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As she’d hoped, he sighed and shook his head. “All right. If you want a corn goose, you can have a corn goose, babygirl.”
Rising up on her tiptoes, she pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you, Daddy. This has been thebestweekend.”
She was so excited about the goose, she completely forgot about the toy. Until he hit the button to turn it back on just as they walked up to the register. But between the corn goose and the surprise trip he’d planned for her, she was flying high on love and happiness. Enough so that when the lady at the checkout counter asked if she was feeling alright because “You’re looking a little flushed, dear” she didn’t even want to kill him.
Much.
* * *
Matt
By the time they reached the final stop on their shopping trip, Matt was feeling a little bit like he might throw up. Not even teasing his babygirl with her toy had been enough to distract him from the nerves dancing up and down his spine.
He was so nervous, in fact, he almost walked straight past the store. But his mama hadn’t raised the kind of man who ran when things got hard, so he forced himself to stop and reach for the door with one hand while juggling a giant plastic goose in the other. “Let’s go in here.”
“Matt, no. You’ve already spent so much money on me this weekend, I’m not letting you buy me any jewelry.”
Surprisingly, some of his nerves faded as he pinned her with a stern glare. “You are not ‘letting me’ do anything, little girl. If I want to buy my girl something pretty, I will. Now march.”
With a small huff of annoyance, she breezed past him into the store. But her resistance to the idea seemed to fade as soon as she stepped inside. “Oh.” She sighed dreamily as her gaze traveled along the glass cases. “It’s all so beautiful.”
“Good afternoon.” The woman who approached them should have looked severe with her conservative suit and gray hair pulled back in a tight bun, but the warmth of her smile softened the look considerably. “May I help you with something?”
“We have an appointment,” Matt said, cutting off Carly’s assurances that they were ‘just browsing’. “Matt Crawford.”
As Carly’s mouth fell open beside him, the woman behind the counter seemed to light up. “I’m so pleased to meet you, Mr. Crawford. I’m Mrs. Daniels, we spoke on the phone.”
“Yes, I remember. This is Carly, my girlfriend.”
“Aren’t you a lucky girl?” Mrs. Daniels said with a wink. “If you’ll both follow me. The section we need is down this way.”
“Matt, what is going on?” Carly whispered as he gave her a gentle nudge in the direction Mrs. Daniels had gone.
“You’ll see in a moment, babygirl. Trust Daddy.”
That seemed to do the trick. Shaking her head, Carly finally followed along the counter until she came to a stop in front of Mrs. Daniels.
And a case filled to the brim with diamond rings shining brilliantly under the lights.
“Oh my god. Oh mygod.” Eyes wide, she turned to stare up at him. “Matt. What…”
If his heart beat any harder, it was liable to jump right out of his chest. “Your mama said you’d always dreamed about picking out your engagement ring. Mrs. Daniels pulled some options for us, but if there’s something else you like better, we can take a look at those, too.”
“You asked my mom about engagement rings.”
“Yeah. I figured she would know better than anybody.” Feeling more and more unsure of himself the longer she stood there staring at him, he cleared his throat. “She said you’d always talked about the kind of ring you wanted, but with Danny you didn’t really get the chance to do all the things you’d dreamed of and I just… wanted to give you that, I guess.” When she still didn’t speak, he glanced at Mrs. Daniels who simply shrugged before he looked back down at his babygirl. “Listen, if I fucked this up, I’m really sorry, baby. If you want, I can just pick something out on my own and?—”
“No!” Carly’s shouted protest had him raising a brow at her, which in turn had her cheeks turning an adorable shade of pink. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell. It’s just, this is so… perfect.”
Relief knocked the breath clear from his lungs. “Oh, thank god. Jesus, I was worried I ruined everything,” he said with a shaky laugh.
“You didn’t ruin anything.” Stepping closer, she laced her hands behind his head, pulling him down for a slow, thorough kiss. “I love this. And I love you, Matt Crawford.”
“I love you, too, babygirl.”
“All right.” Eyes gleaming with excitement, she pulled away and rubbed her hands together with glee. “Let’s get engaged.”
CHAPTER5
