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Sixty-Five
Everyone was watching them. Waiting for him to make a decision. Or to just do anything. Robin’s eyes were wide. Hesitant. Uncertain.
He cupped her cheek. Wanting to just touch her. “Twenty years hasn’t changed the way I feel about you.”
He kept his words low as their children crowded close. He took Becky from Robin and handed her to Noah.
“I don’t think two hundred could change them,” he continued. “You know how I feel about you.”
She nodded, slowly.
“I wasn’t exactly going to do this here, but I had a plan. I guess one thing I’ve learned recently, I am not made for making plans. I’m better at just winging it. So…here goes.”
Nick reached into his pocket. Found what he was looking for.
He’d held his brother and Glenna’s rings today. In a simple black box, not even velvet.
But his fingers brushed velvet now.
It was the one he wanted. He pulled it free.
Held it up for her to see. He barely heard the ripple go through the crowd behind him, heard Rory and Glenna’s surprised squeals. Then the crowd was quiet, the kids were quiet, and the woman he wanted was looking at him with tears in her eyes and a shy smile on her perfect mouth. She’d always had a perfect mouth.
Perfect for kissing him.
“I was going to wait until it was just the two of us, but then I realized something…” He looked at the crowd surrounding them, and he looked at the five kids who mattered the most.
He loved each and every one of them.
“It’s not just the two of us and it won’t be for a long, long while. And I like it that way. I’ve lived the alone life, and I never want it again. I like the man I am when I’m with you—and with them. I love being their dad. And I love you. I’ve waited for you for twenty years, Robin Patton. And I’ll wait for you forever if I have to. But…in the meantime, I want you to ride this crazy roller-coaster right next to me. Clogged toilets and flooded hallways, tangled hair, spilled fruit punch and apparently smashed cake, and all. Fighting boys and yelling kids and everything being total chaos. I want to go through the chaos…with you. Will you…let me? I know I can be trouble, and hard to handle—my brothers tell me that all the time—but…I think we can make a tomorrow together that’s even brighter than today. If you’ll just give me a chance?”
