Epilogue #2
“Tate?” he says, his voice catching with emotion as he flicks open the box to reveal a ring inside. “Will you marry me?”
My heart stops. The platinum band has two giant stones set side by side so that they look like one giant gemstone.
Both are blue.
“A diamond from each of us, hoping you’ll say yes to our proposal. Because we come as a package deal.” He searches my eyes, an uncharacteristic vulnerability in his as he waits for me to say something.
I stare at him, then at Molly, who’s looking up at me, all innocent eyes and round, rosy cheeks.
My coffee cup is beside her. I reach for it in a daze and dip my finger into the cocoa-dusted foam.
I draw a semi-circle and finish it off with two dots.
Sullivan’s brow is pulled taut as he watches.
I rotate the mug so they can both see.
A face smiles up at them from the foam.
“Is that a yes?” Sullivan asks, the uncertainty in his voice making me want to grab him and kiss him.
“It’s a yes.” I smile at Molly, before turning to him. “Yes. To both of you, my answer is yes.”
“Yes?” His brows shoot up and he lets out a shaky breath. “Yes?”
I nod. “An absolutely-one hundred percent-yes!”
My throat burns, and I can’t stop the fat tears from bursting out as Sullivan pulls Molly into a hug with us and brings his mouth to mine in a crushing kiss.
Molly giggles as she’s squashed in our embrace, and it makes me laugh too, breaking the kiss.
“You knew all about this?” I ask.
The proud smile on her face makes my heart melt.
I’m looking at her, soaking in the sound of her giggle as something is slid onto my left finger.
Sullivan’s eyes heat as I turn to him.
I look down at the giant glittering ring on my finger and suck in a sharp breath. Seeing it there makes it so real.
“Me go now?” Molly asks, seriously.
“You can go now,” Sullivan replies.
“We were only interesting for a moment,” I joke, ripping my eyes away from the ring to watch her leave the kitchen quickly, probably off to get her baby dolls.
“Are you sure about this?” I turn back to Sullivan. He’s still on one knee in front of me, his gaze locked on my face.
“Are you?” he asks.
“Yes. If you really mean it.”
“We mean it,” he says with conviction. “You have no idea just how much we both love you, do you?”
I shake my head, smiling, as more tears threaten to soak my cheeks.
He cups my face in his hands.
“Your voice is the melody to my heart, Tate. I told you once, and I’ll say it again and again until you understand it.
You are more perfect than any song. Molly’s always seen that too.
But she knew how to love you properly from that very first day.
I didn’t. And I’ll spend the rest of my life regretting the terrible job I did of showing you in the beginning. ”
I sniff, overcome with emotion that makes my chest tight. “It’s okay. I understand why. You were protecting Molly. And besides, that was in the beginning. You didn’t love me then.”
He sighs and his lips lift into a soft smile.
“I’ve loved you a long time, Tate. Before I ever knew how to show it, I loved you.”
He lifts my hand like he’s admiring how the ring looks on me.
“Why do you have an engagement ring here? You didn’t know I was coming.”
“I had it in my pocket the day Cliff and I dragged that old piano into the street.”
“You did?”
“I’d have married you right there on the sidewalk if you’d let me.”
He looks up at me.
“I was going to ask you then, if you’d forgiven me.
But things went differently, and I’ve kept it with me ever since so I can look at it and manifest you coming back to me.
Or something like that. Halliday told me it would help.
But mostly, I looked at it and told myself what an idiot I was for losing you in the first place. ”
A small, shocked laugh pushes past my lips. “You’re unfairly hard on yourself.”
“I love you and knew that I’d lost someone really special.”
I reach up and cup his cheek.
“You haven’t. I’m right here.”
He leans in to kiss me, but a loud bark makes me jump back from him.
Two dogs race into the kitchen, barking wildly, their tails flying about in wild circles. They’re followed by a squealing Sinclair.
“Molly said you did it!”
“Did what?” Sullivan asks, moving back on to his feet.
“Oh my God, just move, please.” She laughs and breezes past him, making a beeline for the empty seat beside mine.
Denver enters the room, carrying a grinning Molly. “It wasn’t me,” he rumbles.
Molly giggles in his arms as Sinclair reaches for my hand and takes it, studying the engagement ring.
“Don’t blame Molly,” she says. “Like I don’t know you well enough, Sull. I knew you were up to something days ago. And you were all uptight about anyone touching your luggage on the flight over. And I can see why!” She squeals with delight. “You did well. It’s gorgeous. I approve.”
She meets my eyes and the pure, unbridled joy in them that she has for us threatens to set off my tears again.
“You know I helped Halliday plan this wedding. I still have loads of ideas. Just in case you were bored one day and—”
“Let my fiancée breathe, huh, Sis?”
I giggle at the face Sinclair pulls in response, but then beam at her as Sullivan’s words sink in.
Fiancée.
Oh my God, this is real.
“I should call my dad, he—”
“He’s due to land in a few hours.”
“What?” I stare at Sullivan.
“I asked for his permission the day after I saw you back in the city. He’s the only one who was supposed to know about any of this,” Sullivan says.
Sinclair rolls her eyes, waving a hand in the air. “Yeah, whatever. I’ve known since those cat cookies that this day would come. I’m going to have a sister-in-law!”
Her excitement is infectious, and she pulls me into a hug and squeezes. Denver’s shaking hands with Sullivan, congratulating him. And Sinclair’s two dogs have calmed down and are sitting side by side at Denver’s feet.
“They’re so cute,” I exclaim, spotting the small bowtie on the larger one, and white ribbon around the smaller one’s neck.
“Don’t let looks deceive you. They’re high maintenance,” Denver says. But the fondness in his eyes tells me he’d protect Sinclair’s two dogs with his giant body as savagely as he would her.
“High maintenance must be your weakness,” Sullivan quips, his eyes darting to Sinclair, who scoffs in mock outrage.
I soak it all in. I’ve never seen Sullivan joke with his family before. He’s like a new man, growing happier by the day.
As hard as it was being apart, I can see now. We needed it. He needed it. He finally looks like a man who’s healing.
His eyes soften as he catches me studying him, and he walks over and pulls me to my feet, wrapping me in his arms.
Sinclair rushes from the room and I widen my eyes at Sullivan as she yells so loud I swear they can probably hear her out at sea.
“Everyone, get down here! Sullivan has news!”
He chuckles, his chest rumbling against mine as he embraces me.
It’s not long before the kitchen is full. His father and Halliday, Mal and Trudy, and Killian and Jenson from their security team, are all looking at us.
It’s his father who speaks first.
“Molly? What’s going on?” he asks gently, like he doesn’t already know. I can see in his sparkling blue eyes that are so like Sullivan’s that he knows exactly why Sinclair gathered us all down here.
He’s standing beside Halliday, one arm wrapped around her, stroking the underside of her baby bump protectively.
She smiles at me, glowing like a woman who just married the love of her life, and I smile back, beaming, like a woman who just agreed to marry hers.
“Daddy and Tate get married,” Molly says seriously.
Sterling nods. “Ah. In that case, congratulations, Son. Tate.”
He comes to me first, pulling me into a hug, before doing the same to Sullivan, saying something to him in a low voice that has Sullivan nodding and gripping him tighter.
The room fills with upbeat chatter, and I drink it all in.
Molly’s giggling. Sullivan’s smiling. And I’m floating.
It can’t get any better.
“Will you let me help my fiancée?”
I narrow my eyes at Sullivan before laughing. “You can’t use that word to get your own way, you know?”
“What? Help?”
“Fiancée.” I snort, poking him in the stomach as we walk along the beach.
It’s been the most perfect day. My father arrived, and the rest of the guests from last night came to the house for a huge lunch. I met Sterling’s brothers and their kids and grandkids. They’re all so alike. Warm. Welcoming.
“Think of it as a wedding present to my wife,” Sullivan continues.
“I’m not your wife yet,” I tease.
“But you will be. We can have whatever kind of ceremony and reception you want. Just as long as it happens soon.”
I love how eager he is, like he’s on a mission now that we’re back together. But I still can’t resist toying with him.
“I don’t know. Sinclair has so many ideas. It might take us months to come up with a plan for how to do it all.”
A muscle in Sullivan’s cheek clenches and I kiss it, drawing a small smile out of him.
“Can we serve cocoa-dusted drinks after we eat?”
“We can serve nectar collected by diamond encrusted bees as long as you marry me as soon as possible.”
I snort out a giggle. I’m loving this lighter, happier Sullivan. Even if he does say such things with the same dry sarcasm he’s always had.
He’s adamant he wants to buy an office space in Midtown that he can then lease to the record label who’ve offered me a job as a songwriter.
He said their company reports indicate they want to expand their offices to the East Coast, and that it makes good business sense for them to begin with New York.
He said it’s another investment opportunity like my apartment block was.
I rolled my eyes when he pulled that explanation out. We both know my shrunken uniform is responsible for that purchase.
“Fine,” I concede. “Buy the building. Be their landlord. But that’s it. I can’t have you coming into work all the time. You’re too hot, you’ll be a distraction.”