AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He lifted the lid and nestled inside was a diamond solitaire, the most stunning ring I’ve ever seen. “Please say yes.”
Tears filled my eyes and my heart pounded out a resounding yes, but my mind hadn’t caught up. Not yet.
“Please Cedar. I promise to be everything you ever dream of, and everything you need. I swear, I won’t let you down.”
I ran my hand over my belly, not letting it linger too long. Deep in my heart, Mitch was the only one I ever wanted, and yes, he made a mistake, but… “Yes,” I said, my voice growing stronger with each breath. “YES! Of course, I’ll marry you. I love you, Mitch.”
He stood and pulled the ring from the box, slipping it onto my finger and squeezing my hand. Slowly, he leaned toward me and tipped his head. I jumped into his arms and wrapped my legs around his waist, kissing him with all I had. It had been too long.
After a few minutes of breathless reconnection, I unhooked from him. “I have a gift for you too. But I don’t have it with me, so I’ll just tell you what I got.”
My mouth opened but before I could say anything, Mitch produced the box I’d wrapped a week ago.
“Is this it?” He dangled it in his hand. “I can open it now?”
“YES,” I said, ready to rip it from his hands and show it to him myself.
As if taunting me, he slowly unwrapped the ribbon, first pulling on one side of the bow and then the other, unwrapping it and tucking it into his pocket. The anticipation was killing me. Gingerly, he tugged on the lid of the box and separated it from the bottom, staring at the wrapped gift.
“That’s unique wrapping paper.”
Toilet paper wasn’t ideal, but it was all I had. “Ah-huh.”
Finally, he moved it out of the way and tipped his head to the side. “Is that a–?” He pulled it out and looked at the display window. “Are you?”
“I am. We are. I found out the morning of our anniversary.” I searched his face, expecting to see the ghost white of fear return. Instead, his smile stretched from ear to ear. “You’re not mad?”
“Why would I be mad?” His eyes glistened every few seconds thanks to the lighthouse.
“Because you never wanted children?”
He beamed, and with his grand smile, it pushed the tears out. “For the rest of my life, I promise you, if it’s with you, I will cheerfully accept anything. A new job, kids, whatever.”
“Really?” My vision blurred.
“Honest to God. Cedar, I love you, and I can’t wait to marry you and have this child with you. Maybe even a dozen more.”
“Oh, Mitch. You make me the happiest person on Earth.”
“Wrong again. You already mademethe happiest.”
Epilogue
A few weeks later, I was sitting at my desk, flipping through a pregnancy magazine when the walkie-talkie cackled from the tower.
“We have an inbound Aerostar on emergency approach. Clear the runway and prep for landing.”
I grabbed the walkie-talkie and scrambled over to the bank of windows, pushing out onto the tarmac. Where was Mitch? Surely, he heard.
Eric came out of the bay and flagged me over, radio in hand.
“What’s the 911 for?”
He scanned the skies. “Forced landing. Lost power.”
“That’s not good. How big is an Aerostar?” Not the size of a jumbo jet, I hoped.
Our airport wasn’t built to handle the big planes, mostly just the ones with a ten-seat max kind of deal. Like the private jets.
