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“It broke me for a very long time,” he admitted. “To be honest, for a long time I didn’t even like to think about it.”
“I was broken too, although finding out I was pregnant with Logan gave me a reason to keep putting one foot in front of the other. He gave me the strength to want to live past the pain.”
“There’s something you don’t know about that night.”
“Tell me, Parker. What is it? Did something happen after I left?” Cadence asked.
He pushed his pie plate to the side. “That night I had a diamond engagement ring in my pocket. I’d set up the whole evening so I could propose to you.”
Cadence let out a shocked gasp and raised her hands to cover her mouth. “No! Parker. No way. You were going to propose to me?”
Parker nodded. “Yep. I had it all planned out. All of my siblings came over to help me set up. They were all excited for us.” He quirked his mouth. “Of course things didn’t exactly go as planned. Instead of an engagement, there was a break-up.”
“I had no idea,” Cadence cried out. “How could I? All I could think about that night was trying to end things with you so I could keep you safe. I had a one-track mind. It’s sad to say, but I didn’t even sense it with you. I had no idea you were going to ask me to marry you.”
Parker nodded. “It was meant to be a romantic surprise.”
Cadence stood up from her chair and moved toward him.
“I would have loved for you to propose to me, Parker. I think it would have been the highlight of my life.” She leaned down and pressed a kiss on his forehead.
“Would you have said yes?” he asked. He’d wondered about it for the past three years. He might as well find out tonight.
Her eyes widened. “Of course I would have said yes. I was crazy about you. And I would have happily agreed to be your wife, Parker. There’s no question about it.”
**
Cadence took a deep breath and forged ahead. If she was going to seize the moment, she needed to lay it all on the line. She would leave no words unspoken. Parker had been brave three years ago when he’d planned to propose to her. Now, it was her turn.
Tears coursed down Cadence’s cheeks. She needed strength at this moment. She couldn’t fall apart when she was laying it all on the line with Parker. She’d come to terms with moving on with her life if Parker didn’t want to be with her. If she believed anything in this world, Cadence believed everyone had the right to be with whomever they wanted to. You couldn’t force a person to love you back.
“There hasn’t been a time in the last three years when I haven’t loved you, Parker. And I can’t see a time when that’s going to stop. I’m not ever going to stop loving you, even if we can’t be together.”
Love didn’t sit on a shelf waiting for a person. Three years was a long time to put your heart on ice. Even if Parker rejected her, she’d spoken her truths.
“You love me?” Parker asked, his voice filled with wonder.
“Yes, I do,” she said. “Very much.”
“And you always have?”
She nodded. “Yes, I have.”
He reached out and traced the shape of her lips with his finger. “And you always will?”
“I always will,” she whispered.
A stunning smile broke out over Parker’s face. It seemed as if he was lit up from the inside. “That’s pretty spectacular, since I feel the exact same way about you. I’ve loved you since the moment I first saw you. Three years ago I wanted to make you my bride. Then the bottom fell out of my world when you broke up with me. I stuffed the pain down for a long time and I pretended it hadn’t broken me to lose you.” He ran his palm across her cheek. “The moment you showed up at my house I knew those feelings hadn’t died. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I still loved you. And that I always will.”
Cadence let out a squeal of delight. “Oh Parker. I’m so happy. When I showed up here it was in order to get Logan back. I never dared to dream we would get back together. To be honest, I was too afraid to dream that big.”
“This isn’t a dream, Cadence,” he said, standing up and placing his arms around her waist. He pulled her toward him and placed a soulful kiss on her lips. “I want to marry you and make a family with the three of us—me, you and Logan.”
“If that’s a proposal, the answer is yes,” Cadence said. “If you want, I’ll say it over and over again.”
Parker let out a deep-throated chuckle. “That’s not necessary. Once was all I ever needed or wanted. Thank you for coming back into my life and loving me. My life wasn’t the same without you in it.”
“Oh, Parker,” Cadence said, sniffling back tears. “We’re going to be so happy, aren’t we?”
