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What? “When I proposed!”
His grin grows. “Well, not like on one knee or anything. We kept passing little wedding chapels and when I pretended like I was going to drag you inside one, you said ‘let’s do it.’”
“Let’s do it,” I mumble.
“It was too perfect. An engagement ring was waiting for you in my luggage at the hotel and you had no clue about that. I wasn’t sure what your response was going to be and suddenly, you were standing in front of me, not only willing, but eager to marry me on the spot. During the cab ride, while we got our licenses, and all the way back to the chapel, I kept asking if you were sure. You had no doubts.”
I close my eyes when the memory flicks to the front of my mind, the way he looked at me so seriously when he asked, “Are you sure you want to be my wife?” His eyes shining at my response.
Drunk, fearless Maren had zero doubt. “I’m already yours. We’re just making it official,” I whisper, and the joy in his instant smile is something I’ll never forget.
“You remember.”
I nod and he pulls me into a rib crushing hug. Tears overflow while my brain grasps at so many things, trying to imagine conversations that should take place before a marriage. “You know I can’t have kids, right? I told you I had my tubes tied. Not just tied. Ripped out, burned, thrown into the path of an oncoming semi.”
He chuckles again and runs a hand over the back of my head. “I don’t want kids. Never have.” He wipes a tear from my cheek when I sit back to look at him. “Are you finished trying to talk me out of this?”
The panic is fading but my head is spinning with questions. One stands out the most. “I don’t understand why you would take such a risk.”
“It’s not a risk. I know you don’t care about money. If anything, it put me at a disadvantage in your eyes. I know you’ve been hurt, and you worry about being abandoned by the people you love. I’m so sorry you went through that.”
His words pierce deep. As much as I like to pretend that what my parents did hasn’t affected me, it has. It’s guided some of my worst decisions because I made them based on fear. All I can manage is a nod and he continues.
“I love you.” He plants a soft kiss on my lips. “I need you. Not as my assistant, but as my best friend and the love of my life.” He slips his fingers under my chin and tilts my head up. “But I need to know that you want this too.”
We look into one another’s eyes for what feels like an eternity. The fear I carry is still there, maybe it always will be, but it’s overridden by something so much more powerful. Love. There are a million things we’ll need to figure out and decide. I have no idea what my life might look like a year from now, or five, or ten, but one thing is as clear as a summer sky. Whatever comes, whatever future I imagine, Cooper is in it.
“I’d marry you again, too.” The impact of my words is instant as the tension in his body melts. “I’m already yours.”
EPILOGUE
TWO WEEKS LATER
MAREN
“Rosie! No!” Pops scolds, scooping up his puppy and running outside with it. The house training has not been going well, but he caught her just in time to avoid another puddle on the floor.
I hear Cooper’s voice talking and laughing with Pops before he steps inside. With a wide grin, he holds a set of keys out to me. Pop’s keys.
“It’s ready?”
“The movers just finished. Mom followed behind them like a madwoman making sure everything was the same as the pictures you showed her.”
That sounds like her. Cooper’s mother has been visiting for the last week, and she’s amazing. We hit it off right away, and she made me cry by telling me how much she always wanted a daughter and how thrilled she was for us. Pops is equally as happy about our impromptu marriage, but he wasn’t too surprised. Cooper told him he intended to propose—I knew I saw something in that shared look on the porch the day we left—but he didn’t expect us to seal the deal while we were there.
Neither did I, but there hasn’t been a second of regret. Any worries I had about Cooper leaving are gone. We’ve made so many plans together over the last two weeks, and figured out how we want to live for the foreseeable future.
“Remind me to thank her. She’s been so great.”
Cooper grins at me. “She lives for this kind of thing. Corbin’s waiting there too.”
“Then let’s go.”
Pops sits out on the front step, watching the puppy play in the yard. “Don’t lock me out,” he warns, when he sees me locking the trailer door.
“You are locked out and you’re coming with us,” I chirp. “Grab your little mongrel.”
His eyebrows rise and he stares at me. “If this is the nursing home trip, I will tuck and roll out of the car. I still got it in me.”
