Chapter 28
CHAPTER 28
FIVE MONTHS LATER
G raham
When I walked into Lily’s hospital room, I smiled when I saw Ella and her family celebrating the arrival of their new family member, Violet Alexandra.
“Graham, come here.” Ella smiled, grabbing my hand. “Isn’t she beautiful?”
“She is.” I grinned as Lily held her daughter in her arms. “Congratulations, Lily.” I leaned forward and kissed her forehead.
“Thank you, Graham.”
“Congrats, Dad.” I patted Adrien’s back.
“You have no idea how happy I am that she’s finally here.”
“How does it feel being a grandfather?” I asked Stefan.
“Words can’t even describe how I’m feeling right now.” A smile crossed his lips.
I stared at Ella as she took Violet from Lily and sat in the chair. The love I felt for her was beyond measure. I never thought I would be happy and my life would feel so complete.
Two Weeks Later
E lla was working late at the hospital. I grabbed a beer from the refrigerator and walked to Nathan’s house. Stepping through the sliding door, he and Sofia were in the kitchen.
“Hey, Graham.” Sofia smiled.
“Hi. Can I talk to both of you? In fact. If Conner, Jackson, and Christian are around, can you call them over?”
“What’s going on, Graham?” Nathan’s brows furrowed.
“I need to talk to all of you about something.”
“I’ll send them a text. I think they’re all home,” Nathan said.
A few minutes later, Jackson walked in with Conner and Christian behind.
“What’s up?” Conner said.
“Graham needs to talk to all of us,” Nathan said. “Let’s sit down at the table.”
We all took our seats, and I inhaled a sharp breath.
“Nathan. Sofia. I love your daughter very much.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small ring box. Flipping open the lid, I held it in front of them. “I would like your blessing to propose to Ella.”
Sofia placed her hand over her mouth. “Graham, it’s beautiful.”
Nathan stared at me momentarily, as did Ella’s uncles.
“I wanted to ask your permission because I know how close you all are to her and how much you love her. I highly respect each of you and thought it was only right.”
Nathan reached over and placed his hand on my shoulder. “You’re an amazing man, Graham, and I wouldn’t choose anyone else in this world to marry my daughter. You have our blessing.”
“Now, wait a second,” Conner said. “Just kidding. You have my blessing.” A grin crossed his face.
“And mine.” Jackson smiled.
“Definitely.” Christian grinned.
“Oh, my gosh.” Sofia stood up, walked over, and wrapped her arms around my neck from behind, kissing my cheek. “I couldn’t ask for a better son-in-law.”
“Thank you. I want the proposal to be extra special. We haven’t talked about marriage at all, so I want it to be a big surprise.”
“In this family, we do it together,” Nathan said. “We got you. What are you thinking?”
“Well, her birthday is in two weeks, and I thought it would be special to propose to her where we first met.”
“At Mount Sinai?” Christian’s brows furrowed.
“No.” I chuckled. “We only exchanged a few words there. We really met in Central Park.”
“Ah, where my darling niece told you she was an art student at NYU.” Conner smirked.
“Yeah.” I laughed.
“I like the idea,” Nathan said.
“Since her birthday is on a Saturday, I thought I would surprise Ella with a long weekend in New York. We’d fly out on Thursday. You guys could fly into New York Friday night and meet us in the park on Saturday.”
“We’ll get with the rest of the family and make sure they clear their schedules,” Nathan said.
“Don’t worry about Ella’s schedule. I’ll make sure she’s off from Thursday to Sunday,” Christian said.
“Thanks, Christian. I already talked to Dr. Ashley about it and she said I could have the time off.”
“Excellent.” Nathan stood up. “Don’t worry, son. We’ll make it happen.” He winked.
I stood and hugged him. “Thanks, Nathan.”
“Welcome to the family, Dr. Malone.”
My phone pinged. When I pulled it from my pocket, I saw a text from Ella.
“Ella’s home and wondering where I’m at. I better go.” I slipped the ring box into my pocket.
I walked down the beach and back to the house. When I stepped through the sliding door, I didn’t see Ella but heard the bath water running upstairs. Walking into the bedroom, I put the ring box in my drawer and entered the bathroom, where she was covered in bubbles.
“There you are.” She smiled. “Where were you?”
“Is there room in there for one more?” I grinned.
“You bet.”
I removed my clothes and climbed into the tub, wrapping my arms around her naked, beautiful body and pressing my lips against her shoulder.
“Are you going to tell me where you were?” she asked.
“I was talking to your Uncle Christian.”
“Oh yeah?”
“I was thinking about taking you to New York for your birthday and asking him if you could have the time off.”
“Really?” She looked up at me with happiness in her eyes.
“Really.” I smiled. “I thought we could leave on Thursday and fly back on Sunday. We could tour the museums, have dinner at the finest restaurants, shop on Fifth Avenue, and explore the city together. I know how much you love New York.”
“That sounds perfect.” She grinned, turning around in my arms.
“Good. I love you, and I want your birthday to be special.”
“I love you too, and just being with you is special enough.” Our lips met. “What about Dr. Ashley? I’m not sure she’ll let you take the time off.”
“I already cleared it with her.” I smiled. “It’ll just be the two of us for four days.”
“I love that idea. I think we need to get out of this tub now.” She reached her hand down and took hold of my hard cock.