Chapter 47
Chapter Forty-Seven
A few years later . . .
Frankie
I used my keycard to get in the hospital back door. I just needed to sneak up to the apartment before the lunch rush and change out of this shirt that I’d spilled marinara sauce all over. It was truly the most gracious gesture ever that my sous chef pretended not to notice the giant bloodred sauce stain all down my front.
I was halfway to the back stairwell when I heard a string of muttered curses and muffled exclamations. I poked my head into the hallway of the vet hospital. It sounded like Dove. Weird. I didn’t think there were any bird exams scheduled on the whiteboard, and I hadn’t heard any calls over the radio.
I decided to detour to go check on them. Walking down the hallway, I found Dove and Finch in the surgery room, arguing in hushed whispers. Dove grumpily held a flamingo under her arm while Finch glared at an X-ray on the light box on the wall. When I opened the door, they both leapt, the flamingo squawking as it was startled, gangly legs flailing. I took in the comedic scene of the sisters frozen, looking like I’d just caught them in the middle of a bank heist.
The flamingo kept squawking until Dove gave it a stern look. “Ron,” she snapped.
I guffawed. “Of course it’s Ron,” I said, walking farther into the room. I had assumed, but I couldn’t tell the flamingos apart, unlike Dove. “What did he do this time?”
“N-nothing.” Finch tripped over the word, edging farther in front of the X-ray and crossing her arms to make her body wider.
It might have been subtle enough for someone else not to notice, but I knew her well enough to catch the movement. She was standing in front of the light box to obscure something from my line of sight. But why? Was the X-ray truly so heinous she didn’t want me to see it? I narrowed my eyes at her sharp gaze, as if she were silently willing me not to look up. But I couldn’t help myself. My eyes lifted to the X-ray above Finch’s head. Definitely a normal-looking flamingo. Long neck, wings, and round body.
“Why’d you bring in Ron, love?” I asked curiously, darting looks between her and Dove.
Finch kept her arms crossed as her shoulders lifted and fell. “Routine checkup,” she said so neutrally I almost believed her.
“You don’t bring the flock down here for routine checkups,” I countered.
Her mouth tightened. “You pay too close attention, Goldilocks.”
“And you don’t do X-rays during routine checkups either.”
Finch tipped her chin to the marinara stain on my blouse. “Why don’t you go change your shirt? That’s why you’ve come here at this unexpected hour, isn’t it?”
I didn’t budge, ignoring her as I scrutinized the X-ray further. Judging by the part of the bird that was shown, there was something unexpected in Ron’s stomach. He’d probably swallowed another random object thrown into the flamingo pond. Ron really was the trash can of his flock. What had he eaten now? And more importantly, why didn’t Finch want me to see it? I looked for any telltale object: keys, balloons, stickers. But when I saw the outline of something round, my mouth fell open and it all suddenly made sense.
“Is that a ring?”
Finch rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “Yeah,” she said, drawing out the word. “So, um . . .”
“Oh god, you’re doing this now ? In front of me?” Dove groaned, shuffling her way to the door. “Wait until I leave to pop the question at least.” She held the door open with her hip. “I’ll be in the hallway with Ronald.”
Finch shot her younger sister a look. “I was going to say it was a lost visitor’s ring that fell in the flamingo pond,” she said tightly.
“Oh yeah, go with that. That’s better,” Dove said as Finch pinched the bridge of her nose.
“I am literally standing right here,” I said, my limbs feeling light and fuzzy. “Oh my god. You’re going to propose to me, aren’t you?”
We’d talked about it for months so I knew it was coming, but I didn’t know Finch had actually picked out a ring yet, let alone was planning on whipping it out so soon. Dove disappeared with Ron through the surgery room door, and I wondered how soon it would be before the entire Lachlan clan heard about this. The family group chat—that I was now a member of—was about to blow up. I supposed it was a good thing Dove was holding a flamingo or they’d probably already know.
“Well, this wasn’t as romantic as I planned.” Finch waved to the X-ray with a laugh. My mouth was still agape so I snapped it shut. “But maybe we can have a redo in a more private location.” She eyed the door to the surgery. “One where I can say all the things I wanted to say?”
“What were you going to say?”
Finch grinned wider, walking over to me and taking my hands before dropping to one knee. “I was going to say that you are the most magical, beautiful, loving, incredible person I’ve ever met in my entire life. I was going to say that I still wake up every morning in disbelief that you are mine. I was going to say that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, feeling the warmth of your love, breathing you in, and glorying in all the wonder that you are.” Her throat bobbed as my eyes welled. “I was going to say, Frankie, will you marry me?”
Tears streamed down my face as I pressed my lips tightly together. “And I was going to say yes.” I smiled through my tears. “But will you do me a favor? Will you answer a question for me first?”
Finch’s brows knit together, but she said, “Anything.”
I dropped down to one knee across from her, grabbing out the ring box that had burning a hole in my pocket for three weeks now. Through a flurry of tears, I managed to say, “Goldfinch Lachlan,” as I held the box up. Tears started spilling from Finch’s eyes, and she cried through the disbelieving laughter. “I never thought soulmates were real until I met you, but these last few years, you’ve made me believe in seemingly impossible, incredibly beautiful things. I’ve never felt so loved or cherished, never felt so honored that you let me love and cherish you in return. You are the most incredible person I’ve ever met, and I would love it if you would do me the honor of being my wife.”
Her lips were on mine before I could finish speaking. The taste of our salty tears coalesced as our mouths fused together.
“Is that a yes?” I asked against her lips.
“Yes,” she said. “And you?”
“Yes,” I cried, holding her to me. I removed the gold band from the ring box, inlaid in small diamonds. Finch admired it as I slid it onto her ring finger.
We both sniffed and wiped our happy tears as Finch said, “I’ll have your ring for you just as soon as I sedate the flamingo.”
“You better save that X-ray,” I said, pointing above her head. “Because we’re framing it and putting it on our wall.”
We both chuckled as Dove opened the surgery door with her foot and called into the room, “Just waiting for you two to finish kissing and then we can get this surgery on the road.” The door began shutting again as she added, “Welcome to the family, Frankie!” Ron squawked in agreement.