AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Essex, what are you doing?” she asks with a shaky, trembling voice.
“I’m trying to ask you to marry me, but I need you to look at me, sweetheart.”
With tears pouring out of her eyes, she says, “But we haven’t really had a chance to talk about any of this. About our lives and what we want.”
“I want you. That’s all I want. You are all I ever wanted. Everything else will fall into place.”
“Dear,” Amos says, looking at his wife. “Let’s step out for a minute to give them some privacy.”
Once they leave, Quintessa says, “You want me, but what about the things I want. I want a family, Essex.”
“I want a family, too. Tell me what else you want, because I’m willing to bend to accommodate you in every way possible. All I want to know is if you want me the same way I want you. I want you to be my wife, Tessie. Do you want me to be your husband?”
She wipes tears and says, “Yes. It’s all I ever wanted, Essex, but—”
“But what?”
“You’re so different than you used to be.”
“So are you. We’ve both changed, but my love for you never wavered and it never will. Marry me, Quintessa. Make me the happiest man in the world, and I promise to give you the desires of your heart. I promise. Quintessa Bailey, will you marry me?”
Her hands tremble. “This can’t be real,” she says, touching my face. “Is this real?”
“It is, Tessie. Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” she says, then wraps her arms around my neck and cries some more. I swear her tears are going to be the death of me. Her body trembles against mine. I hold her tighter to make it stop and I let her cry for us – for all that we’ve been through and how we’ve found our way back to each other.
When she pulls back and wipes the tears from her face, I slide the Blue Nile, ten-carat, diamond cut ring onto her finger – the ring I’ve owned for five years waiting for this day.
Her parents come back into the room congratulating us. Her mother is fanning away tears, walking over to hug Quintessa while Amos hugs me, saying, “Welcome to the family, son.”
Sylvie steps over to me and says, “Oh, I’m so happy for you both.”
“Thank you.”
I return to my woman – my fiancée – and pull her into my arms before briefly taking her lips as my possession.
“Looks like we have a wedding to plan,” I hear Sylvie say.
“There won’t be much planning needed,” I inform her. “We’re getting married tomorrow.”
“What?” Quintessa and her mother ask together, both equally shocked.
I turn to Quintessa and say, “I’m not waiting anymore. We can go to the courthouse tomorrow and have a private ceremony on the beach at the estate on Saturday.”
“But Essex, a lot goes into planning a wedding,” she tells me.
“It doesn’t have to. I want simplicity. I don’t want this long, drawn-out ordeal. We were eighteen when we both knew we were it for each other. We’re thirty-four now. We’ve lost a lot of time, Tessie. I’m not losing any more time. I want this. I want a simple ceremony. I want you to be my wife like you should’ve already been.”
She takes my hand and says, “I want to keep it simple, too, but I at least need time to find a gown and dresses for my mother and Ella.”
“You don’t think you can find dresses before Saturday?”
“I can, but—”
“We can get married naked for all I care. I want you to be my wife, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to achieve that.”
“Well, I’ll be…” Amos says. “The man has spoken! I suggest you and your mother go looking for a dress right away, Quin.”
