Page 120 of Hate To Be Mine

The timer started, and he began drawing.

A circle. Okay, lots of baby things were circles.

A smaller circle inside it. Maybe an areola?

“Pacifier!” I shouted.

He shook his head, adding more details.

“Bottle? Rattle? That toy thing that babies chew on?”

More head shaking. He added what looked like a band around the circle.

The women around me were all whispering and it actually pissed me off a little.

Did they get it? I was such a non-creative. I needed black and white and obvious. My imagination was broken. Unless I was imagining a million and one ways to die.

“I don’t understand. Is it a wheel? A plate? A CD?” I was grasping at straws now. “Sebastian, what are you drawing?”

He added a small square on top of the band, and something clicked in my brain.

“Is that a ring? Babies don’t wear rings, honey.”

The room went completely silent.

Sebastian set down the marker, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small velvet box.

Oh my God.

My hands flew to my mouth.

“Bernadette Simmons.” He dropped to one knee right there in front of Elizabeth and Mimi and thirty other women who were all either crying or filming on their phones. “When I first met you, you terrorized me with a ninety-page safety binder that I definitely didn’t read. Still haven’t. You infuriated me. You made me want to scream in frustration on more than one occasion.”

Laughter rippled through the room. My eyes were already filling with tears because his words sounded terrible without context, but I knew the context, and to me, they were the sweetest words he could say.

“And somewhere in there, between the falling coconuts and the tropical storms and you calling me an irresponsible idiot, I fell completely in love with you.” He opened the box, revealing a ring that caught the light and made my breath stop. “I love your rules and your checklists and the way you make me want to be better while simultaneously making me want to see just how bad it would be to stick my finger in a light socket. I love how you fit into my family like you’ve always been there. I love you, my Little Bee. Will you marry me?”

I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe. Could only stare at this beautiful, ridiculous man who’d somehow seen past my armor to the person underneath.

“Yes.” The word came out as half-laugh, half-sob. “Yes, you dramatic, impossible, infuriating man. Of course I’ll marry you.”

The room erupted in cheers as he slid the ring onto my finger. He kissed me, nearly knocking me out of my chair. He stood up and pulled me against his body for another tongue-infused kiss that was definitely inappropriate with his mother ten feet away.

But he didn’t care.

And in the moment, neither did I.

When we finally came up for air, I was dizzy and crying and laughing all at once.

“You proposed to me at someone else’s baby shower,” I said.

“Elizabeth knew. I asked permission.”

“You drew the worst ring I’ve ever seen.”

“Hey, you figured it out eventually.”

“I love you so much, and you’re absolutely insane.”