EPILOGUE ASHTON
EPILOGUE
ASHTON
I waited until the next morning. I didn’t want to be predictable, but as soon as she started waking up, with her coffee already on the nightstand, she rolled over, and I was there.
“Morni—” She stopped because she saw what was in my hand.
The ring. I moved so I was half lying on her, nestled between her legs, and I held it up to her. “Will you marry me?”
“Ashton.” She sat up slowly, reaching for the ring.
She’d start crying. She was a crier, at least lately, but she cried when she was happy. She rarely cried from the other reasons anymore.
Those tears were starting. Her bottom lip beginning to tremble. “Is this—are you sure?”
I groaned. “God, I’m sure.” I reached forward, brushing her hair back, tucking it behind her ear, and I held her head in the palm of my hand. “I meant it last night. I think I’ve loved you since we were kids. Just took me a long time to figure it out.”
She was biting her lip, still crying, but her eyes were beaming at me. She kept looking from me to the ring, and back again, until she was only focusing on the ring.
I sat up. “Molly.”
“What?” Still focused on the ring. “It’s a double-stoned engagement ring. Ashton. This is amazing.”
One was a princess-cut stone. The other was shaped in a moon. Both were platinum and on a gold band.
“Trace helped with the ring, by the way. If you say yes, he’s requested that they’re our first call. And they’re on standby. Meaning, they’re staying in one of the guesthouses here.”
She gasped. “They’re here?”
I was half cursing in my head. “You need to say yes or put me out of my misery. What—”
“Yes!” She launched herself at me, tackling me backward on the bed. “Yes, yes, yes. Oh my god, yes.” She went back to letting the tears fall as she kept staring at the ring.
I took it, took her finger, and I slowly slid it on. “There. Mrs.Ashton Walden.”
She couldn’t stop staring at it, until she burst out, “If we have a girl, we’re naming her after my mom. I know your grandmother was like the matriarch, but my mom comes first.”
She was so fierce, and I had no idea life could be like this. None.
I leaned forward. “If we have a girl, we can name her after your mother.”
“Gen Everly Walden. I’ve always felt bad for my middle name. Like, it needed to shine more, but it never just got its due moment. You know?”
I had no idea what she was talking about, but I didn’t care. I moved in, needing to taste her. So I did, and I kept tasting her, kissing her, and she was kissing me back.
I didn’t give a fuck about calling anyone else.
Molly cared, so we called them later. Way later.
Molly also informed me that we could not use the name Kelly because Jess had already claimed it, for their little girl that was coming.