40. Ian
Chapter 40
Ian
I ’ve spent the day in excitement and terror. She said she wanted more breathing room and I’ve been afraid she meant more breathing room from me, but she hasn’t acted like it at all today.
In fact, she’s been the one to reach for my hand and lean into me for kisses. Mostly. Sometimes I just can’t help myself.
Pulling out a chair for her, she sits down facing the Gulf of Mexico and the setting sun. “Ian, thank you for this… for all of today. I don’t know what to say.”
“Tell me you're hungry.”
“Starving.”
“Great. Then dinner is served.” I pull the cloches up in a dramatic flair to reveal our dinner.
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
I release my breath when Mia busts out laughing. “This is the perfect dinner, Ian!”
“You like it?”
“Nope. I love it!” Her smile beams across her face.
“When we’re done eating, there will be fireworks we can watch over there.” I point across the bay back towards the way we traveled to the Key.
“Cool!”
“And” I draw out the word as I uncover a small surprise hiding under my napkin, “we have a box of sparklers to play with.” I hold them up.
She claps her hands in excitement. “Yay!”
With seriousness in my voice, I ask her the question that’s been plaguing me all day. “Are you happy, Mia?”
She turns to me. “I don’t think I’ve ever been happier in my life than I am right now, Ian. Ever.”
After eating our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, we watched the sun finally fall behind the horizon. I look at my watch and see that the fireworks will start shortly, so I pull out a lighter and the sparklers.
“Now, I read the package, and it says that we shouldn’t have any jewelry on our fingers in case the end gets stuck in it, so take off your ring. Don’t need you to lose a finger or something.”
“I think I can handle a sparkler, Ian.”
“Please? Don’t make me worry about you, okay?”
She sighs, “Fine. Here. It’s yours anyway now that the deal is done with Sutherland.” She hands me the ring and I slip it into my pocket.
“Okay, here’s yours.” I light up her sparklers and the sparks fly around as they burn and drop to the ground.
“M.I.A.” she says as she spells her name in the air with her sparkler.
Watching the joy she’s getting from such a simple thing makes me love her even more.
Her sparkler fizzles out, so she dips the end into the water at our feet. “Don’t need any fires, now, do we?” she laughs. “Okay, your turn.”
This is it. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for all day. I pull out a sparkler and light it as my nerves take over and I start to shake. Fortunately, the sparkler is hiding my shakes as I come behind Mia and pull her into me; her back to my front. “Here. Hold it with me.”
“Okay.” Her small hand wraps around mine as we swivel the sparkler in the air a few times. “Make a word.”
“See if you can guess it.” I move our hands around together.
“Will. You. Marry. Me.”
As I let go of the sparkler, I bend down on one knee and pull out her engagement ring she just handed me. She turns around with both hands covering her mouth.
“Mia McIntosh. I want to be your family. I want to share my family. I want to have a family. With you, Mia. I want all of that with you. Will you marry me?”
For the second time in the last twenty-four hours, I watch a sea of emotions converge across Mia’s face. I can’t tell what she’s feeling, but at least she’s not telling me no.
Finally, confusion settles on her face. “You want to marry me? For real?”
“I’ve loved you since the moment you walked into my office, Mia. Then you stole my heart when you asked to pay for your dinner that night in the parking lot. And then I touched you and instantly became addicted to you. You’re what I think about every day, all day. I’m scaling back my day-to-day involvement in Gallo Enterprises so that we can have a life together. Have a family together.”
Tears are streaming down her face and it’s all I can do to wipe them away, since I’m still on one knee with the ring in my hand.
“Please say something, Mia.”
“Yes.”
“Yes? You said yes.”
She smiles and nods. “I said yes.”
I slip the ring back on her finger and suddenly it looks different to me. The ring looks permanent; a part of her. “I love you Mia McIntosh, and cannot wait to make you Mia Gallo.”
She looks up at me in surprise. “Mia Gallo.” She whispers like she’s trying it on. “I like it.”
“Me too.”
We hear the initial thump of the fireworks and then there’s a gigantic explosion in the air, with lots of colors falling down from the sky. As more fireworks enter the skies, I notice Mia’s not looking up at them, but down at the ring I just put on her finger.
“Are you okay? You’re not watching the sparkles in the air.”
“I’ve got all the sparkles I want right here.” She holds up her hand with the ring on it. “I love you, too, Ian. My peanut butter to my jelly.”
We lean into each other and kiss as the fireworks explode over our heads.