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I turned back to him as he guided me down the hallway to the rear of the inn. “Oh yeah? And for what purpose?”
“I have a lot of plans for us. A night alone.”
My heart picked up because that wasn’t something we experienced often. “That sounds enticing.”
“But first, I wanted to show you something.”
We walked, our hands interlaced, until we reached one of the historic houses nearby. A guard unlocked the gate, and we went into the rear of the property, where the gardens were. During the day, tourists could walk through the gift shop, the museum, the house, and the gardens.
“I reserved the gardens.”
The gardens had been transformed with twinkly lights. “This is amazing.”
“Gia helped.”
It certainly had her signature ability to make everything sweet and intimate. We stood on the patio, taking everything in. There was a gazebo wrapped in greenery and lights, a small walking bridge over a stream, and numerous walking paths lit with candles. “This is beautiful.”
It wasn’t our anniversary, though, so I wasn’t sure why he’d gone through the trouble of first reminding me of the night we’d met and then this.
“You want to tour the grounds?” he asked, his voice was lighter as if he couldn’t wait to show me everything.
“I’d love to.” I loved that he’d planned the evening for us.
We walked the path, noting the extra touches that Gia added to make the gardens even more romantic. We took our time, holding hands, and Nick occasionally kissing me softly, but otherwise, we were quiet as we took in the beautiful surroundings. We ended up at the gazebo. Inside it was filled with candles of varying heights. They even hung from the roof, producing a beautiful glow inside. The greenery wrapped around it and created a sense of privacy even though we were the only ones in the gardens.
There was a blanket and pillows on the ground. Nick tugged me so that I sat next to him. “Since the night we met, I knew there was something special about you. I didn’t know then that one night would become so much more.”
“You asked me to stay that night.”
“I wasn’t ready for you to walk out of my life because I think I sensed, even then, that you were my future.”
I sucked in a breath as my heart twinged from his sweet words. I held up our intertwined hands so that my ring shone brightly in the candlelight.
“Just because we’re engaged or pregnant, or any of these other huge life events, doesn’t mean I won’t make time to remind you just how we met or the love I have for you.”
My heart stuttered on his words.
“I’ll never stop showing you what you mean to me,” he said.
“Thank you for tonight and everything you’ve given me.”
He kissed me, then pulled back slightly to open a box sitting nearby, revealing chocolate-covered strawberries.
“Those look yummy.”
He held one to my lips and waited for me to bite into it.
“It’s delicious. Thank you.”
His eyes were fixated on my lips as I chewed and swallowed, then he kissed me. “You taste like chocolate and strawberry.”
We kissed for a while, and then Nick poured us two glasses of sparkling water. We ate the rest of the strawberries, drank our water, and kissed. We paused briefly to talk about our future, how we’d tell the boys about our news, and the plans for adding a third child to our family.
We eventually moved our blanket to the grassy area, so we could lie back and look at the stars. “I can’t remember when I’ve had a good a night as this one.”
“Me neither.” He lifted our joined hands to kiss the back of mine.
I smiled at him. “Thank you for planning this.”
