Chapter 36
“Are you sure about this, man? It’s only been six months.” Myles turned toward me, expressing his concerns.
“I’ve never been so fucking sure about anything in my life.” I looked down at the black velvet box, rolling it between my fingers. “I love Paige. More than anything. It doesn’t matter if I propose now or another year from now. My feelings aren’t going to change so I don’t see why I should waste any more time.”
Myles slapped me on the back and gripped my shoulder, causing me to turn around to look him in the eyes. “I just want to see you happy, man. And I’ve never seen you happier than when you’re with Paige. She’s already a part of the family, so why not make it official? It’s about time you take her off the market, bro.” He shook my shoulders in excitement with a giant smile across his face, genuinely thrilled for me. His smile was so infectious, I almost forgot what it was like when Myles was going through the worst of it.
Everything had slowly fallen into place.
Paige moved in months ago right after I asked her to. We’ve had endless mornings watching the sunrise from bed and many late nights making love. I was preparing to ask her to spend the rest of her life with me. Not just to live together, but with a diamond ring on her finger and taking the Cooper name.
She would be mine, forever.
How I always wanted it.
There would be an infinite amount of weekend mornings with French toast, nights by the fireplace and moments spent down by the creek.
Spring was here and Cherry Creek was flowing again, no longer frozen over and ready for more memories to be made. I couldn’t wait for the private moments spent skinny dipping with Paige and cool spring nights spent on the deck watching the sunset with a cold beer in my hand, her snuggled up to my side.
My lips curved up, forming a grin across my face. The thoughts of our future gave me hope that life could stay this way for quite some time.
“Thanks for being so happy for me bro but mind keeping the volume down a little bit? I’d hate for the surprise to be blown.” I chuckled and leaned my elbows back onto the wood railing that surrounded the deck down by the creek.
Myles turned around, looking at the surrounding area. “She’s up at the house, man. No need to worry.” He nudged my shoulder with his as we sat there in silence, appreciating the spring view.
“You’re different,” I said. “Not in a bad way though. You deserve to be happy too, you know.” My gaze drifted toward Myles as he acknowledged what I said.
My brother was in AA and hadn’t had a drop of alcohol in four months, sobriety looked good on him. He looked healthy.
He nodded as he said, “Yeah, I know, man. Life has thrown me some curveballs lately but I’m doing my best to turn it around.”
“You ready for Logan’s trial next week?” I asked hesitantly, knowing Myles probably hadn’t stopped thinking about it for months now.
“Ready as I can be. I’ve been attending meetings twice a week every week since everything came out and it’s been helpful. Almost like therapy in a way. The more I talk about it, the more I accept my actions that I was in the car that day. I still haven’t remembered a thing, and I’ve come to terms with the fact I probably never will.”
Shortly after Paige moved in with me, the ball began rolling on Logan’s case. The proof was all there with the recording and Logan didn’t deny what happened. He admitted he was guilty. He’d been in jail awaiting a trial the last few months while we’ve been anticipating the outcome that would happen in just a few days. I know Paige and her family had been anxious to see how long he would be put away.
We all just wanted closure at this point.
Myles’ name was obviously brought up within the phone recording that Paige took, and he knew it when he heard it himself. Even though he claimed to not remember anything, he still sat in the passenger seat and spent the whole night with Logan.
You could say Myles got lucky in this situation. He ended up taking a plea deal for some community service and to pay a fine that went to the Wilson family.
He could have gone to court and fought his case since he lost his memory during the incident, but he didn’t feel like that was the proper path to take. Myles wanted to make it right in any way that he could. Even if that meant time served.
It was an awakening for him to turn his act around. He still had some community service to complete, but on top of that, he’d been volunteering around town as well as attending his AA meetings, not missing a single one.
I no longer had to drive him to work in fear he would drink on the job. And the only times he returned to Peaks were for some dinner every now and then. It helped that Paige worked there because she spread the word and everyone refused to serve him alcohol now. As a town and friends and family, we all just wanted to make sure we did our part to help him stay sober.
I know he still had moments where he struggled with alcohol, but I could see all of the ways he had turned his life around. Each change reflected off of him in a way that gave me ease. I feel like everyone in the family had a weight lifted off their shoulders recently.
“Whether you remember anything one day or not, just know you’re doing right by yourself, our family and hers.” I slipped the soft black box in my back pocket and clapped him on the back, nodding my head in the direction of the path back up toward the house.
Paige was making dinner and all this talk about me proposing made me anxious for the night ahead. I didn’t want to give anything away by planning some grand gesture or crazy date where I asked her to dress up.
Instead, I planned a surprise here at home, something low key. Just the two of us, something intimate that was more our style.
More us.
Pulling Myles in close, I wrapped my arms around him in a tight hug. “Next time you see me, I’ll be an engaged man, bro.” We both chuckled and he gave me all the luck I needed before he hopped in his truck to head back home.
Normally, I worked great under pressure, but I’ve never asked the love of my life to marry me before. This was a whole different ball game when it came to my nerves and anxiety.
I walked up the steps to the front door and turned the handle letting myself in. The smell of cinnamon hit me in the face, and fuck, did it smell good, what could she be making for dinner?
“Smells good in here, baby girl. What are you cooking up?” I snuck up behind her and wrapped my arms around her while she stood at the stove flipping the bread over onto its other side.
“Breakfast for dinner.” She grinned sweetly as she leaned back just enough to graze my lips with hers.
“Mmm, my favorite. Want to take our dinner down to the deck and watch the sunset?” She had no idea, but she was making the perfect meal to eat the night I planned to put a ring on her finger.
The meal we ate when we told each other I love you for the first time.
“That sounds amazing. You mind finishing up here? I’ll go grab something warm to wear, I know it will get cold down there once the sun goes down.”
“Yeah, baby, you know how good I am at handling the syrup,” I teased. She stood up on her tip toes and reached up to my cheek, pressing her plush pink lips to the scruff on my cheek.
Two plates filled with sweet sugary French Toast for dinner and a bottle of wine—pinot grigio of course—tucked under my arm, we made our way down to the deck Myles helped me decorate.
Paige gave us our space with no idea what we were actually doing. I told her I wanted to talk to him privately about the trial next week. And I did throw that topic in there just a bit because I didn’t want karma to bite me in the ass if I lied to my soon to be wife.
The closer we got down the path, it would be blatantly obvious what I had up my sleeve. Just over the hill, the string lights were twinkling. The small table between the chairs had a bucket already filled with ice for the bottle of wine I knew I’d be bringing down here, two glasses sitting right beside it. Red rose petals were scattered across the deck with more long-stemmed roses in clear vases. White electric candles flickered warmly against the fast-approaching sunset.
I only had seconds to take in the scene I set for her before she turned around, dropping the blankets she carried as her already tear-filled eyes connected with mine.
My mouth parted, ready to speak, but she cut in before I could say anything.
“YES!” she blurted out.
I chuckled at her excitement. I already knew she was going to say yes, but now I really had nothing to worry about if there was any lingering doubt. “I haven’t even asked you anything yet, baby.” Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “Come on, let me put our dinner down so I can ask you to be my wife properly.”
She trailed behind me like a puppy, unsure of what to do when we both stood in the middle of the deep red rose petals. I placed our plates of French toast on the table and took a knee, looking up to my girl.
Her bottom lip quivered as her eyes continued to fill with tears. I took her left hand in mine as I slipped the velvet box out of my back pocket. Tears formed in my eyes, threatening to spill over before I even said anything.
“Paige Wilson, you’re standing here in my hoodie you wore the first time we spent an evening down here. That night I wanted nothing more than to kiss you. I would have been extremely lucky to have that honor at the time. I already knew I was going to fall for you in that moment. You were always going to be mine, I just had to figure out how I was going to make that happen. But tonight, I want so much more than that. I want you to be my forever. I want you to be my wife. I want all of your love, forever and ever. I want to call you Paige Cooper from this day forward. Be my wife, baby girl. Marry me and make me the luckiest fucking man on this earth.”
The second I was done with my speech; I opened the box revealing the diamond ring I’d prepare to slip on to her left hand. I let her take a moment to look at it in all of its shimmering glory. Her hands flew up to her mouth, covering it in disbelief at the diamond sparkling right back at her.
“Declan Cooper, is that what I think it is?” Tears rolled down her face as she lowered herself to her knees, unable to hold herself up.
“I visited your father’s grave site and had a conversation with him. Man to man.” I cleared my throat, trying to hold back my emotion. “I couldn’t ask him for your hand in marriage so instead I told him I would always make sure to take care of you. That you would be my number one priority for the rest of our lives.”
Her hands still covered her mouth as she sniffled. “After that, I asked your mom for her permission. I asked her if it would be okay to propose with the ring your father once gave her. That way you could have a piece of him, always.” I couldn’t hold my emotion back any longer when a tear betrayed me and slipped down my cheek.
“If you want a different ring, I can make that happen, but I wanted to make this as special as I possibly could.” We were both kneeling down, our glossy eyes looking into one another’s.
“Declan, you are so thoughtful. You are so kind and always put others before yourself. I can’t believe you’re choosing me. ” Paige tipped her head back and looked up at the sky, trying her best to hold back her tears while she answered my question, “It would be an absolute privilege to do life with you. As your wife. So again, YES!”
I pulled the delicate gold band with a bright round diamond out of the box. The ring that was once her mother’s slipped right on to her ring finger. A perfect fit. The emotion ran right through us both. Tears streamed down our faces as we sealed the moment with a kiss.
“I love you, Mrs. Cooper.” She giggled through her tears at the use of her new last name.
“I love you too, Mr. Cooper.”
All those weeks ago when we sat down with our families for Thanksgiving dinner, and I gave my thanks to Anthony Wilson my world forever changed.
Paige’s final goodbye to her father was the promise of a new beginning to a new life for the both of us. And I planned to spend the rest of my life showing my gratitude to the memory of the man she loved first.