Epilogue #3
I smile at the wonder in his voice, turning to face him.
His face is bathed in shadows from the streetlights lining the path around the castle.
His brown eyes sparkle and a smile plays over his lips.
The love that rushes through me is warm and true, even as I’m filled with anxious energy for what’s about to happen.
“I had Cam call in a favor just like he did before. But this time, the person I spoke to turned out to be a massive Tyler Hansley fan, so then I had Tyler call instead. It was a whole thing and suffice it to say, Tyler will pretty much never let Cam live it down that he was the one who helped me in my time of need.”
Drew grins, wrapping his arms around my waist, his eyes taking in the scene.
The darkened sky. Cinderella’s castle looming over us.
The excited buzz of the crowd around us as everyone waits for fireworks to start.
“Neither of them gets any credit,” Drew declares, leaning down to kiss me.
“This was all you.” He kisses me again, drawing it out.
“Thank you,” he murmurs. “Thank you for coming here with me. For giving me this moment I never got to have.” He pauses, eyes turning serious.
“For everything. For loving me. For this life. I’m happy,” he says quietly.
“I’m so fucking happy, Catie, and it’s all because of you. ”
Oh my heart.
Reaching up, I lay a hand on his cheek. “I’m happy too. Happier than I ever thought I could be, and it’s all because of you.”
Unconsciously, I shift my shoulders, a little uncomfortable in the jacket I’m wearing, and Drew clocks the movement immediately. “Why don’t you take this off?” he says, running his hand down my arm. “It’s kind of hot for a jacket.”
I open my mouth to respond but don’t have time to say anything before spotlights illuminate the sky above the castle, the beginning strains of “Happily Ever After” soaring into the night.
The castle lights up in shades of red, blue, and yellow, and fireworks explode in the sky.
My heart explodes along with it when I watch the massive grin that spreads over Drew’s face, his eyes wide as he wraps an arm around my shoulders, taking it all in with a kind of childlike joy that makes my chest ache.
I vow right here and now to give him as many moments like this as I can for the rest of our lives.
“I kind of had to wear the jacket,” I say, pressing up on my tiptoes to speak into his ear. “For the surprise.”
He turns to me, secret smile on his face, and the fireworks reflected in his golden eyes. “What kind of surprise?”
I wink at him, and with my eyes on his, I slowly unzip the jacket, letting it slide down my arms and to the ground at my feet. He takes in the jersey I’m wearing, and understanding floods his gaze. “Turn around,” he says, voice low and gravelly and barely audible over the fireworks.
Without a word, I do. I feel him gather my hair up and pull it to the side, hear his sharp intake of breath when he sees the Ellicott over the number eighty-four on my back.
He runs his fingers over the stitched letters and then with a hand on my shoulder spins me back around to face him, his eyes swimming with emotion and the deepest, gentlest love.
“You’re wearing my name,” he manages, his voice rough and not entirely steady.
I lay my hands on his cheeks, meeting his eyes. “You’re the best person I know. And while I make it a policy never to put a man’s name on my back, for this night and this night only, I’m really proud to wear yours.”
“This night only, huh?” he says with a grin, hooking his fingers into the waistband of my leggings and tugging me towards him until our bodies collide, wrapping one arm around my back and bringing the other hand to my cheek.
I nod. “This night only.”
“And what makes this night special?”
“Because this is the night I’m asking you to marry me.”
Drew’s breath gusts out, his hand shaking slightly where it rests on my cheek, his eyes holding a kind of disbelief as he stares at me. “You want to marry me?”
“I want to marry the shit out of you. You’re my favorite person in the world.
You saw me when no one else in my life ever had and made me feel whole when I’ve felt broken for such a long time.
You make me smile and you make me laugh and you make me think, and when you look at me, I feel like the most beautiful, powerful woman in the world.
I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you.
Been loved the way you love me. Been cared for the way you care for me and wanted to care for someone the way I want to care for you.
My favorite thing about this life of ours is absolutely everything, and all I want is more of it.
More of us. So marry me, Drew. Be mine. Share my family, and let’s take care of each other and spend an entire lifetime making more memories exactly like this.
Drew shakes his head, pressing his forehead to mine, and when a tear slides down his cheek, I catch it with a kiss, my heart pouring out love for him. “Yes. So many yesses. All the yesses. I love you so much, Catie, and I want nothing more than to be yours for the rest of my days.”
I hold onto him tightly, wondering how it’s possible for a single body to hold all the happiness in the world. “We’re going to have the best life ever,” I say into his chest. “But I’m still not wearing your name. This is a one-time only, proposal night thing.”
Drew laughs, pressing a kiss to my head. “You are my favorite human on earth.”
I laugh too, and with the fireworks overhead and the best man in the world with his arms tight around me, forever has never looked so sweet.