Chapter 48
There’s a pink rose waiting in the changing room when I get back from my massage. Not just any pink rose—a gold tipped rose in a soft pink color. Tied to the stem is a note like every other time I’ve received one of these roses over the years. Instead of a poem or quote, this one simply reads.
“Meet me on the mound.”
Smiling from ear to ear, I quickly dress in the outfit the girls had chosen for a girl’s night out. A night out I’m realizing was a ruse to keep me busy while Grant prepared for his grand gesture moment. By the time I’m finishing my makeup, Gabby and Ivory burst into the room excitedly.
“You look gorgeous, Tay,” Gabby gushes.
“Sneaky little minxes.”
“A spa day was a hardship for sure. You should be thanking us for our sacrifice,” Ivory quips, making us all laugh.
“Are you ready to go? It’s almost sunset time and I’m not saying there was a plan, but . . .” Gabby trails off with a smile.
“Do I look okay?” I ask, smoothing down my hair before skimming my hands over the dress I’m wearing.
“Yes!” they both say with wide smiles. We ride together to the stadium, my heart racing the entire time because I have a feeling Grant is waiting for me on the mound with a ring.
Why else would he send me to a surprise spa day with the girls and then have a rose waiting for me a month early telling me to meet him?
When we pull up, the sky is painted a shade of pink that rivals the color of the rose in my hand.
The girls get out with me and walk to the gate. Before I can open it, Gabby reaches out and stops me. “Sorry, we were told it has to be a surprise from here.” She holds up a blindfold.
“Are you sure? I won’t tell if you don’t.” I want to see and experience everything from tonight.
“Just doing what we’re told.” Gabby shrugs, but I know she’s loving every second of this. They’re all clearly in on it, and I love that Grant included them in this moment. Just the way it should’ve happened before.
Ivory winks and twirls her finger for me to turn around. “Don’t ruin the surprise. Trust me.”
She secures the blindfold over my eyes and reaches for my arm.
Gabby comes up on my other side and I loop my arm through hers as well, letting them lead me into the stadium.
Completely disoriented, I stumble when we stop and they tell me I can take the blindfold off.
We’re standing in the concourse at the top of the section that allows field level access below.
Looking out over the field, I find Grant standing on the pitcher’s mound in a suit, surrounded by candles in tall vases.
There’s a carpet running from the mound to the door at the bottom of the section.
With the way the sun is dipping in the sky, he’s silhouetted, and I really wish I could take a picture right now of what this all looks like.
Careful to not trip, I make my way down the stairs, through the door, and step onto the runway. It’s only when I step onto the field that I realize the carpet is actually a layer of pink, white, and red rose petals carving a path along the dirt.
A song starts playing softly from invisible speakers and the lyrics about loving someone before meeting them already have me tearing up.
“Did you enjoy your spa day?” Grant asks, reaching for my hand when I’m close to him.
“I did, but I can always go for another facial later.” I wink at him, and he shakes his head at my inappropriate joke during an insanely romantic moment.
“We have very important things to discuss before that can happen.”
“Should I drop to my knees right now and we can multitask?”
“We have an audience, and I really want to get this out, so will you stop fucking around?”
“As long as there is fucking after this, yes I will behave.” I offer him a cheeky grin.
He gives me an exasperated look, pretending he’s annoyed, but I catch the twitch of his lips and a smirk graces face. “I don’t think you know how to behave.”
“You can teach me,” I whisper.
He groans and drops his head back. “Taylor, you’re fucking killing me.”
“Sorry, sorry, I’m ruining it. This is beautiful.” I lean up and give him a quick kiss. “I love it. Thank you so much, please continue.”
“Do you know why I started sending these?” He takes the rose from my hand and gently sets it down into an empty vase at his feet before tangling his fingers with mine.
“Because I said real flowers die too quickly,” I say, recalling a conversation we had not long after we got together.
“The first one I got you for Christmas was because you had mentioned them not long before that and there was a special edition release that year. But all the others I sent were for a different reason—because these roses, like our love, last forever. Even when we were apart, our love never gave up. It never stopped. It never wavered. It just was . . .”
“Eternal,” I finish for him, smiling at him as the candles glow around us, making it feel like we’re in our own bubble of love and happiness.
Grant tugs me closer to him, releasing my hands so he can wind his arms around my waist. “Taylor Baker, I’ve known since the moment your eyes met mine on a July evening over ten years ago that my soul found its match.
I loved you even before I truly met you.
I fell hard for you on that first night when you hustled me in darts and bet that I would get a tattoo if I lost.”
“And what a tattoo it is,” I interrupt, rubbing my hands over his arms. He winks and continues his speech, not giving me the opportunity to derail this again.
“The romantics say ‘you know when you know,’ and I don’t know that I ever believed that until I met you, but I knew that night, and those next few months that we spent together, that you would be my wife.
I don’t regret one second of the time that we spent together or the elopement that we had on Long Caye or even all the trouble to follow afterwards because it all brought me here. To this moment with you.
“I never fell out of love with you. Falling in love with you all over again these past few months has been the happiest I’ve been in a really long time.
You’ve brought meaning back into my life.
You showed me what it is to have someone show up and support you, how to have fun again, what it means to truly be a partner in every sense of the word.
You build me up, hopefully the same way that I build you up.
“I’ve missed taking care of you, dancing in the kitchen, making you coffee, watching you watch your favorite movies, but most of all, I’ve loved seeing who you’ve become over our years apart.
The woman you’ve grown into and the tribe you’ve surrounded yourself with.
Your confidence, your beauty, your grace, everything that makes you you.
It was all there to begin with, but it’s amplified now.
I don’t want to miss another day, another second, another moment with you. We’ve been apart for far too long.”
He lets me go and removes a ring box from his pocket. “It felt fitting to do this here on the mound in the stadium that I named for you and the empire I built in your honor because though we were physically apart, you were never far from my mind and you were never out of my heart.”
Dropping to his knee, he opens the box and I gasp at the diamond ring nestled inside.
It’s my original ring, but not. The pear-shaped diamond from my engagement ring sits proudly in the center, but the setting has been modified with a pavé band of diamonds and intricately woven vines around it, giving it a double banded appearance.
“I know you said you liked the ring I gave you before, but I wanted to upgrade it and make it more of who we are now. We’ve grown, separately and together, into something more beautiful than I thought possible.
I can’t wait to keep growing with you, to keep learning all the new things about you, to watch you thrive from the sidelines and be backstage cheering you on.
Taylor Baker, will you marry me . . . again? ”
Fighting back tears, I sink to my knees and frame his face in my hands.
“My soul was yours before I even knew. It still belongs to you. Every part of me, my heart, my body, my soul, even the parts of me that drive you crazy, like me trying to suck your dick during a proposal. Yes, I’ll marry you again. I’d do it right now if you’d let me.”
His lips meet mine in a heady kiss and distant cheers erupt behind me.
“Leave your clothes on!” Miller’s voice rings out over everyone else’s.
I freeze then pull back to look Grant in the eye. “Who the hell gave him a megaphone?”
Grant chuckles and looks over my shoulder. “He did help me do all this, so maybe you can give him a pass.”
I follow his gaze to see the guys standing outside of the owner’s box and the girls running back inside. “I’ll consider it.” Diving back in, I tangle my fingers in his hair and lose myself in him until I hear Gabby and Ivory’s excited shrieks fill the air.
Grant helps me stand, turning so I can see our group of friends as they all run onto the field to celebrate with us.
When Josh steps forward I burst into tears, not expecting him to be here. “What are you doing here?”
My brother gives me a bear hug and I breathe in his familiar scent. I’ve missed him more than I realized. “Two of my favorite people are back together and engaged. Like I’d miss it.”
“You know we’re already married,” I mumble against his chest.
“I wasn’t there for that one, so I’m calling this the official one.” He releases me then points at me and Grant. “I better be invited.”
Ivory hugs me next before she starts peppering me with questions. “I can’t wait to help you plan. What are you thinking? A large, wedding of the century type thing?”
Gabby wedges her way into the hug and picks up where Ivory left off. “No, that’s not you. A small local ceremony? What do you want?”
Honestly, I hadn’t thought about what kind of ceremony I would want for our vow renewal, a small affair with our friends and family like Preston and Ivory’s wedding sounds like the perfect thing. But we have time to decide all that.
Breaking away from my best girls, I tell them what I’m thinking. “You know what I want first?”
“What’s that?” Ivory asks, tucking herself into Preston’s side.
“A bachelorette trip! We didn’t get one the first time.”
“An absolute necessity,” Gabby agrees. “What about Seaside Pines? I’ve been wanting a beach trip.”
“Can we talk about this at the restaurant? Grant promised me food for all the free labor and I’m dying here.” Miller interrupts, walking backward to the dugout.
“Thanks for all your help, Mills. It was gorgeous,” I say, following after him.
“You’re welcome, Tay baby.”
“That’s my nickname,” Grant barks. He reaches down and lifts me with one arm under my knees, hoisting me into a bridal carry as we all leave the stadium.
“That was really hot!” Gabby yells after us and I cackle as I watch Chase catch her off guard with the same move.
“Watch it, Princess. I’m the only one you’re calling hot.”
“Are you happy?” Grant whispers.
“Blissfully.” I kiss him again, trusting him to not let me fall and counting down the minutes until I can get him home to celebrate properly. But for now, a celebration with our closest friends is the next best thing.