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I drop to one knee and release her hand just long enough to reach into my pocket. I gaze up at her. My heart is beating like a drum.
“I want you in my life forever. Summer Madison, will you marry me?”
A gasp goes up and then a hush falls around the gathering. I feel as though I can hear a pin drop. Summer looks at me with tears in her eyes. She clutches her stomach and smiles.
“Yes, Lucan. I will.”
A cheer goes up as I pull the ring out of the box and slip it onto her finger. I stand and pull her into my arms. I kiss her slowly as our audience cheers. I pull away then lift the microphone to my mouth again.
“I figured she would have said yes. And then I did some more figuring.”
I help her down from the platform and walk to a curtained section of the patio. I turn to address our guests. I can see that I have everyone’s attention.
“I figured that since you’re all here already for a party, and you got an engagement as a bonus, we could have a bonus for the bonus and just have a wedding. I figured, I rather not give her time to change her mind, right?”
As our guests laugh, the curtain lifts to reveal a decorated ceremony space with seats already set out for the everyone in attendance. The aisle is covered in red rose petals and lined with bouquets of white roses. There is an arch at the altar and the officiant is now out of hiding from my office, standing there waiting. I reach into a box behind the curtain and find the bouquet of the roses I had sent to her throughout the day.
“So, if the lady has no objections, I would like to invite you all to join us as witnesses of our—”
Summer grabs my arm. “Lucan!”
There is something in her tone that makes me nervous. She clutches her stomach again and sways. Someone produces a chair immediately as she tightens her grip on my hand.
“What is it, sweetheart?”“I think my water just broke!”
Epilogue
Summer
“Doyou,Summer,takeLucan to be your lawfully wedded husband to have and to hold, from this day forth?”
Everything feels so surreal as I look up at Lucan. I find it hard to believe that a year ago today I had tumbled into his life. And now, here I am, about to become his wife. His dark gray suit fits him perfectly and makes his eyes seem to stand out even more. I am wearing the same dress from my birthday. But a skilled seamstress has made adjustments and one cannot tell that I still have a slight post-partum tummy beneath the layers of chiffon. My birthday bouquet has been replicated with the original being dried and preserved. I come back to the present as Lucan’s fingers tighten around mine.
“You haven’t changed your mind have you?”
I laugh and shake my head. “Sorry. I was lost for a moment there.” I tighten my fingers in Lucan’s grasp and smile up at him.
“I do.”
The officiant goes through the rest of the ceremony, and I’m just waiting for the moment when he declares that we are legally joined as husband and wife.
The guest list is basically the same. This time, though, they have had time to purchase wedding gifts. It been a couple of months since that party Lucan had planned. But Luciana Amelia Forbes had decided that she did not want to be left out of the celebrations. Our daughter had been born right after my birthday, just a couple of minutes past midnight. The doctor had said that this had to be some sort of record delivery time between my water breaking and delivering the baby.
And she is perfect. She has tufts of blonde hair and striking green eyes. And Ryan is absolutely in love with his baby sister. Whenever he cannot be found, the first place we check is the nursery. He has made a habit of carrying his coloring books into the nursery when she is asleep. And from the cameras Lucan’s friend Archer has set up, he seems to spend more time watching her sleep than coloring.
The morning after we brought her home from the hospital, he had shocked everyone by clearing a side of his playroom.
“It’s for Lucy. I know she’s still a baby. But she’s going to grow and she’s going to need a playroom. As long as she doesn’t touch my soldiers and my puzzles, I’d like her to play here.”
Sylvia and I had exchanged shocked expressions. This child never ceases to amaze us.
“By the power vested in my by the state of California, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Lucan, you may kiss your bride.”
A cheer goes up as Lucan takes me into his arms. My arms go up around his neck and my smile is a mile wide.
“You heard the man, Mr. Forbes. You may kiss your bride.”
“I don’t mind if I do, Mrs. Forbes.”
