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Before I can respond, he lowers himself down to one knee and grips my hand while pulling a ring from his pocket.
“Tyler.” He says. “I know it hasn’t been very long and you might think I’m crazy, but I have never been as happy as I have been these last few months with you. You are smart and funny, you’re kind and gentle. You are everything I have ever wanted in a partner. Being with you is so easy. You feel like home to me. There is nothing else in this world that I want more than to wake up next to you every day and fall asleep next to you every night in this house. I love you so much. Tyler, will you please marry me?”
The tears well in my eyes and hit the concrete at his feet. I quickly wipe them away and stare into his eyes before realizing that I had been too stunned to even answer him and nod quickly, “Yes, Andrew, of course.” I say, as he slides the simple diamond ring on my finger and I pull his hand towards me, bringing him to his feet.
“I can’t wait for you to be my wife.” He grins before kissing me again. “We are going to have an incredible life together.”
I take back everything I thought earlier. Now, is the happiest I’ll ever be.
* * *
Andrew rolls himself over and lands on the mattress beside me with a thud. “Well, that was one way to celebrate.” I say with a giggle, before climbing out of the bed and moving towards the tight camper bathroom. Upon my return, he is already sitting on the bed, dressed and waiting for me. Carefully, I step around him from where he sits and retrieve my clothes. “I don’t know how you live in this tiny space.” I say.
He laughs. “Eh, it’s a place to shower and sleep. I don’t really spend much time here, anyway.” He says with a shrug.
It’s true. When he isn’t working on jobs for customers, he’s working on the building, or he’s spending time with me.
“You know,” I say, “It’s going to be getting cold soon. And since we are engaged, maybe you should think about coming to stay with me instead.” I pause. “I mean, unless you just really want your own space.”
He grins. “No, I want to be in your space as much as I can.”
I blush and let out a small giggle. “Well, I guess that means we need to tell my parents we’re getting married.” I say as I finish buttoning my jeans.
He clenches his teeth. “They kind of already know.” When I only answer with a look of confusion, he continues. “I had to ask your dad’s permission first. Luckily, he said yes. That would have been super awkward.”
I scoff. “I didn’t realize you were so old-fashioned.”
“Only when it really counts.” He laughs. “And for something like that? It counts. I want them to like me. I want to do anything I can to make your life easier.”
I grin. “I love you for that, and you already have made my life so much better than I ever dreamed.”
“Just you wait,” He says with a smile. “We have a lifetime ahead of us.”
* * *
“Are you pregnant?” Mom whispers as she leads me into the kitchen. Andrew and Dad are already in the garage, tinkering with the truck. I have to hand it to them. They stayed tuned in for approximately three minutes while I told my parents that we want to get married sooner rather than later before they turned their attention to working on the Chevy.
I roll my eyes and shake my head. “No, I am not pregnant.” Not that I would mind so much. “Andrew and I have just had some time to talk about it and we don’t want to wait. We don’t see the point in spending thousands of dollars for a wedding that will take a year or more to plan, when we could get it done in a few weeks and start our life together. Not to mention that we have basically no spare time between running two businesses and building a house.” I say with a sigh. Just thinking about all we have going on right now exhausts me.
She frowns, just slightly. “You know how this town is. People are going to think you’re pregnant if you get married so quickly.”
I shrug and take a seat at the table. “Then, let them. Who cares? The worst that will happen is in nine months I won’t have a baby on my hip and by then, no one will even remember because I’ll be married and they will move on to discussing someone else’s reproductive organs.”
She pauses for a moment, as though to consider what I said. “You’re right.” She nods and takes a seat across from me. “When it’s right, you just know, and it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about it.” She reaches across the table to squeeze my hand. “You deserve to be happy and if this is what will make you happy, then we will make sure it happens.” She pauses for a second and looks at me with soft eyes. “I know I need to get better at not caring what other people think.”
“It’s a hard habit to break.” I say.
“It is.” She nods. “But that’s no excuse for me to make everyone in my life miserable because I’m so worried about what people on the outside are thinking. I wasn’t going to tell you this, but I’ve been seeing a therapist.”
I raise a brow. This is so unlike the mother I was raised by. That woman never would have been capable of talking to a stranger about her problems. And she certainly would have never admitted to me, or anyone else, that she was incapable of handling things on her own.
“Since when?” I ask.
“Since a couple weeks after Dad’s heart attack. I figure, if he is going to put in the work to get healthier, I better put in the work to be easier for all of you to deal with.” She chuckles before turning somber again. “I know that because of my insecurities, I have really hindered our relationship for so many years. I hate to think of how much time we have lost because of that. Life is so short, and I don’t want to miss out on the time I have left here with you because I’m being difficult and causing you to distance yourself.”
I wipe a tear from my face and then move to the other side of the table before pulling my mom into a tight embrace. “Thank you.” I whisper. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” She says, before pulling back to look at me. “We’ve got a wedding to plan. We better start making calls.”
