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“He’s what?” Caroline watched as her tall, gorgeous boyfriend walked up the first baseline with her brother, shaking hands with different players along the way. This was strange.
She leaned over the dugout and watched him, just loving how big and handsome he was. Josh’s mirrored aviators made people wonder who he was, and since he was so good-looking, so confident, he got his own matinee-idol screams from the fans. Unlike Kevin, who hated the attention, Josh smiled and waved.
“What a ham,” Caroline said.
He stopped in front of the dugout and took off his sunglasses, locking his eyes with Caroline’s. Her heart was thumping, because she knew. The sneak wanted to do something special and he did.
Jumping up onto the top of the dugout, to the cheers of the people in their seats, Josh reached out and pulled Caroline up with him.
“You’re a show-off,” she said.
“You love it.” His words came on a whisper.
“I love you,” she said.
“That’s a really good thing.” And that’s when Josh knelt and everyone in the stadium cheered.
Caroline felt the tears prick her eyes as the man she loved, the man she had always loved, knelt before her.
“Caroline? I’m doing this here, in front of your family and a stadium full of strangers, because I want there to be no doubt how I feel.”
“I don’t doubt you.”
“You’re everything to me and because of you I will live the life I should live and be the person I want to be. The person you need me to be.”
“Oh, Josh.”
“I love you, with all my heart.”
Her tears had spilled over now and were tracking down her cheeks. “I love you.”
“You are my destiny, my soulmate, and I can’t believe I am so lucky.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black velvet box. “Will you marry me?”
Looking at all the people in her life, from her brother on the field to her mother and sister and Jason and Molly, Caroline’s heart nearly burst from the love that was there. It was all-consuming. All-powerful. Her dad, she knew, would be happy. Happy for her and happy for Josh, the boy who learned how to love not by example, but from the goodness in his heart.
“Do I get to be a flower girl?” Molly wasn’t going to miss a chance to get into a pretty dress.
Caroline nodded at her. “Yes.” Then she turned to Josh, not able to remember when she’d been this happy. “Yes.”
Her dad was a man who believed in the power of dreams. He wanted his children to follow what they loved, be the people they wanted to be. To cherish one another.
Josh rose, and Caroline reached up and hugged her man. He was her family now and she always knew he would be.
“We should probably kiss or something,” she said.
“Or something?” He smiled wide, and Caroline saw her whole life ahead of her in his shining eyes.
“Josh, why did you do this?” she asked.
“You’re a romance author. I wanted you to have a proposal that was book worthy.”
Josh leaned in and kissed her, sipping her lips, and Caroline felt herself melting into him. “You realize,” she said softly. “That the really good stuff comes after the happily ever after?”
“I’m counting on that.”
