Chapter 4 – Erin
Tears are streaming down my cheeks. “You don’t know the significance of this location,” I tell Mack.
He stands up and sits beside me on the bench. “Um, no. Should I?”
My throat is so tight it aches. “This is the same bench where Shane proposed to Beth. I know because she brought me here once.”
He clearly is surprised by that. “You’re kidding me.”
“Nope. It was right here where he gave her a ring and—well, at the time, he told her it was either a promise ring or an engagement ring, her choice. I think he was afraid of rushing her. And, of course, she picked engagement ring.”
Mack chuckles. “Well, I’m not leaving anything to chance, honey. Mine is definitely an engagement ring.”
I stare at the ring on my finger, mesmerized by the sparkle and fire in the diamond facets. “It’s so beautiful, Mack. Thank you.”
“In full transparency, you should know Beth and Sam helped me pick it out. I figured they’d know best what you liked.”
I can’t look away from the sight of the ring on my finger. “It’s perfect. I can’t imagine anything better.”
Truly, it is an absolutely gorgeous ring, but honestly I would have been happy with a piece of frayed twine tied around my finger.
I honestly didn’t think this day would ever come.
I wasn’t sure if he’d ever want to commit to me—not after what I went through.
I am high maintenance. I have issues. I have nightmares, even after all this time.
Hotel lobbies give me panic attacks. So do bars.
I can’t even step inside one. And strange men—no. I can’t deal with that either.
My chest feels tight, and I’m having trouble breathing.
“Honey?” He lays his arm across my shoulders and pulls me closer. “What’s wrong?”
I take a deep breath and shake my head. “Nothing. I’m fine.”
But he’s not buying it. He smiles gently. “How about we go show Beth your ring? I’ll bet she’d love to see it. Sam, too.”
The strangle hold on my chest loosens. “You don’t think she’d mind? It’s the weekend. I’d hate to intrude uninvited on her family time.”
His smile deepens into a grin. “Who do you think suggested it in the first place? She made me promise to bring you over ASAP so she could see the ring on your finger.”
“Yes, then let’s go.”
Holding hands, we stroll leisurely back to our apartment building, where we head straight into the underground parking garage to get Mack’s vehicle. When I text Beth to ask if we can come over, she immediately replies with a YES!
We head south for the short drive to Beth and Shane’s home in their private gated community. We have to stop first at the manned security gate.
When we pull up to the guard shack window, the security guard greets us with a smile. He pushes a button, and the gate swings open. He waves us in. “Beth said you’d be coming by.”
The McIntyre family compound, as Lia calls it, is a small, private, gated community occupied by most of the McIntyre family.
A while back, Shane purchased a brand-new housing development that had just started development and turned it into his family’s private community.
Currently, there are eight homes in a large cul-de-sac, with space for a half dozen more.
There’s a fenced-in playground in the green space located in the center of the circular drive.
Shane and Beth live here now, in a large duplex they share with Sam and Cooper.
Shane’s parents have a home here, too, as does Beth’s mom.
All of Shane’s siblings and their families live here, except for Hannah and Liam.
Liam and his girlfriend live in our building.
Hannah lives in Bryce, Colorado, near the Rocky Mountains, with her new husband, Killian Devereaux.
They run an outdoor wilderness excursions business and they coordinate a search and rescue team.
The speed limit sign inside the community reads 5 miles per hour, which makes us laugh as it’s pretty hard to actually drive that slow.
Mack parks along the curb in front of Beth’s house. We walk up the sidewalk to the front door and knock quietly—just in case the baby’s sleeping.
Shane answers the door with an expectant smile on his face. He motions for us to come inside. “All right,” he says, gesturing impatiently. “Let’s see it.”
I hold up my hand, and he studies my ring. “Very nice.” He offers his hand to Mack, and they shake. “Good job, buddy.”
Rapid little footsteps alert us to the arrival of Luke, their little tow-headed toddler. “Hi, Erin! Hi, Mack!”
“Hey, little man,” Mack says as he holds out his palm.
Luke jumps up to give him a high-five. “Mama’s rocking Sissy. She’s a cranky butt today.”
Shane lays a gentle hand on his son’s head. “Please don’t call your sister a butt. It’s not nice.”
Luke gazes up at his dad. “But she’s cranky.”
“You would be, too, if you had a tooth coming in.” Somehow, Shane manages to refrain from smiling. “Still, it’s not nice to call your sister a butt.”
“Okay,” Luke says with an exaggerated huff. Then he runs back down the hall yelling, “Mama! Erin and Mack are here.”
Shane shakes his head. “Come on, guys. Beth is dying to see you.”
We follow Shane down the central hallway to the kitchen and family room at the back of the house. Beth is seated on a rocking chair, holding their year-old daughter, Ava, whose head is nestled in the crook of Beth’s shoulder. Ava’s got her thumb in her mouth.
“Hey, guys!” Cooper says from the kitchen across the open floor plan. “What’s new?” It’s obvious from the tone of his voice that he already knows.
He and Sam are standing at the kitchen island assembling what looks like an elaborate charcuterie board. Apparently, they were expecting us. There are plates and glasses out, as well as an ice bucket. There’s even a cake on a cooling rack. It looks like we’re going to have a little dinner party.
“Let me see it!” Sam cries as he skirts the kitchen island and heads right to me. He grabs my hand and holds it up so he can see my ring. “Oh, girl, it’s fire!” He pulls me into his arms for a bear hug. “I’m so happy for you.”
“Hey, what about me?” Beth says from the rocking chair, laughing softly as she waves me over. “I just got Ava to stop crying, so you’ll have to come to me.”
After I show Beth my ring, she gazes up at me with tears in her blue-green eyes. “Oh, Erin. It’s gorgeous. I’m so happy for you, sweetie.”
Shane joins us and gazes down at Ava. He reaches down to gently touch her soft brown curls. “Erin, I don’t know if you and Mack have a wedding venue in mind already, but we’d be honored if you’d have your wedding at our home in Kenilworth.”
My mouth falls open at his generous offer. Shane’s Kenilworth estate is huge and gorgeous, but most importantly, it’s private and isolated.
“It’s become a family tradition to hold weddings there,” he adds. He nods toward Cooper in the kitchen. “And I’m sure Cooper would be happy to officiate.”
“You consider me part of the family ?” I ask, his statement taking me completely by surprise. We’re friends, yes, but family ? I don’t think he realizes how much that means to me.
I don’t have any biological family left. I was raised by my grandmother after my parents died, and my grandmother has since passed away. I don’t have any other relatives, at least none that I know of. True, I’ve always considered Beth and Sam, and of course Mack, my found family, but Shane, too?
“Of course I consider you family,” he says. He steps around the rocking chair and opens his arms wide. “Is it okay if I hug you?”
Tears spring to my eyes, and when I nod, he wraps his arms around me and gives me a gentle squeeze. Shane has always been so careful around me, especially since the assault. He’s probably sensitive to what I’ve been through because his wife has suffered trauma of her own.
“What do you say?” he asks, looking first at me, and then at Mack. “Are you interested? It won’t hurt my feelings if you say no.”
“It’s up to Erin, of course,” Mack says. “But I’m all for it.”
“I would love to get married at the Kenilworth house.” And I mean it.
Pretty much everyone I know and love has gotten married there—Shane and Beth, Lia and Jonah, Jake and Annie.
It really is a McIntyre family tradition, and now, apparently, I’m an honorary member of the family.
“Yes, I think we’d love to get married there. Thank you, Shane.”
Luke, who’s oblivious to the talk of wedding venues and couldn’t care less, walks up to Mack and raises his little arms up in the air. “Can I sit on your shoulders?”
“Sure, little man.” Mack picks up the boy and settles him on his broad shoulders. Luke clutches Mack tightly around the neck and grins as he towers over everyone in the room.
Mack glances up at Luke. “How would you like to be one of the ring bearers at our wedding? You and your cousin Aiden.”
Luke makes an uncertain face as he leans down to look Mack in the eye. “Do I get cake?”
“Of course you do,” Mack says. “You can eat all the cake you want, assuming Mommy and Daddy say it’s okay.”
“I’ll do it!” Luke says.
“Speaking of cake,” Cooper says from the kitchen. “I just made a Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Who’s interested?”
“Me!” Luke shouts.
Beth lays a sleeping Ava in her playpen to nap. The rest of us gather at the long dining table.
Cooper has laid out an unbelievable spread—crudité, tiny cuts of meats, cheeses, dipping sauces, little spinach and cheddar quiches, freshly baked Italian garlic bread, and cut-up fresh fruit. There’s homemade lemonade to drink.
When Mack deposits Luke on his booster chair, Luke grabs his arm and says, “Sit by me, Mack!”
We all take our seats. Mack, of course, sits by Luke, and I sit on Mack’s other side. I find myself a bit overwhelmed as I scan the table. The most important people in the world are all here with me, celebrating our engagement. I just wish my grandmother was here to see this. She’d be so pleased.
Cooper lifts his glass of lemonade. “A toast to the happy couple! May you have a long life together, filled with nothing but happiness and joy.”
“Cheers!” everyone says in unison as we raise our glasses.
Mack leans over to kiss my cheek. “Nothing but joy,” he repeats.
* * *
After dinner, we stay a while to visit with our friends. Ava wakes up from her nap and is passed around the room from adult to adult. She’s such a sweet baby with a quiet, yet cheerful personality, just like her mama. Physically, she takes after her daddy with her brown hair and bright blue eyes.
Ava ends up nestled in Sam’s arms, with her head resting on his shoulder.
Cooper has his arm across Sam’s shoulders, and he’s stroking the baby’s hair.
I watch the two of them with Ava, and it makes me wonder if they’ll have kids of their own one day.
I certainly hope so because they’d be such good parents.
Luke has taken quite a liking to Mack this evening, insisting on sitting on his lap.
I know Mack likes kids. He adores his daughter, Haley.
Now that we’re getting married, the idea of us having kids of our own feels more real.
We’ve talked about it, of course. And we’re both on board with the idea.
But seeing him interacting with Luke really brings it home to me.
I can just picture him holding our dark-haired son or daughter.
And I’m sure Haley would enjoy becoming a big sister.
When Luke starts yawning, that’s our cue to leave.
* * *
When we arrive back at our apartment, a very disgruntled calico greets us at our door, meowing up a storm and rubbing against both our shins.
I reach down to pet her. “Are you hungry, young lady? Do you want some dinner?”
She replies with a very forceful me-yow .
Mack scoops her up in one hand and carries her to the kitchen. “I’ll feed her.”
While Mack is seeing to Lizzie, I change out of my dress into a pair of cozy flannel shorts and a T-shirt.
“Do you need anything?” Mack asks when I walk into the kitchen.
Lizzie is busy scarfing up her food.
“Maybe just some water.” I grab my water bottle out of the fridge, and while I’m guzzling some cold, crisp water, I stare at my ring, turning my hand this way and that to catch the light refracted in the clear facets.
“You really like it?” Mack asks. “You’re not just being nice?” He wraps his arms around me and kisses my cheek. “If you’re not one hundred percent sure—”
“I absolutely am sure. I love it!”
“I just meant I’d be happy to take it back and exchange it for something else.”
“Mack Donovan! Don’t even suggest such a thing. I love you, and I especially love this ring because you gave it to me.”
“Is now a good time to call my folks and share the news?”
Mack’s parents, Hillary and Rob, live in Denver. We have video calls with them at least once a week. His mom has been dropping hints lately that she and Rob aren’t getting any younger and they’d sure like another grandchild. Hint hint.
I get out my tablet and we call them. When they come on the video screen, Mack grabs my hand and holds it in front of the camera so they can see my ring.
Hillary squeals the moment she sees it. “Oh, you guys!” She leans over and kisses Rob’s cheek. “We’re so happy for you.”
We have a nice twenty-minute chat with them, answering all their questions about where it happened and how he asked me and what I said.
I forward a photo of the park bench where I was sitting when he asked me.
We promise to give them the wedding details as soon as we know so they can make plans to come to Chicago.
After our call with Mack’s parents, he grabs us drinks from the fridge and checks the time. “We’ve got time to watch a movie if you want. You can pick.”
“You hate my movie choices.”
“I don’t hate them. But I wouldn’t mind something with a bit more action in it.”
Mack’s phone chimes with an incoming text message. He grabs it and peers at the screen. “Haley is asking if she can come over tomorrow afternoon.”
“Of course she can. Does she know about the ring?”
Mack grins. “Why do you think she came over yesterday evening? It was to keep you company while I ran out to the jewelry store to meet Beth and Sam and choose a ring.”
He texts his daughter back, inviting her to join us tomorrow for lunch. We offer to take her to her favorite restaurant.
“I wonder if Philip’s busy tomorrow,” I say, sneaking a peek at Mack’s expression.
He rolls his eyes. “Please, no.”
“Oh, come on! The only time they get to see each other is when she comes here to see us.”
“Okay, fine. You can invite him, too. But if he reminds me one more time how many days it is until she graduates, I’ll wring his neck.”