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“Said yes to what?” she croaks, but the crackling in her voice tells me she might’ve already guessed.
“I love you,” I snarl, as the full weight of the future crashes into me. “Follow my finger. Okay?”
“Follow your…”
I remove my hands and point to a building far off to the left, a high-rise apartment block. All the lights are off, except for a few strategically chosen apartments.
The lights spell a word.
Will.
I point again, this time to a building in the middle of the city.
You.
And finally off to the left, where two more buildings sit close together, their lights pushing more words into the evening darkness.
Marry me?
Stepping back, I slide to one knee, reach into my pocket, and take out the ring box.
Jessie turns just as I open it, her eyes flashing to the elegant diamond, a perfect combination of fullness and elegance just like my woman. But even though the diamond twinkles and glitters, it has nothing on the look in Jessie’s eyes.
“How did you do that?” she croaks again, struggling to hold back her tears.
I smile, thinking for a moment I might shed a tear of my own. “Organization, money, effort. It was all worth it to see the look on your face. But you haven’t answered the question, Jessie. My sweet Jessie… Will you marry me?”
“Yes, yes, yes,” she cries. “A million, billion times yes. Of course, I will. Did you even have to ask?”
I chuckle, taking the ring and slipping it onto her finger, where it fits amazingly, looking like it was made for her hand. “I thought I might. You know… just to be polite.”
She giggles as I leap to my feet and pull her into an embrace, wrapping my arms around her and holding tight, holding like I never want to let go.
And now I never have to.
“I love you so much.” She bursts into tears, pushing her face against my chest. “I can’t wait to be your wife, Jax. I can’t wait to start a family with you.”
“Neither can I.” I lean down, kissing the tears from her cheeks. “Neither can I, Jessie.”
Epilogue
Three Weeks Later
Jessie
“It’s beautiful,” Aunt Claire says, turning in a circle in the middle of her new apartment.
Her eyes are like saucers as she takes in the large living room, the tall bookshelves, the walls without a spot of dampness or peeling wallpaper, or anything nasty. Everything here is brand new, with a fresh smell, the nicest apartment I’ve ever been inside apart from Jaxon’s.
Well, Jaxon’s and mine, since I’m officially moving in today after helping Aunt Claire with her things. Not that moving in means much when I’ve spent every single night there ever since we came together, but it will be good to make his modern apartment a home…
Until we move, until we start a family.
My belly swirls and I realize Claire is talking to me, but my thoughts keep jolting off to something else, the way they have been since yesterday afternoon.
“Jessie.” She walks over to me, her poncho swishing around her. “Is something wrong? Is Jaxon not sure about the apartment? I don’t want to come between you and if you had to convince him to let me live here, I’d rather go back to the old place.”
“No, it’s nothing like that.” I place my hand on her arm, squeezing supportively. “This was Jaxon’s idea. He said that since we’re engaged, you’re basically family now already. And family takes care of each other. No, this place is yours. You can quit your job, find your passion. You’ve… you’ve earned it, Claire, after everything you did for me, after all the sacrifices you’ve made.”
The tears come by surprise, sliding warmly down my cheeks as I try to push them away. But when my aunt wraps her arms around me, I sink into them, hugging her until I’m finally able to overcome them and stand up straight.
“Were those happy tears or sad?” Claire asks.
“Happy,” I tell her, smiling through a sob. “I didn’t want to tell anybody before I told Jaxon, but…”
She peers closely at me, and then her eyebrows raise, and then raise some more. Jaxon told me about how her eyebrows seemed about to shoot off her head when he asked her for my blessing. I laughed hard because it’s so true. Aunt Claire could’ve been an actress with how expressive her face is.
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
I giggle. “So this is the game, is it? Tell you without technically telling you?”
She grins, gesturing at my belly. “Let’s just say it has something to do with that. And I’m not talking about a stomach bug.”
“Yes, it has something to do with that,” I say, laughing again. “And no, it has nothing to do with a stomach bug.”
Aunt Claire claps her hands together like little fluttering hummingbirds, letting out a whooping noise as she paces around the living room. She walks over to the sparkling clean windows, over to the bookshelf, and then to the record player in the corner.
