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“Fine.” My pulse thumps in my ears. “You have two minutes.”
He blinks, swallowing. “Thank you.”
“Onlytwo minutes.”
“Then I’ll get right to it. I was wrong about everything, Maren. My feelings for you—they’re overwhelming. In the best way. But those feelings are terrifying for someone like me who’s had to deal with some real loss in the past. When I was faced with the possibility of losing you and the baby too, I lost my shit. I thought I could protect myself from being broken again by putting distance between us. I thought if I loved you less, it would hurt less to lose you. And I assumed I really would lose you. The baby too.”
My voice trembles when I say, “What’s changed?”
“I went to therapy. I’m going to keep going to therapy. I talked to her—my therapist—and talked some more with my dad. And it just, it hit me like a ton of bricks that I was destroying everything I loved, everything that meant something to me, in the name of tryingnotto get destroyed. It was stupid.” He shakes his head. “I was being stupid. I hurt you, I hurt our family, and I don’t know if I’ll ever deserve your forgiveness. But I’m gonna ask for it anyway. I’m in love with you, honey. Have been from the start.”
I cover my mouth with my hand. More tears stream down my face. Sad? Happy?
“I’ve been in so much pain over this,” I whisper. “If you’re fucking with me?—”
“I won’t fuck with you ever again.” The certainty of his words takes my breath away. He moves closer. Close enough I can see how his eyelashes are clumped together. “I ain’t perfect, but I am gonna make damn well sure I never intentionally hurt you a second time. I’ll stay in therapy. I’ll take meds if I have to. Anything to get my head straight so I can be good to you and our babies.”
Ourbabies.
I set down my ginger ale on the bar. My heart flutters. It feels like the first glimmer of trust coming back to life. Tuck is trying. He’s making real changes. He’s not only acknowledginghe was wrong, he also understandswhy, and how badly he hurt me.
“I love you too.” I can’t seem to get my voice above a whisper. “I’ve never felt more alone than I have the past seven days. I don’t want to live without you or Katie. Y’all are my world. I just... I meant what I said. I can’t go through this again, Tuck.”
He slips a hand underneath my forearm, cupping my elbow. “You won’t have to. I’m in, Tiny. Both feet.” His other hand disappears into his pocket. A second later, he’s holding out a red jewelry box. “Let me prove to you I’m the man who won’t ever let you go again.”
Looking down at the box, I can’t breathe.Stunneddoesn’t even begin to describe the way I’m feeling.
I look back up at him. “What’s this?” I ask, even though I’m pretty sure I know the answer.
He flicks open the latch with his broad thumb. Seeing what’s inside the box, I immediately suck in a breath, my hand slapping back onto my mouth.
It’s a diamond ring.
A huge, gorgeous, insanely perfect ring with a heart-shaped diamond on a platinum band.
Before I know what’s happening, Tuck is getting down on one knee. He looks up at me, eyes brimming, and says, “Be my wife, Tiny. Make me the happiest man alive and marry me today.”
My heart lurches. “Today?”
“Riley knows a guy at the courthouse. We have the last slot of the day if you want it.”
Scoffing, I start to cry in earnest. “Talk about not wasting time.”
“I’m a man of my word.”
“No shit.”
“I know I wanna be with you the rest of my life. You need time to think it over, that’s fine. But I don’t.”
Happiness, fierce and loud, crashes through me, filling my chest with joy to the point of bursting.
“You’re for real,” I manage.
He nods, a single duck of his head. “As real as this diamond, Tiny. You like it?”
I laugh. I laugh so hard that I start to cry all over again. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I breathe, “Yes,” before I tilt my head and slant my mouth over his.
He kisses me back hungrily. His hand finds my face, my hair. I taste the salt on his lips. His tears or mine, I can’t say.
