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“…And this uhhh… And this ring,” I say, lifting the velvet box from my jeans pocket.
Popping the lid and dropping to one knee as if I’ve rehearsed this moment a thousand times as much as I’ve thought about it.
May’s jaw drops, and there’s a second where she gives me a ‘you kidding?’ look, thinking I might be pranking her, trying to outdo her little surprise with the crib and the ultrasound photo.
But I shake my head gently.
“I mean it, May. Our baby’s gonna have a Mommy and a Daddy…and the best way I know how to do that is to ask you to be my wife,” I tell her, my voice still shaking with emotion.
Never even thinking for one second that she would never say yes.
But she’s quiet for so long that I have to ask her again.
“May? I want you to be my wife…you’re my best friend, lover, and our child’s mother. And I can’t think of anyone I’d rather be with, any day until the day I die than with you.”
“Will you marry me?” I finally ask her.
But she’s already hugging my neck. Both of us know the answer long before she says my new favorite word.
“Yes!”
EXTENDED EPILOGUE
THREE YEARS LATER
May
“C’mon, Dad, we’ll be late,” I call out over the fence.
My dad holds up a hand, ending his phone call before he joins us.
“Sorry, kiddo. Just making sure the mice don’t all play while the cat’s away,” he jokes, helping himself to baby Jesse and giving her all the faces that make her laugh. He settles her in the way only grandpa can before she’s loaded into the car with everyone else.
“You sure you got a handle on things?” Brandon teases him from the driver’s side.
Still enjoying the inside joke where he ribs my dad, who runs both the auto shop franchiseandthe security business.
Brandon meant every word about looking after us all, and once we made the businesses part of a family trust, Brandon himself asked dad if he wanted to run everything for a change. It’s been smooth sailing ever since.
Dad gets to live his dream of running a big business, and we get to have all the time in the world to focus on what matters most.
Family.
“I’m just cracking the whip. Just how you showed me,” my dad drawls back to Brandon, piling in back with the other kids and settling Jesse into her baby seat.
Our annual trip with thewholefamily is up and running.
It’s a ninety-mile drive, but the ‘cabin in the woods,’ as Brandon likes to call it, could be our forever home one day.
Maybe once the kids have all grown up and we wanna live the retired life.
For now, it’s a home away from home when we wanna get away from everything.
There’s fishing and boating on the lake. Trails to hike and plenty of woods for the kids to set up tents and live rough for a night while mom and dad are close enough to keep an eye on things.
And grandpa, of course.
Brandon and I know full well that most toddlers aren’t into mountain life getaways, but my dad loves it.
