in a movie where I get an Oscar nomination.”

“I know you can do it.” He kisses my cheek as we walk along.

“What time are we meeting everyone for dinner?” Before hecan answer, I realize I never asked the obvious question. “And how did youmanage to get everyone here?”

“Everyone except my father,” he reminds me. His dad is stillin the ICU, awaiting his transplant. “When we were visiting your parents afterChristmas, I talked to your dad and let him know my intentions and asked hispermission to marry you.”

And the sweetness keeps flowing.

“Even then, I knew this would be where I proposed, so theywere just waiting for me to tell them when to be here. And my family is onlythirty minutes away, so it’s no big deal for them to join us.” We walk alongquietly for a minute before he adds, “Family is the most important thing andshould always come first, so it’s only right that they’re all here with us aswe celebrate.”

“Absolutely.”

Dinner is positively beautiful, and having both of ourfamilies with us makes my heart so happy. This is the first time everyone’smeeting each other, yet it doesn’t feel that way. Everyone’s laughing andtalking and joking about how Christian and I had to move across the country tomeet, even though we grew up only thirty minutes apart.

“It’s like a real-life movie,” my mom says. “A real-lifefairy tale.”