Chapter 29
R onan
Four Weeks Later
My heart racing, I pace back and forth up and down the hallway as I try to calm down. I stop for a moment to listen to the people downstairs at the party, but it’s no use. I’m a nervous wreck.
On one of my passes in front of my bedroom door, I consider going inside and closing the door behind me, letting tonight go by without following through on my plans. It’s not like tonight is anything special. Just one of Ava’s parties. I can do what I want any other night.
Busy talking myself out of what I couldn’t wait to do earlier today, I don’t hear my brother come up behind me until he taps me on the shoulder. I jump, startled that I’m not alone.
“What are you doing up here?” Marius asks with a look on his face like he thinks I’m some idiot.
“I’m not ready to go downstairs yet.”
His expression morphs into one of complete confusion. “Why?”
It’s no surprise he doesn’t understand why I’m a mess and standing up here in the hallway while everyone else is downstairs having a good time. Marius has never a day in his life worried he was going to make a fool of himself. I swear he was born with all the confidence he’d ever need and likely some for me.
I take a deep breath in and let it out slowly, trying to calm myself. It doesn’t work.
“What if I screw this up?” I ask him, silently hoping he understands now is not the time to bust my balls about anything.
Knowing his nature, he won’t be picking up any of the signals I’m sending about that, though. He wasn’t just born brimming with confidence. He’s also been the world’s biggest bust ass from the moment he entered this world.
And right now, that’s the last damn thing I need.
He sets his hands on my shoulders and squares me up in front of him. I wait for him to say something snide or stupid, but this time, he disappoints me, thankfully.
“You’re not going to screw anything up. You’ve got this, Ronan. It’s a done deal. Trust me.”
But that doesn’t convince me as much as it should.
“How? How do you know? You have no idea what Kate’s like.”
That gets me a big smile. “True, but you’ve said time and again that she’s smart and sweet, so that tells me she’s going to love what you’re doing tonight. Don’t worry. She’s crazy about you, dude. This is going to be a cakewalk.”
God, I hope he’s right.
“If I was like you, I wouldn’t even worry. It would be a done deal.”
He laughs at that and says, “If you were like me, you wouldn’t be doing this. You aren’t like me, though. You’re your own man, Ronan. You’ve been through hell these past eight months, but that’s all changed now. Just take a deep breath and do this.”
“I guess if someone who hates love as much as you do is egging me on, I should do this.”
Marius nods and starts pushing me backwards down the hallway toward the stairs. “First of all, I don’t hate love. I just don’t think it’s all it’s cracked up to be like everyone else. Now come on. There’s no time like the present.”
Even though I don’t say it, one horrible question fills my brain. What if she says no?
I don’t mention that to my brother since he would think that’s the most ridiculous question in the world. Instead, I turn around and slowly walk down the stairs with him following behind me.
“She got here five minutes ago, and I told her I’d come up and find you. Better hope she’s not pissed you left her to fend for herself with all these people. Shy girls don’t like that, little brother.”
Spinning around halfway down the stairs, I glare at him. “Why are you doing this now? Can’t you see I don’t need another thing to worry about?”
Marius walks past me, smiling as he says, “You don’t have anything to worry about. She’d have to be crazy to say no to you.”
Maybe he’s right. Kate loves me as much or maybe even more than she did when we were together the first time. I love her like I always have—completely without reservation. She’s the only woman I’ve ever loved, and I hope tonight she’s ready to make it official.
I reach the first floor, and my stomach does a full flip when I see her standing alone in the living room near the door to the patio. Damn, she probably is going to be upset I left her down here alone.
She looks so incredible in that pink sundress she’s wearing. It wouldn’t matter what she was dressed in, though. To me, Kate’s always beautiful.
When she sees me, her face lights up, like I’ve made her day. Nobody else in the world has ever looked like that when they see me. Maybe my mother, but I don’t remember it’s been so long without her.
I hurry over to her and pull her aside. “Sorry I’m late. I had to take care of something.”
“Was it with Marius? I saw him come down just a few seconds before you. He was nice enough to say he’d go up and tell you I was here.”
Not wanting to explain what I was actually doing, I take another deep breath and nod my head toward the door. “Let’s go outside for a few minutes, okay?”
“Okay. Is everything all right, Ronan?” she asks as I guide her out to the patio, making sure to close the door so we have some privacy.
“Yeah. It’s just a little busy in there.”
Concern fills her expression. “If you don’t want to hang out here for long, that’s okay. I understand if you’re feeling uncomfortable around so many people. You know me. I’d be fine if I never had to be in a crowd again.”
When we get to where the table and chairs are near the pool, I stop and silently ask whoever is watching to help me not screw up the next minute that’s likely the most important sixty seconds of my life. A sudden calm washes over me, as if my mother saw how nervous I am and is silently making me understand everything’s going to be okay.
“So I wanted to talk to you about something tonight, Kate,” I say, my voice quivering when I say her name.
She looks up at me, her blue eyes wide. “Okay.”
I hear the fear in her voice and know she’s probably worried it was like that night all those years ago when I told her we needed to talk and then I confessed to cheating on her. She has every right to worry about that. I fucked up. I hurt the most wonderful person I had in my life, and I deserved to have her leave me.
That’s how I know what we have now is even better than what we were before.
My hand fumbles with the tiny box in my pocket for a few seconds, and then I slowly bend down on one knee. I see her stare down in shock as she realizes what I’m about to do.
When I pull the black velvet box out, it tumbles out of my hold, bouncing across the concrete patio. I hurry to grab it, hating myself right now for ruining what was supposed to be the moment we’d remember forever.
“I wanted this to be perfect,” I say, disgusted with myself.
Kate crouches down to stop me, picking the box up and handing it to me. “It’s okay, Ronan. You don’t have to be nervous. My answer is yes.”
“I wanted to do this the right way. I’m sorry I messed it up,” I say, hanging my head. “It’s just that sometimes my left hand and my brain don’t seem to want to work together.”
She kisses me softly on the lips and whispers against them, “Oh, baby, it’s okay. Nothing got messed up.”
Opening the black jewelry box, I show off the engagement ring I bought when Marius and I went shopping a couple days ago. The diamond isn’t huge like I can afford because I know Kate isn’t flashy like that. It’s a simple ring with a round two carat diamond and a gold band. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was the perfect ring for her.
“Kate Abbott, will you marry me? You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved. Do me the honor of saying you’ll be my wife.”
Tears fill her eyes as she nods and wraps her arms around my neck. “Yes, of course, I’ll marry you, Ronan. You’re the only man I’ve ever loved. You were my first everything. I never stopped hoping that some day this would happen. You’ve made me the happiest woman in the world!”
I let out a sigh of relief as I hold her in my arms. My Kate, the first and only girl I loved, said yes to becoming my wife. I thought I’d lost everything all those months ago as I lay in that hospital bed wishing I’d never survived the crash. In my wildest dreams, I wouldn’t have been able to see I could be this happy just eight months later.
She leans away from me and looks down at the ring as tears roll down her cheeks. “It’s so beautiful, Ronan. How did you know that’s exactly the kind of ring I’d like?”
I carefully lift it out of its velvet home and slip it on her ring finger. It’s even more perfect seeing her wear it.
With a smile, I answer, “Because I know you.”
Kate sniffles and throws her arms around my neck again. “Thank you for making me the happiest person in the world right now.”
“Thank you for saying yes.”
When we finally let go of one another and stand up, she slips her arm through mine and looks up at me with a smile. “Please tell me you weren’t nervous about this tonight.”
“I was. I didn’t want to mess things up.”
She stands on her tiptoes and presses a soft kiss to my lips. “You were perfect, just like you’ve always been.”
My days of perfection, if they ever existed, are long gone after last New Year’s Eve, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to try to be the kind of man who deserves someone like Kate. I knew how lucky I was the day she first said yes to going out with me back in the spring of junior year. That Ronan doesn’t exist anymore, but maybe that Kate doesn’t either.
What matters is who we are now.
“Kate, I want to do something with my life. I don’t know yet, but maybe start a foundation for people like me. I haven’t figured it all out, but I was given a second chance with life and with you. Now that you’ve said you’ll marry me, I want to be worthy of being your husband.”
She smiles, and it’s like my whole world lights up. “Ronan, you’re already worthy, but whatever you choose to do, I know you’re going to be great at it. I’ll be by your side every step of the way.”
I let out a heavy sigh and take her hand in mine. “I guess we better get inside before someone comes out to find us.”
As we walk toward the door to go inside, she asks, “Did you tell anyone in your family that you were planning to propose tonight?”
“Just Marius. He went with me to buy the ring.”
Kate looks up at me like she can’t believe what I said. “Marius?”
“Yeah, go figure. I think he’s warming up to the whole idea of love these days.”
“Now that’s a sentence I didn’t think I’d ever hear,” she says with a laugh.
The moment we step inside, the entire party cheers, “Congratulations!”
Marius stands near the door with a drink in his hand. Raising it in the air, he says, “To Ronan and Kate, may they have all the happiness they deserve.”
Once more, everyone cheers. Ava and her friend Eden rush over to hug Kate and see the ring, so I step off to the side and Marius hands me a glass of whiskey on the rocks as Kellen and Matthias walk over to where we’re standing near the window.
“Did you tell everyone what I was doing out there?”
Marius laughs and shakes his head. “No. I just told a few select people that they might want to look out the window.”
“Let me guess. Ava and Eden.”
He shrugs and hands Matthias and Kellen glasses. “Of course. I wasn’t about to go telling everyone at the party. I knew those two would handle spreading the word better than I ever could.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were doing this tonight,” Kellen complains as he lifts his glass in the air to toast me. “You beat me to the punch. Thank God this guy here will never get married, or I’d be the last one.”
The three of us look at Marius, who’s rolling his eyes at the mere thought of him getting married. “Don’t look at me. I’m not the one proposing to the love of his life tonight.”
Matthias laughs and shakes his head. “Love of your life? I’d be surprised if you had a love for the night. But tonight is all about Ronan and Kate, so congratulations, baby brother. When’s the big day?”
“No idea. I couldn’t even get the proposal right without nearly losing the ring. We’ll have to talk about when the wedding is going to happen.”
From behind us, Ava says, “Well, it has to be here. It just has to be. The grounds are big enough to handle all the guests you could want to invite, and no matter what the weather is, we can do it. Oh, please say you’ll have your wedding here!”
Kate walks over to where I’m standing and smiles. “I’m happy to have our wedding here if you are.”
The idea of us getting married where I grew up and had some of the best times of my life is fine with me. I want to believe my parents and Theo will be able to see things turned out okay for me, even with all that’s happened.
“Then here it will be!” I say before kissing her.
Matthias raises his glass and loudly says to the entire room filled with guests, “To my brother Ronan and his beautiful wife-to-be, Kate, all our love and congratulations! As soon as they tell us when the wedding is going to happen, we’ll all be back here to party once more!”
Everyone cheers again, but the only person I care about being happy tonight is the only woman I’ve ever loved. When I was as low as I could get, she made me see I had things to smile about again.
As my brothers and all the other guests get back to enjoying themselves, I pull Kate aside and whisper to her, “I love you, Kate. It’s always been you. It always will be.”
“And I love you, Ronan King. I’ve been in love with you since the first time you kissed me. Remember that night? We went for a walk after we hung out at the coffee shop? I knew that night I’d met the only boy I’d ever love.”
Smiling, I hold her to me as I remember our first date. I couldn’t believe she’d said yes to going out with me. Kate was smart and sweet and gorgeous, and I was a guy who’s biggest claim to fame was my four older brothers and playing baseball. She had no idea I’d been crazy about her for weeks before I asked her out.
And now she’s going to be my wife. There’s not a luckier man on this planet now that she said she’d marry me.
It’s been a hard road for me to get to this place, and many times I wasn’t sure I’d ever survive after the accident. I don’t know if I can say I wouldn’t change a thing that’s happened in my life, but if I had to go through it all so I could have Kate in my life, then it was worth it.
LOOK FOR BOOK FOUR IN THE KING brOTHERS SERIES, LONE KING , MARIUS KING’S STORY!