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It was sweet and eloquent, and I could tell just by looking at him that Jacob was totally touched. Shane probably didn’t say stuff like that to him very often.
Or at all.
“Thank you, son,” Jacob said, sounding a little choked up.
“Yes, thank you, Shane,” Mom said, and she raised her glass. We all raised a glass and everyone drank to that, as I gripped Danica’s hand and braced myself for whatever else Shane was about to say.
Because I knew, he wasn’t done yet.
“Also,” he went on, “now that all the wedding festivities have come to an end, I hope this is okay…”
As he spoke, I squeezed Danica’s hand and she squeezed me back.
“I didn’t want to take anything away from this wedding. I didn’t want to make this about me. But at the risk of doing just that, I want to take the opportunity while we’re all here together to share some news with you. This will be a surprise to most of you, I think. But Jolie isn’t going back to California today.”
Absolutely everyone looked at me.
And my face lit on fire.
Then Dani started clapping and shouted, “Yes!”
Shane smiled a bit. “She’s staying in Vancouver,” he said. “And she’s moving into my place.”
Oh, God.
Now everyone was looking at Shane again, which was only marginally better.
“What, like, crashing on your couch?” Darcy said, as maybe he voiced what everyone was thinking.
I could see them all straining to understand. You could hear a hair split right now.
But it was almost like the moment it came out of Darcy’s mouth, he realized what Shane actually meant. And maybe so did everyone else.
“No. Not on my couch. We’re a couple. I asked her last night, and she agreed to move in with me today.”
People were staring at him. People were staring at me.
But all I felt was my mom, looking at me.
I met her eyes. Jacob leaned into her a bit, taking her hand, like he was making sure she was okay before he reacted to this.
I couldn’t read either of their reactions, other than surprise.
“And before you get upset,” Shane went on, “neither of us are doing this to upset you. We didn’t mean to fall in love. But we did. And I asked her to stay, because I couldn’t bear for her to go back to San Diego. I know all of you love Jolie. Many of you would’ve welcomed her to stay with you. But I asked her to move in with me because…” I looked at him and he gazed back at me. “We belong together.”
“Shane…” Jacob said gently.
“Before you say anything, Dad… I respect you, Margot.” Shane turned to my mom. “Which is why I’m telling you this. I think your daughter is the most lovely, amazing human I’ve ever met and I want only good things for her. I hope you’ll come to accept that she’s chosen to be with me. And support our marriage.”
Mom’s mouth floated open.
“Because she also agreed to marry me. So, I thought I should make it official. Here, in front of all of you as witness.”
Then he walked around the table, toward me. Aunt Madeleine got right the hell up, ditching out of her chair next to me, and he pushed in the chair, moving it out of his way. And as our entire family watched, some with mouths still hanging open, he got down on one knee.
In front of fucking everyone.
I let go of Danica and turned to him. He took my hands in his as tears filled my eyes.
