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I glance at my mom again, and she gives me an encouraging smile.
“I want to honor someone else the way I strive to honor my brother. Tate Dawn, the father of the most remarkable woman I’ve ever known. Please consider this gala tonight to be the first official fundraiser for the brand new Dawn Foundation for Cancer Research.”
Now I’m looking only at Cara. No one else in the room exists. It’s like it’s just the two of us. Her hands have come to her chest, and her mouth is slightly open in a shocked little O.
“Cara Dawn means the world to me. She taught me things about myself and showed me things in this world that I’ve been missing, and for that, I’m eternally grateful.” I’m speaking straight to her now. “So tonight, I want to honor her. Her father meant the world to her, and I wish to honor the memory of the man who meant so much to the woman who I hope I’ll have the very real honor of calling my wife.”
Hushed gasps rise up in the crowd, and I glance briefly at my mother as I hop off the stage. She has tears streaming down her face.
I don’t stop. I stride straight to Cara and drop to one knee, taking her hands in mine and looking up at her, letting all the earnest love within me shine through my eyes.
“Cara,” I whisper, because now this is just for her ears. “I love you more than anything. More than I ever thought I could love another person. I can’t spend another day without you. I know our relationship has been unconventional, but if you let me, I’ll spend the rest of my life showing you just how perfect you are and how much I love you. “Say you’ll marry me.”
Cara
Please, tell me I’m not dreaming.
Is Liam really proposing to me? Did I hear the words right or am I hallucinating?
“YES!” I cry out, offering him my hand as I purse my lips, trying to stop myself from crying like a little girl. Taking my hand in his, he takes a small blue box from inside his breast pocket and opens it to reveal the largest diamond ring I’ve ever seen.
“I promise you… I’ll make you the happiest woman on Earth,” he tells me, looking straight into my eyes as he slips the ring onto my finger, the golden band fitting around it perfectly.
“And I’ll make you the happiest man on Earth,” I repeat as he goes up to his feet, his eyes never leaving mine. Holding me by the waist, he pulls me into him and presses his mouth on mine. We kiss as if we’re alone in the ballroom, our lips locked on one another like two matching pieces from a puzzle.
Around us, the whole crowd erupts with shouts, clapping their hands hard as they see us kiss.
“NOW THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!” I hear someone shout over the chatter of the crowd, and I pull back from Liam to see a drunk Misty clapping her hands excitedly. Her hair is slightly disheveled, and her smile is a crooked one as well - I guess someone’s enjoying the free booze after all.
“You got your happy ending after all,” Renee tells me as well, coming up to me and hugging me tight, stealing me from Liam’s embrace. “All that doom and gloom… And now you’re on your way to become Mrs. Donovan.”
Mrs. Donovan - ah, how I liked the sound of these two words… After I met Liam’s parents for the first time, I fell asleep every single day wondering how it’d be like to have a relationship like them. To grow old by the side of a good man, a man whose love for me knows no boundaries… And now it seems that God himself decided to turn these dreams of mine into a reality. Cara Donovan - can you even imagine it?
“I was right after all,” Liam’s father tells me, coming up to us.
“You were,” Liam nods with a smile, and then his mother’s on him as well. We spend the next five minutes like that, hugging friends and giving our heartfelt thanks to every single person that congratulates us. Which is kinda exhausting, if you ask me - after all, there are more than a hundred people in here.
And, as good as that is to be cherished by friends and family, what Liam and I really want right now is a different kind of celebration. I can read that much in his eyes, and that because I feel exactly the same.
“How do we get out of here?” I purr into his ear, wrapping my arms around his waist and then kissing him once more.
“It isn’t going to be easy,” he whispers, looking around the room as he tries to think of a way out. “Everyone is looking at us right now.”
“I can help,” I hear Misty’s voice, and I almost jump out in surprise. She’s standing right next to me, that dazed grin of hers on her face. Even though she doesn’t look like a hot mess right now, I can tell by the glint in her eyes that she has already had a few drinks too many. “It’s the least I can do, I mean,” she shrugs, and then takes one step forward and hugs both Liam and I at the same time. Even though she looks small and weak, let me tell you - her arms feel like a guillotine.
“And how exactly will you help, Misty?” I ask her with a chuckle, but she just lets go of me and looks into my eyes, an expression of just wait and see on her face. With one final wink, she turns her back to me and then walks toward the press; there, she stands behind the sound table, the one commanding the sound in the room, and cranks it up.
“LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!” She shouts out, waving her arms in the air as loud electronic music starts pumping out of the overhead speakers. A few heads turn toward her, wondering who the hell is that shouting maniac, but she isn’t done yet.
As a waiter passes by her, she snags a bottle of champagne out from his hands and, moving too fast for someone as drunk as she is, she climbs on top of a table and starts dancing lewdly, bringing the bottle to her lips and allowing the champagne to trickle into her mouth and down her chin and neck, the front of her dress becoming drenched in it and revealing the perky shape of her breasts.
A few of the men in the crowd whistle and clap their hands, despite their wives or girlfriends not being too happy with Misty’s show. But, hey, she really did it - her plan is working.
“This is our chance,” Liam whispers, taking a hold of my arm and leading me across the ballroom. “I’ve got a room in here… And you won’t believe how good the rooms are,” he continues, grinning devilishly at me.
“The room…? Or the mattress?” I tease, smiling at him and feeling my heart racing inside m
y chest. After being without him for so many days, every single cell in my body is screaming for that sweet closeness. “Show me,” I continue back at him, nibbling on my lower lip as I imagine all the things we’re going to be doing in just a few minutes.
