Chapter 92 Charlie
CHARLIE
Eighteen months later
I’ve been outside for the last hour, adjusting lights that don’t need adjusting, and straightening candles that are already straight, smelling flowers to make sure their scent still fills the air, because if I stand still for more than ten seconds, I’m pretty sure I’ll throw up.
The backyard is glowing. It looks like a fairy wonderland.
The Dirty Texas guys have helped me all day preparing for this, as has Everly.
Fairy lights are strung from the fence line to the big tree, cascading down like warm golden rain.
There are blankets and vintage rugs layered on the grass.
In front of the flower arch, soft lanterns flicker along the path from the back door to where I am standing. I wanted magic. He deserves magic.
Our song plays quietly from the speaker, not too loud, just enough to brush through the air like it belongs here. And then I hear the back door slide open.
“Charlie?” Derrick calls out softly.
I turn.
He steps outside and stops dead.
His eyes sweep over the fairy lights, the flowers, the candles … then land on me. His whole expression softens. Confused. Emotional. Barely breathing.
“Baby …” he whispers. “What is all this?”
My heart is hammering so hard I can feel it in my fingertips.
I take a slow step forward.
“I wanted a moment tonight to be just us,” I say, my voice shaking embarrassingly fast. “Before anyone else comes. Before the noise.”
He smiles a little, bewildered. “Anyone else? Charlie, what’s …”
I hold out my hand. “Come here.”
He walks toward me, eyes locked on mine, and the second he reaches me, the rest of the world disappears. I take his hands. They’re warm. Steady. Mine.
“Okay,” I breathe, and this is the part I rehearsed a hundred times but suddenly can’t remember a single word of. “I’m so fricken nervous,” I whisper.
His eyes shine. “Charlie …?”
I swallow hard.
“Derrick, loving you has been the easiest thing I’ve ever done.
You make everything brighter. Softer. You made this house feel like a home.
You made me feel like home.” His breath hitches.
“I’m not perfect,” I say, voice breaking, “but I love you perfectly. And I want to love you for the rest of my life.”
I reach into my pocket.
His eyes widen.
The ring box shakes in my hand, and honestly, so does everything else, but I manage to drop to one knee slowly in the center of the fairy lights.
“Derrick,” I whisper, looking up at him in the golden glow, “will you marry me?”
He covers his mouth, a soft sound escaping him, and for a second, I swear the entire backyard holds its breath.
Then … he drops to his knees in front of me. “Yes,” he chokes out, grabbing my face in his hands. “Yes, Charlie. Yes. Yes.”
He’s crying.
I’m crying.
We’re both laughing and crying and kissing while fairy lights shimmer around us like stars.
I slip the ring onto his finger, and he stares at it like he’s never seen anything so beautiful, which is insane, because he is the most beautiful thing in this yard.
Everly told me when they were in Switzerland about the ring Derrick tried on and how much he loved it.
So, she helped me find something similar to that here.
He leans his forehead against mine. “I love you so fucking much.”
“I love you too,” I whisper.
And right then …
BANG.
The side gate bursts open.
Christian screams, “He said yes.”
All our friends come barreling into the back with kids, all to enjoy this moment. There was no way in hell I was going to propose to Derrick and not have them here. Evan pops a bottle of champagne and starts pouring glasses for everyone. One by one, they come past us and congratulate us.
Derrick stares at me, wide-eyed. “They were here?”
I grin, pulling him closer. “I wanted the proposal to be ours, but the celebration to be theirs.” He laughs, loud, bright, beautiful, and kisses me amid the celebratory chaos.
And under the fairy lights, with Derrick in my arms, it finally feels like everything I’ve ever wanted.
I’ve noticed my fiancé has disappeared for a moment, he hasn’t left my side all night, but he seems to be MIA.
Tonight has been amazing, all our friends are celebrating like it’s one of the biggest nights of their lives, not just ours.
I’m so caught up in everything that I don’t even notice Derrick has returned until he steps into the middle of the backyard.
“Hey!” he calls out loudly, voice cracking just a little. “Can I get everyone’s attention?”
The backyard quiets far faster than I expect. All eyes on him.
I frown, confused. “Derrick …?”
He turns to me, and my breath catches. He looks nervous. Shaking. Like I looked an hour ago.
Oh my god.
“Charlie,” he says softly, just loud enough for everyone to hear, “I need to say something.”
Christian gasps dramatically.
He takes a slow breath. “Tonight, you gave me the most beautiful moment of my life. You gave me something I didn’t even know I could have.” My heart stutters. “You asked me to marry you.” He swallows. “And you have no idea how long I’ve wanted to hear those words from you.”
I blink fast.
No.
He wouldn’t …
“But,” he continues, voice shaking, “I remember a moment where you told me that there was no way in the world I was proposing to you, that it was your job to do it. Well, there’s something you don’t know.
” The crowd collectively leans forward with me.
“I had a plan that whenever you proposed, I would too.”
Gasps everywhere.
Derrick reaches into his pocket. “I’ve been hiding it in my sock drawer.” I can’t breathe. He steps closer. Right back into the center of the fairy lights where I knelt earlier.
“Charlie,” he whispers, eyes shining. Derrick drops to one knee.
A collective explosion of screaming hits the backyard.
I cover my mouth, shaking. Tears instantly burn my eyes.
“Charlie Nash,” he says, looking up at me like I’m his whole damn universe.
“You are the love of my life. You are fierce and soft and ridiculous and perfect. You made me believe I was worthy of being loved like this. And I want to love you, loudly and proudly, for the rest of my life.” Derrick opens the ring box. My vision blurs.
“So,” he says, voice cracking completely, “will you marry me, too?”
“Yes,” I choke out. “Yes, God, Derrick, YES.” He laughs, breathless relief pouring out of him, and slides the ring onto my shaking hand.
The backyard erupts again.
Kids cheering.
Adults screaming.
Champagne bottles popping.
I kiss the ever-loving hell out of my man. My fiancé. Derrick pulls me into his arms, both of us crying and laughing as our friends congratulate us all over again.
Two proposals.
Two rings.
One night.
One future.