Epilogue #2
I can’t help but grin. “I don’t know how good it was going to be, but I worked really hard on it.
” I pick her up, lift her off the ground, and kiss her.
Then I set her on the edge of the bed and sit next to her.
“I went over a million ideas. None of them were good, and for whatever reason, I decided to go with a gaudy ring and sappy words. All I ended up with was a gaudy ring and a terrible speech. Which is worse?” I glance at her sideways. “Sappy or terrible?”
She wraps her arm around mine. “I was serious about what I said, so I’m voting for terrible.
I loved seeing you so riled up and out of sorts about it.
” She leans over and kisses me. “I can’t imagine I would have loved the rehearsed version any more.
” She starts to laugh. “I’ll never forget you throwing the ring on the bed.
” She dons a mock-scowl as she stands up.
“That’s why you can’t propose!” She pantomimes throwing a ring on the bed, then grins.
“It was actually pretty sexy.” She bites her lip and wags her eyebrows at me.
“Yeah, well I guess we’ll never know if the other one was better, because you beat me to it.
” I abruptly stand when I realize what I’d just said.
“Stephanie, you proposed to me. You proposed, and I literally ran away!” I run my hands through my hair again, laughing in disbelief.
“Is anyone going to believe this story? And that tree was incredible! How long have you been working on this?”
“A while.” She’s clearly very pleased with herself.
“I had all the pictures ready before I flew in this morning. A couple of hours ago, I checked your location and saw you were at the airport. I figured you were flying in early to dive with Deke and decided to do it today. Sam, Cheryl, and Maquel helped me get the photos on the ribbons and hang them up. Then I sent everyone away for a while and just waited.” She’s beaming.
“Why do I love it so much that you proposed to me before I could propose to you? It’s such a Stephanie thing.”
I slide my arms around her, pull her into me, and kiss her, pouring all the prepared romance from my speech into it. I let my fingers run through her hair while I trail kisses across her cheek, over her jaw, and down her neck. She clings to me and matches my passion with her own.
When we break apart, I hold her as we talk about all of our discarded proposal ideas.
We slowly end up on the floor, sitting next to each other at the foot of the bed.
The conversation is littered with comments like “you could’ve pulled it off, but I never would have stopped laughing” and “that would have been a disaster.” There are plenty of renditions of “Lou would have ruined that for sure”—but mostly a lot of “that would have been amazing.”
“Cooper,” Stephanie sits up taller, “do you realize that neither of us said yes?”
“What do you mean?”
“I never finished asking you. And you asked, but I never answered.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the fact that we’re still not engaged. At least, not formally.”
I can’t help but laugh. “This is a poor start to the rest of our lives, isn’t it?” She smiles, and I take her hand. “Why don’t you go first, since you beat me to it the first time.”
She beams as she drops to one knee for the second time. I stand up and shake my head. “This is so backwards, but also so par for the course.” I wink at her.
“Shut up, I’m trying to be romantic.” She growls at me, and I can’t wipe the grin off my face.
“Cooper Brett Mallory, I will keep this short: I love you with all my heart. I can’t think of anything better than spending the rest of my days”—her expression turns saucy—“and nights with you.” She produces a small box from seemingly thin air and holds it up.
“Will you please marry me and let me have a dozen of your babies?”
“Only if they all look like you.”
“Nope.” She stands. “All boys that look like you.” She opens the ring box to reveal a simple, unassuming gold band—then she waits.
I stare at the ring. This piece of hardware is going to show the world that I belong to someone. There were years of my life when I didn’t think this would ever happen for me—but to have it happen with Stephanie is more than I could have ever hoped for.
“If you’re waiting for me to protest that it’s too unconventional to wear an engagement ring as a man, then you are going to be greatly disappointed,” I nod for her to take the ring out of the box as I hold out my left hand, ring finger waiting, “because if it ties me to you, I’m all for it. ” She slides the ring on my finger.
“Do you like it?” I can hear the anticipation in her voice.
“I love it.” I’ve spent a lot of time rolling my eyes at women who can’t stop admiring their newly engaged left hands, but I get it now. I love seeing a ring on my hand that lets the world know that I belong to Stephanie James. I’m never taking it off.
“It’s clean and classic and will never go out of style—just like you.” She runs a hand down my arm, tangles her fingers in mine, and brushes her soft lips across mine.
I gather her into my arms and lift her off her feet to finish what she started. I immediately deepen the kiss and press her into me, showing her how desperately I love and need her. How much I can’t wait to be her husband and be with her twenty-four hours a day.
When I finally set her back down, I have no intention of letting her go, so I don’t drop to one knee—I hold her close instead.
“Stephanie, you’ve heard me rant and rave today about a lot of things.
But all you need to know is that loving you is the easiest thing I’ve ever done.
Please let me keep doing that for the rest of my life.
” I let go just enough to swipe the monstrosity off the bed and hold it above her hand, waiting for her answer.
“If that touches my hand, the answer is no.” Her body shudders.
I smile and reach for the other ring: the real ring.
This time, I don’t have to wait for her response. “Yes! Now get that on my finger!” I slide it on. A perfect fit. She lifts her hand and stares at it for a long time. No judgments from me from here on out. “It’s perfect—exactly what I would have chosen.”
I stand and take her in my arms. “I know.” I kiss her. “I’ve been paying attention.”
She wiggles her fingers. “How long have you had this?”
“About five and a half months.”
“Shut up!” She smacks my chest. “Why have you kept this from me for so long?” She looks down and admires it some more.
“I didn’t want to rush you.” I lean down and nibble on her ear. “I’ve had the other abomination for about four weeks. The first time I looked at it, I didn’t know if I should laugh or throw up.” She laughs, shakes her head, squeals, and starts leaping around the room.
Her leaping takes her into the living room and kitchen, where she jumps from kitchen chairs to counters, back to the floor, and everywhere else. At some point, Sam and Deke walk in with Lou and Emma.
“I take it you both said yes?” Sam’s question is rhetorical, so no one answers her.
I hear Deke lean over to Sam. “You know, this is what she looked like when we told her we were getting married.”
Stephanie leaps and jumps to her heart’s content, and when she’s done, I take her in my arms again and kiss her like I’ve never kissed before. I crush her to me with the anticipation that finally, finally, we’re going to be together forever.
We’re both breathless when we break apart. “Stephanie, I can’t wait until there’s no more having to hold back. No more having to restrain how much I love you. No more parting ways when it’s time to sleep. I was serious about what I said earlier: I wish I had married you last week—even last month.”
“Since that’s not a possibility, what about next week?”
Her question catches me off guard, but then I realize she’s serious.
And so we did.