30. Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty
Drew
Today was the day. The day that would end all the questions surrounding his relationship with Bri. The day that would change the course of Drew’s life, for better or worse.
His heart thudded with the hope she would say yes to forever with him, but it was also filled with dread at the possibility she wouldn’t.
As he rounded the corner of the hallway, heading to breakfast, his hand grazed the wainscoting covering the lower part of the wall. When he took another step, Drew felt a snag and heard a ripping sound, stopping him in his tracks.
No.
He knew what it was before he even looked down. On the hall floor laid the friendship bracelet Bri had made him over a decade ago. With it went his last shred of hope that Bri was going to believe everything he’d told her, that she might love him and want a future with him too.
Drew bent over and picked up the ripped bracelet, rubbing his fingers over the faded green and blue threads before shoving it into his pocket with a sigh. His fingers brushed the velvet box in there—he planned to propose to Bri today for real. The only real question was what her answer would be.
He pulled his hand out of his pocket and made a fist before opening it, flexing his fingers. All he wanted to do was place a ring on her left hand, but for now, he would give her the space she’d asked for until this evening. A rumble erupted from his stomach, so he finished the walk to the dining room, greeting his mother before making a plate of food from the sideboard.
“Hi, Mom.” Drew piled scrambled eggs, chicken sausage, roasted potatoes, and an assortment of fresh fruit, sans watermelon, onto his plate.
“Good morning.” She smiled brightly at him.
“Is father joining us?” He set his plate on the table and dragged his hand through his hair before taking a seat across from his mother.
She shook her head after taking a bite of toast smothered in a mixed-berry jam. “He has a call this morning with Edward.”
Drew nodded to acknowledge her response as he shoveled eggs into his mouth.
“How did you sleep?” his mother asked.
He pushed the remaining eggs on his plate around with a fork. “Honestly, not too well.”
“It wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with a certain blonde-headed beauty, would it?” His mother sipped her tea.
Drew sputtered as he took a drink of orange juice, the citrus burning his throat when it went down the wrong way. “How do you do that?”
“A mother always knows.”
The look of amusement she shot his way had him nervously chewing on a potato. She couldn’t possibly know about everything between him and Bri. She couldn’t possibly know the truth .
“What exactly do you think you know?” Drew popped another potato into his mouth, feigning nonchalance.
“Sweetheart, I’ve always known about the marriage pact.”
“You…” His mouth fell open as his eyes searched hers. “What?”
“I decided to let you sleep in a little bit the day after we attended a ball, and I saw it on your desk when I went to wake you. I don’t make a habit of snooping through your belongings, but I noticed the royal seal on it, so I looked over the paper to ensure you hadn’t taken an important document from your father’s office.”
Drew pressed his lips into a firm line as he resumed pushing the eggs around on his plate. “And you read my marriage pact with Bri?”
“I did. I’ve always loved the friendship you two have shared, but one of the greatest joys of my life was watching you fall in love with her right before my eyes.”
His attention shot to her.
She smiled at him, gently setting her cup of tea on its saucer. “Now, it appears to have taken quite some time for her to return your affection, but I believe you have it now, if I’m not mistaken.”
“I…she…” Drew could hardly speak as his brain attempted to keep up with all the revelations his mother was sharing. He rubbed his mouth as he gathered his thoughts. “I can’t believe you’ve known about the pact and my feelings for Bri all this time.” His mouth fell open as another notion hit him. “Why on earth were you going to force me to marry Clarissa, then?”
His mother’s grin grew. “I never would’ve let you go through with marrying that girl. Did you really think I wanted Clarissa as my daughter-in-law?”
“I didn’t know what to think.” He shook his head. “Why did you say you thought Clarissa was the best option for me? Why did you speak to her parents about the potential of a marriage contract?”
“I’ve always loved Bri like she was my own daughter. I’ve known you loved her for a long time, and I thought you needed a little push to share your feelings with her before you were thirty…or some other lucky guy snatched her up.”
Drew gritted his teeth to keep his jaw from dropping again. “Let me get this straight… You tricked me into proposing to my best friend?”
Her cheeks tinged with pink, and she didn’t meet his gaze. “I wouldn’t choose the word tricked .”
“What word would you pick, then?”
“How about nudged ? Or encouraged .”
“By telling me you thought I should marry the most conceited woman I’ve ever met?”
She shrugged and smiled innocently at him. “It worked, didn’t it?”
“Maybe it would have if Bri had felt the same way I did when I asked her to marry me.” He ate a sausage link before adding, “Maybe then she wouldn’t have suggested we fake the whole thing.”
“Fake the whole thing?” His mother blanched. “You mean you’re not actually engaged?”
Drew shook his head. “Not according to her, we aren’t.”
“But according to you?”
He set his fork down beside his plate. “Nothing has ever been more real for me.”
“Then you must fight for her,” his mother declared.
“How?” Drew dropped his gaze to the half-eaten food on his plate.
“All most women want is to be seen for who they are and loved despite their faults. You have to show her you see her. Tell her everything you love about her. Lay all your cards on the table and see if she feels the same way. And Drew, I’ve seen the way she looks at you. I can’t imagine she would turn you away.”
He sighed. “What if I’ve already done that? What if I’ve already told her how much I love her, and all she did was ask for time?”
She reached across the table and took his hand, giving it an encouraging squeeze. “Then all we can do is hope she realizes her heart is in the same place as yours.”
Drew didn’t know if he wanted to hear an answer to the question plaguing his mind, but he asked it anyway. “And if it’s not?”
His mother spoke with a gentle determination. “Then you either find a way to move on or do everything in your power to fight for the woman you love.”
He couldn’t lose Bri. If it wasn’t her, there wasn’t anyone for him. She was his person, his shining star, his everything . And he was going to fight for her, no matter how long it took.
Drew paced his bedroom, glancing at the clock on the wall every few seconds, as if time would magically start moving faster. Thankfully, only a few minutes remained until he would meet Bri in the observatory. He wasn’t sure he had the patience to wait much longer. Even just one day without seeing her—without talking to her—was pure agony.
It had taken every bit of willpower not to text her a space fact today. Come to think of it, he couldn’t recall another time in all these years when he hadn’t sent her a message in the morning. If today ended the way he hoped, he wouldn’t have to text her at the start of every day. He could merely tell her at breakfast or roll over in bed to deliver his daily fact.
When another look at the clock revealed it was finally time to meet with Bri, Drew flung open his bedroom door and walked with hurried steps to the observatory. He stepped into the room and released a long sigh the moment he saw Bri.
Without a second thought, he crossed the room, pulling her into his arms. “I missed you.”
She responded by tugging him even closer, her arms crushing them together in a tight embrace.
“Did you know that space is completely silent?” he whispered into her ear.
“I didn’t.” Bri pulled back, taking his hands in hers and looking up at him. “Today felt the same way without you.”
Drew smirked. “Are you saying I’m loud?”
“I’m saying the silence feels lonely without you.”
His smirk fell as he took in her words, the gravity of them filling his heart with a swell of hope. “What are you saying, Bri? I need you to spell it out for me.”
She placed her hand on his cheek, a soft smile covering her lips. “I looked back through pictures of us. Ones from when we were kids until now, and I saw everything. I saw how unaware I was of your attention. I saw the way you always noticed me and cared for me. I saw the way love was written all over your face when you looked at me.” Bri dropped her hand and ran it through her ponytail. “I realized I’ve been so focused on what I thought I wanted in life for so long that I was blind to what has been right in front of me all along.”
She looked up at him shyly, and he could see the vulnerability in her expression.
“Are you saying—”
“You. I was blind to my feelings for you, Drew. Feelings that terrify me because I didn’t know I could feel this deeply.” Bri placed her petite hands in his again. “I never wanted to settle down because I thought it would keep me from exploring the world, but now all my dreams feel worthless if I’m not sharing them with you.”
Drew leaned down, pressing his forehead to hers. She has feelings for me. He took in shallow breaths as his heart pounded in earnest. As his heart pounded for her .
“So you can see yourself settling down someday?”
She raised onto her tiptoes and pressed her lips ever so softly to his. He hummed at her touch, craving more.
“For the right person, I’d be happy to settle down right now.”
That was all the encouragement he needed. Drew covered Bri’s lips with his in a tender kiss. It was gentle and slow, unhurried. He refrained from sharing all the passion bubbling up inside of him, because there would be time for that later. This kiss was sweet with the whisper of a forever promise to each other. He cradled her neck in his hand and pressed one more kiss to her lips before pulling back.
Drew reached into his pocket and produced a red velvet box as he stood before Bri.
“First the marriage pact, now a ring? Do you just carry this stuff around in your pockets?” she teased.
“I’ve wanted to marry you for years, and I wasn’t going to miss my chance.”
He dropped to one knee. “Marry me for real, Bri. Be my wife, and I will love you and cherish you more than anything in the world. Marry me, and I will spend every day until my dying breath proving to you why you made the right decision in choosing me.”
“There is nothing in all the world that would make me happier than being your wife.”
He rose to his feet, pulling her into his chest and wrapping his arms around her. When she loosened her grip, Drew raised the velvet box between them.
“Shall I?”
She rocked on her feet, looking down at her hand and the ring she already wore from his treehouse proposal. “I know this one isn’t real, but I’ve grown fond of it.”
He glanced down at the white gold band studded with small diamonds with a large, cushion-cut diamond in the middle that she twisted around her ring finger. “What makes you think it’s not real?”
Bri’s gaze jumped to him. “You mean to tell me you gave me a real engagement ring when you fake proposed?”
Drew stepped closer, a wry grin pulling at his lips. “Like I told you, none of this was ever fake to me. Plus, I couldn’t very well have my fiancée, the woman I planned to make my queen, wearing a fake diamond in public. The paparazzi would’ve had a field day with that.”
She closed the remaining distance between them, grabbing his lapels and playing with the fabric. “You continue to surprise me, fiancé.” Bri’s eyes moved from his face back to her hand on his chest. “Are you all right if I stick with the first ring you gave me? I’m sure whatever else you picked is lovely, but this one feels like…me.”
He flicked open the box with his thumb, showing her it was empty before throwing it onto a nearby chair. “I was betting on you saying that.” His smile grew as she wrapped her arms around his neck and gazed up at him. “I love you.”
She let out a happy sigh, pressing her cheek to his chest where she surely heard the rapid thudding of his heart. “I love you, Drew. More than I ever thought possible.”
Hearing her say those words—words he hadn’t been sure he would ever hear from her lips—filled his soul. This right here was better than anything he’d imagined in his wildest dreams.
He captured her mouth with another kiss, putting his all into showing his best friend—his fiancée —how she was the most precious thing in the world to him and that he would never let her forget it for a single moment of the rest of their lives together.