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Apparently, she had the same idea.
“Yes,” she said.
“Wow,” I muttered.
She grinned. The tight green dress stretched over her body in a way that I was pretty sure she wouldn’t want anyone else seeing but me. We were only going to go to the house and have dinner delivered to us, but we both decided to make ourselves as fancy as she had made the bed and breakfast, and she was way better at it than I was.
“Let’s go,” she said. “Food delivery is at eight.”
As we drove to the house, we held hands, and the magnitude of the evening began to settle on me. I looked over at Allison, who glanced at me, and felt my heart swell for the woman beside me. She really was everything I had ever hoped for. I hoped she knew it.
I pulled in right next to the house and let her out, then walked her up the porch to the door. After unlocking it, I held it open for her, and she walked inside, slowly turning around and holding out her arms in presentation. The smile on her face was infectious.
“Welcome to the Cozy Bed and Breakfast of Murdock, Texas,” she said.
I was taken aback by what I saw and stood in fascination in the doorway. Allison had been busy.
The floors had been waxed and were shining under new lighting fixtures in the ceiling along with lamps in strategic places along the house. The furniture, while sparse at the moment as we worked up collecting it, fit perfectly with the theme of the house, and a huge buffet table sat in the dining room, just where she’d envisioned it.
The whole bottom floor of the house shone, and as we walked through it, Allison told me what was missing and if she had ordered it or found it somewhere yet or if she was still looking. There weren’t many things she was still trying to find. Most everything was already bought and paid for or had been picked out somewhere and was on hold.
“I like the idea of theme weekends,” I said as we made it back to the staircase in the main hall. “I never would have thought of that.”
“Well, aside from Christmas decorations, I thought doing those and special events would provide us a chance to sell the place to locals as well as out-of-towners,” she said.
“Special events? Like weddings?” I asked.
That was my opening. I had been waiting to do this all evening, and now that it was here, I couldn’t hesitate. Otherwise, I might let myself wait again.
I didn’t want her to ever feel like I was doing this because I thought I had to, or to pressure her into doing something because of her history with her ex ordering her around. But I loved her so much that I wanted the whole world to know it. I wanted to show her how much she meant to me and how our family was the most important thing in my life. More than ever, I was thrilled to be raising our Leo together, as a couple, and she needed to know that I wasn’t going anywhere.
Not ever.
I dropped to one knee as she nodded, agreeing that weddings were an option. Her face screwed up in a confused look as she tried to figure out why I was kneeling, her eyes instantly going to my shoe first and then back to my face. Suddenly, it started to dawn on her, and I could see the emotion wash over her.
“Oh” was all she was able to get out.
“Allison,” I began, “I love you more than I could possibly express. And I want the whole world to know how much that might be. You and I have begun raising a son, and the magic of our newfound family is something I cannot risk, not for any reason. So I want to know if you would do me the honor of becoming my wife, sharing this life together with me not just for now, but for forever.”
“Yes,” she said, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Yes, I will!”
I pulled out the box from my pocket and opened it up, revealing the ring that I had bought for her weeks before. She gasped as I slipped it on her finger before standing and embracing her with a kiss. I scooped her up so I held her aloft and carried her to the steps.
“Shall we?” I asked.
She nodded and laughed as she pressed her lips into mine again, and when they broke apart, I carried her up the steps and into our wing of the house.
Shutting the doors behind us wasn’t strictly necessary since it would be weeks before there was another guest. But it added to the intimacy of the moment. The rest of the world was on the other side of those doors. But on this side, there was only us, a bed, and our rooms that Allison had decorated so tastefully.
