Chapter Twenty-Nine
Everly smiled when she saw her dad’s truck coming down the driveway, followed closely by Tanner’s. She loved the way that this had worked out. She hated feeling that she was keeping her dad and Ashton from growing their relationship because of some irrational fear – the trouble was, she didn’t know if her fear was rational or not. She loved Tanner even more for having come up with this solution.
She hurried to the kitchen to go out to meet them, but hesitated when she saw how many people were out there. It wasn’t just Tanner, and her dad, and Ashton. There were three of her dad’s friends as well, and Ty, Kolby, and Luke were with him.
She gave Ford and Wade a puzzled smile when they came out of the office. “Is there a party that I don’t know about?” she asked.
Wade chuckled, and Ford winked at her as he said, “I think there might be soon.”
She looked out the window again and laughed when she saw Travis swinging Ashton up onto his shoulders. She loved seeing him making new friends, at the same time, she was surprised that he wasn’t with Tanner or her dad.
The two of them were standing slightly apart from the others. Tanner was holding something up, showing it to her dad. She had to wonder what they were up to.
Wade caught her arm and spun her around to face him. She gave him a puzzled smile. “What’s up?”
He glanced over her shoulder, and it almost felt as though he didn’t want her to see outside.
“What’s going on?” she asked warily.
“Nothing.” Ford winked at her. “We all just get a little crazy around here on Friday afternoon sometimes.”
“Okay.” She knew there was something going on, but she had no idea what it might be.
“You know that party I was talking about?” Wade asked. “I’m going to ask if everyone wants to head over to the bakery for a mini party.”
She gave Ford a puzzled smile as they watched Wade hurry outside to join the others. “Is there anything I need to know?” she asked.
“I don’t know, honey. But whatever’s going on, I know you have nothing to worry about.”
“Shall we go see, then?”
Ford looked out through the window, seemingly checking on Tanner before he answered, “Sure, let’s go.”
As she made her way down the porch steps, Tanner was saying goodbye to the rest of them. It made her smile – the way each of them hugged him and slapped his back looked as though they wouldn’t be seeing each other again for months, but she knew that they’d all be here for lunch on Sunday.
Ty, Kolby, and Luke each hugged her before they left, too. Her dad’s friends smiled and tipped their hats.
Travis swung Ashton down from his shoulders, and then wrapped her in a hug. His eyes twinkled as he said, “I’m glad you’re here, honey. And believe me, so’s your dad – he won’t let you down anymore.”
“Thanks. I’m glad I’m here, too.”
“So, I’ll see you on Sunday, Uncle Trav?” asked Ashton.
“You sure will, kiddo. See you then.”
The trucks pulled away as she and Ashton walked over to where her dad and Tanner were standing by the fence.
“Did everything go okay?”
Tanner wrapped his arm around her shoulders and dropped a kiss on her forehead. “It couldn’t have gone any better.”
Her dad nodded. That little muscle was ticking in his jaw, and if she wasn’t mistaken, there were tears shining in his eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
He sniffed and swiped his hand over his face. “Not a damn thing, love. Listen, I’m going to head out now.” He smiled at Tanner. “Leave you to it. But before I go, I’ll just say this – I’ll just say…” He cleared his throat. “Oh, fuck it! I’ll say it next time I see you.”
Ashton giggled. “You owe me dollar for the swear jar, Grandpa!”
“Yeah, sorry about that, but sometimes in this life something happens that makes you so happy that you can’t find the words…” He chuckled. “Not any polite words, anyway.” He held his arms out to Everly, and she went and hugged him.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stick around?”
“No. I’ll be back as soon as you want me, but right now,” he smiled at Tanner, “you guys have something more important to take care of.”
The three of them stood out back, waving as her dad drove away.
“Was there some kind of problem?” Everly asked. “I thought he was going to hang out this evening.”
Tanner hugged her to his side. “He was, but like he said, there’s something important that we need to take care of.”
Ashton looked up at him. “Is this it? Are you going to do it now?” he asked excitedly.
Tanner nodded, and Everly gave them both a puzzled smile. “Do what? Will someone fill me in?”
Tanner reached for her hand. “Come on, let’s go up to the apartment.”
As she followed him up the stairs, and Ashton raced ahead of them, she had to wonder what he was up to.
When she stepped inside the apartment, her hand flew up to cover her mouth. The place still wasn’t finished, but it was clean and bright now, and every available surface was covered with dozens of little tea-light candles. She looked around in wonder.
“What the…?”
“Isn’t it awesome?” asked Ashton.
“It’s beautiful, but…”
“Don’t worry,” Ashton reassured her. “They’re not real candles. They’re electric.” He smiled up at Tanner. “We don’t want to burn the place down, right?”
Tanner chuckled. “That’s right.”
“How did you…? When did you…?”
He came to her and rested his hands on her shoulders. As he looked down into her eyes, her heart felt as though it melted in her chest when he said, “I didn’t; I knew what I wanted to do, but the family set it up.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “This is so nice of them.”
He slid his hands up to cup the sides of her neck. “It’s about a bit more than making the place look pretty with candles for you.”
“What then? I mean, this is a lovely thing to do…”
He held her gaze as he got down on one knee in front of her. “It’s about this, darlin’.”
Her heart felt as though it might beat out of her chest as he took her hand.
“Say yes, Mom! You’re going to say yes, right?”
Tanner chuckled. “Slow down, bud. Give me a chance to ask her.”
“Oh, right, sorry.”
Everly choked out a laugh around the lump that had formed in her throat.
Tanner squeezed her hand and held up a little velvet box. “I think you know what’s coming by now,” he said with a smile. “But I want to do this right. I love you, Everly.” He glanced over at Ashton. “And I love you, too, Ash. I feel like we’ve already become our own little family, but I want to make it official. I want to be your husband – and I want to be your dad, kiddo.”
“I want to be Ashton MacFarland for real!”
Everly’s hand covered her heart as tears streamed down her cheeks.
“I give you my word that I’ll love you until the day I die. I didn’t know if I was cut out for this, but I know now. Being with you has made me into the man I want to be. Will you marry me?”
“Yes!” Everly nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, please.”
Tanner looked down at the box in his hand. “Well, shit!” He flipped the box open. “I meant to show you this first – thought it might help seal the deal.”
She laughed. “Wow! It’s beautiful, I love it, but I’m saying yes because of you – not because of the ring.”
He slid it onto her finger and got to his feet. Closing his arms around her, he lowered his head and claimed her mouth in a deep, searing kiss.
“Guys! I’m still here, remember!”
They pulled apart, smiling at each other. “Sorry, Ash.”
“That’s okay. But I want to be part of this, too.”
Tanner held his arm out to him, and Ashton came and wrapped his arms around them both. “You are part of it, son. This is about all three of us. Look at your mom’s ring.”
Everly understood what Tanner meant when Ashton grabbed her hand and traced his finger over the diamonds – the three, large, diamonds.
“There are three of those, like there are three of us, and diamonds last forever.”
Everly swiped at her eyes as another wave of tears came.
Tanner winked at her. “And since the three of us are going to be together forever, we need to ask your mom if it’s okay to change your name.”
She met his gaze. “I talked to a lawyer. She said that it should be easy enough for me to adopt Ash, and for you both to become MacFarlands – if you want to.”
“We want to! Right, Mom?”
She laughed. “We do.”
Tanner ran his hand over her hair. She looked up into his eyes, thinking this had to be the happiest moment of her life. They both burst out laughing again when Ashton said, “Should I call Grandpa and see if he wants to come back? You two are going to start kissing again, I can tell.”
Tanner ruffled his hair. “You know what, kiddo? That might not be a bad idea.”
As Ashton ran off down the stairs and up to the house in search of his phone, Tanner curled his arms around Everly’s waist and drew her closer until she was pressed up against his chest.
“It’d be a shame to waste all these candles, don’t you think?”
She rested her hand in the middle of his chest as she rolled up on her toes to kiss him. “It’d be a terrible shame.”
“I told you I was hard to resist – remember, that first night?”
She laughed. “And you were right – you’re irresistible.”
“Even though you said it was unlikely that you’d fall madly in love with me.”
She laughed. “I thought it was more likely that you’d run for the hills if I fell for you.”
His beautiful green eyes turned serious as he shook his head. “No. I’ll never run from you or our boy. You’re it for me. Although, we probably should’ve talked about it before now, but if you want to expand our family, I’d be up for that.”
She laughed at the feel of him pressing into her stomach. “Seems like you’re already up for it.”
He shrugged happily. “There’s no time like the present, and since I just proposed to you in our new home, we might as well christen it.”
She looked out through the window. “Do you think he’s going to be okay up there?”
“He’ll be just fine – Uncle Ford was expecting him.”
She looped her arms around his neck and pulled him down into a kiss. “In that case, let’s christen this place.”
She had to laugh when he led her into their bedroom. There was barely any furniture in the rest of the apartment yet, but she wasn’t surprised to see a king-size, four-poster bed already set up.
He pulled her down onto the bed beside him and wrapped his arms around her. “I love you, darlin’. I love you so much.”
She looked around at the candles flickering on the windowsills, the nightstands, and the floor. “I love you, you beautiful man.”
He chuckled. “You still think I’m beautiful?”
She rolled her eyes. “We all know that you’re beautiful, Tanner.”
He pressed a kiss to her lips. “You’re the beautiful one.”
“I’m the lucky one.”
“No. That’d be me.”
She shook her head with a smile. “Are we going to waste the bit of time we have arguing about it?”
“Hell no! Come here.”