Page 94 of Living at 40

Logan speaks openly about us marrying. He isn’t feeling me out, questioning if it’s something I want. He’s simply making a statement. We will marry.

“Your wife? Gosh, I hope she doesn’t mind you spending time with me,” I tease again.

Logan shifts, and I adjust to face him between his spread thighs. “Oh, my wife will approve.”

He leans forward to kiss me, hard and fast. Our touches have grown desperate under his rule not to have sex until we are together all the time. Pressing at his shoulder, he falls to his back and takes me with him, so I blanket his body with mine. Soon enough, I may not be able to lay like this with him, but for now, I love it. And I’m ready to beg him to sleep with him, desperate to know how much longer we’ll keep up the ruse of abstinence. Pregnancy has made me horny, and this man just does it for me.

“Are we finally ready to have sex again?” I tease at his lips.

“Are you finally ready to be my wife?” he asks, stroking his hands up and down my back.

“You haven’t asked me anything,” I joke back, keeping my lips against his.

“Then I guess it’s time to ask again.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a ring and holds it between us. “Autumn Kulis, will you do me the honor of making, and raising, babies with me, as my wife?”

“I—” I stare at the ring for a moment. Is this really happening to me? Am I really going to have it all: husband, child, house? It doesn’t seem real.

“You just had this in your pocket?” I tease while choking on the words.

“It’s been there since I returned in mid-October.”

“I—”

“I know I come with a teenage daughter, but she approves. She adores you. She loves you like I do.”

Softly, I laugh. “It could get tricky trying to make babies with a teenager in the house.”

“We can be creative,” he says, leaning forward to take my mouth for a quick kiss. “We’ll need to be creative anyway as we’ll be having more than one baby.”

I chuckle at his joke, but his face turns serious.

“I’m going to fill you up, sweetheart. I’m going to give you all the babies you want and all the love you deserve. Marry me.” He wiggles the ring in his fingers.

“Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you.” Cupping his cheeks, I take his mouth with mine and kiss him with all I have. His palm comes to mine, and without even looking, he slips the ring on my finger, not missing a beat as he continues to kiss me. Eventually, the weight registers, and I pull back to stare down at the ring, placing my hand on his chest as I balance over the length of his body.

“This looks familiar.” I stare at the simple cut and silver band.

“I didn’t have my mother’s engagement ring to give to you.” It’s a reminder that Logan has no family but his friends and my family. “This is your mother’s. She gave it to me, saying it brought her years of happy marriage and two wonderful babies.”

Tears well in my eyes. My father bought my mother an anniversary diamond, and she eventually wore that ring every day. This ring is her original engagement ring and means everything to me. It means my mother approves of my marrying Logan.

“Wait? You asked my mother for permission to marry me?”

“I asked Ben. Your mother just happened to be in the room. I wanted to do it all right for you.”

He said he wasn’t always going to get it right, but he was willing to try until he did. I’d say he’d put forth plenty of effort to do right by me after our early hiccups.

“I love it,” I whisper, still in awe that my family approves, and this sentimental gift rests on my finger. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, sweetheart.”

+ + +

That night, we show off my ring at an impromptu engagement party. Logan must have called the family together somehow because when we return to Anna and Ben’s, all are gathered, including my mother. Lorna immediately hugs me once her dad announces I said yes, and Mason makes a crack about diamonds being the way to win a woman. He might have said they were the way to get in a woman’s pants, but I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt because young ears were listening.

I pull my mother aside to thank her for the ring.

“This really means everything to me, Mom,” I say, glancing down at the diamond and silver combination on my finger.