Chapter 29 #2
“The last time I saw my brother,” she said, breaking a long silence, “we had a rare argument. Mitch and I had rented a place in the Hamptons for a weekend with Toby and Jenny, two weeks before Toby died. Mitch was asleep on the beach—well, passed out, I should say. Jenny had gone to shower, and Toby asked me to take a walk with him. We went down to the water and walked along the shore, talking about law school and his job and his and Jenny’s wedding, which was a month and a half away.
And then he told me he had something he’d wanted to say for a while by then—that I could do better than Mitch.
” She paused before she continued. “I was so angry with him for saying that, for putting those thoughts in my head, because he knew how important his opinion was to me. I was more furious with him that day than I’d ever been before.
I’d gone out of my way to make Jenny feel welcome in our family, which was certainly no hardship.
I loved her from the first time I met her, and I thought he owed me the same courtesy. ”
Slim continued to stroke her arm as he listened to her, watching over her as she shared her pain with him.
“I’d just moved in with Mitch and had made this huge commitment to him, and here was my brother, my best friend, the most important person in my life, telling me I’d made a mistake.”
“Did he know you were pissed?”
“Uh, yeah,” she said with a laugh. “He knew. I walked away from him, and he ran after me. When he caught up, he took me by the arm to keep me from storming off again. He said, ‘Mitch is not a bad guy, but you can do better. Don’t settle for him, Erin. Hold out for something better.’”
“Yikes. That must’ve gone over like a fart in church.”
She smiled at his choice of words. “You could say that. Things were tense between us for the rest of the weekend. Mitch asked me what was up. Jenny asked. But I never told them, and I don’t think he did either.
And when it came time to leave on Sunday, he hugged me, told me he loved me best of all and that he didn’t want me to leave mad.
I said if he didn’t want me to be mad, he should’ve kept his opinions to himself. ”
“What did he say to that?”
“He laughed and hugged me again as tight as he had in years, and he said, ‘Someday, you’ll know exactly what I mean, and you’ll thank me.’”
“Cocky bastard, huh?” Slim said, grinning.
“Not usually, but in that case, yeah, seriously cocky.” She linked their hands and looked up at him.
“Every time I’ve thought about that weekend since then, I’ve been annoyed with him for trying to sabotage my relationship with Mitch, but now I know he was one hundred percent right.
Now I know exactly what he meant, and I’m indeed thanking him. ”
“Yeah?” he said, his brows raised in question.
She nodded and took the plunge. “My Toby was telling me to wait for you, and as usual, he was right. I love you, Tobias Fitzgerald Jackson Junior.”
He blinked a couple of times, as if trying not to cry, before he reached for her, bringing her close enough to kiss. “Marry me,” he whispered gruffly against her lips.
Erin gasped. “What?”
“You heard me. Marry. Me. Erin. Please, marry me. Be my wife, my love, my everything. I love you more than I ever thought I could love anyone. Will you please, please, please marry me and let me teach you how to fly in every possible way?”
She was so stunned that she could barely think.
“We could have it all, baby. Winters in Florida, summers on Gansett. Together every day. Maybe even a little Slim or Erin tossed in there, too, if we get really lucky. You’re the only thing I need to be happy. You’re it for me. Say yes.”
She loved him, her parents loved him, her friends loved him, and she had no doubt, no doubt whatsoever, that her beloved brother would’ve loved him, too. What was left to think about? Absolutely nothing. “Yes.”
“Really?” he asked, his expression priceless.
“Really.”
“Oh my God,” he said on a deep exhale. “You’re really going to marry me?”
“I really am, and I’ll let you teach me how to fly, too.”
“I’d love to.” He kissed her then with a kind of desperation he’d rarely shown her, and she returned the desperation, the intensity, the desire. “I need to get up for a second, but I’ll come right back.”
Erin reluctantly released him, and true to his word, he returned a minute later and put a stunning diamond ring on her left hand. Tears filled her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. “W-what? When… When did you get this?”
“The day before I left West Palm. I hadn’t planned to blurt out a proposal the second you arrived, but after what you just told me about Toby… It was the perfect time, the perfect woman.” He kissed the back of the hand where his ring now resided. “If you don’t like it, we can return it.”
Laughing through her tears, she said, “I love it. We’re not returning it.
” She was filled with every kind of emotion possible, including one she’d never expected to experience so fully again—joy.
“Who’d have thought that spraining my ankle and getting a flat tire on a dark road would turn out to be the best thing that ever happened? ”
“I did. I knew from that first night that you were going to ruin me in the best way possible.”
“You did not know then!”
“Yes, I did. I really did. And you know how I knew?”
“How?”
“Me, who made a career out of never, ever spending a night with a woman, slept in that uncomfortable chair in your living room so I could be there if you needed me during the night. That was the first sign of trouble where you were concerned.”
“Trouble, ha! I haven’t been any trouble to you.”
“Are you kidding me? You’ve been nothing but trouble to me, disturbing my focus, plaguing my dreams, keeping me awake at night, forcing me to jack off in the shower more than I have since I was a kid. If that’s not trouble, what is it?”
Laughing at his recitation, she said, “It’s love.”
“Yes, it is, and I want all the trouble you can dole out for the rest of our lives.”
“You got it. Thank you so much for taking on all my issues and helping me find a way to be happy.”
“Baby, being happy with you is like breathing—the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”