Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Taylor’s eyes were huge as she stared at him. He was holding one of her hands, but the other was over her mouth, which had fallen open.
Justin’s heart was pounding a million beats a minute. He’d never been so nervous—or felt so certain—about anything in his entire life. They might have been dating only a few days shy of a week, but for eight years, Taylor had been his best friend…and his secret love.
Time, as they both knew all too well, offered no guarantees.
And he didn’t want to waste any more of it.
He wanted Taylor to be his wife and he wanted to be her husband.
He wanted to start a family with her as soon as her doctors gave them the thumbs-up.
He wanted to help her run her B&B and ask her to look over his work at the lab to see what brilliant insights she had to help move them closer to a cure.
He didn’t plan on spending nearly as much time in his lab in the future, but he’d be hugely energized and focused during the time he did spend working.
He also finally understood that he would be able to do so much more to make others’ lives better if he were living his own life to the fullest. He wanted to spend every Christmas, every birthday, every Valentine’s Day with Taylor beside him. He wanted them to be a team in everything, good or bad.
The ring had been burning a hole in his pocket for the past hour.
Taylor knew him so well that he was almost surprised she hadn’t guessed it was there.
He had planned for his proposal to come at the end of the evening, after the food had been cleared and there was no chance of anyone disturbing them.
But he hadn’t been able to hold it in, not when he could have sworn his mother was whispering in his ear: Ask her.
“Yes.”
Taylor spoke so softly that Justin wasn’t sure he’d heard her correctly. “Yes?” His voice shook with hope and love and longing.
“Yes!” she yelled, flinging her arms around his neck so that the ring box was accidentally knocked out of his hand as she slid from her seat to kneel on the carpet with him.
They kissed like they’d never kissed before. A best-friends-turned-lovers-turned-newly-engaged-couple kiss that blew all the others out of the water.
He never wanted to let her go, but at the same time, he was anxious to cement their engagement by getting the ring onto her finger. The box was only a few feet away, beneath the window. But when he picked it up, the ring was no longer inside.
Together, they hunted for it on their hands and knees, looking in every crevice, every corner. That was how the wait staff found them, with their rear ends sticking up in the air, their eyes slightly wild.
“We just got engaged,” Taylor said.
The man and woman holding the covered trays gave them confused smiles. “Congratulations.”
“The ring went flying,” Justin explained in what he hoped was a calm voice, but wasn’t anywhere close. “That’s why we’re down here searching for it.”
“Not to worry, sir,” the waiter said as he put down his tray. “We’ll help you.”
The four of them crept around the dining car for what was probably only a couple of minutes, but felt far longer, when the other waiter called out, “I found it!” She held it up, and Justin only barely stopped himself from grabbing it out of her hands. “Oh, it’s lovely.”
“Is it?” Taylor said on a laugh. “I can’t wait to see it.”
“Forgive me.” The woman gave the ring to Justin. “We’ll give you two some time alone.”
But Justin didn’t want to wait another second, and clearly neither did Taylor, because she thrust her left hand at him so that he could slide the ring into place.
It was a perfect fit. Just as he’d known it would be.
“It’s so beautiful.” Taylor held up her hand so that the diamonds caught the glow of the lights. “I’ve never seen a ring like it.”
He’d been inspired by seeing her in her wine country garden and knowing how right she looked in it.
Even though he could easily have afforded something more expensive, he knew she wouldn’t feel comfortable in something flashy.
So instead of one big diamond, two dozen beautifully cut diamonds radiated out from the center like petals.
It wasn’t until Taylor’s stomach growled again—which set off the chain reaction of his stomach growling—that he realized they were still on the floor. Laughing, they got up, then seated themselves to eat the food the servers had left for them.
But before they did, he said, “This is now officially the best day of my life.”
“For me too,” she agreed, linking hands with him.
And as he grinned like a fool at the sight of his ring on her finger, he couldn’t help but wonder just how soon they could pull together a wedding.
Two hours later, after they had made it home and were heading through her garden to the cottage, Taylor was still walking on air.
She couldn’t stop looking at the engagement ring and admiring it—just as she couldn’t stop looking at Justin and admiring him too.
He was so handsome, so smart, so powerful, so sweet.
So all-around wonderful in every single way.
She had been stunned by his proposal, but not only for the reasons he must have thought. What he wouldn’t know until tomorrow morning was that—
Out of the blue, at the threshold of her cottage, he swept her up into his arms and kissed her breathless, making all thoughts fall from her brain. “We’re not married yet,” she teased once she could form words again.
“A guy can dream, can’t he?”
She caressed his cheek as he carried her over the threshold. “The whole night was like a dream. Thank you for such sweet romance.”
“It’s what you’ve always deserved.” He set her down in the living room, her body sizzling from making the slow slide against his. “I’m sorry I haven’t given you more romance before tonight.”
“You’ve always given me what I needed. If we had gotten together back in college, honestly, I’m not sure that I would have been ready for the passion between us…
or for how big you make my heart feel.” She had needed some time to mature, to come into her own and figure out what she really wanted out of life.
“All those years, I got to love you from a safe distance. If you had given me romance back then, I probably would have freaked out and run.”
“Then I guess I’m glad I didn’t, because I would hate for you ever to run from me.” He put his hands on either side of her face and looked into her eyes. “You’ll tell me if I’m coming on too strong, won’t you? If I’m moving too fast?”
Again, she thought about how surprised he was going to be in the morning when he found out that he wasn’t the only one who had been moving fast. She was tempted to tell him now, but she didn’t want to spoil what she hoped would be another really lovely and romantic moment.
“Trust me,” she said, “we’re in perfect sync.” In every single way…
Their lips were nearly touching when her cell phone and the landline in the cottage both rang at the same time. She frowned as she reluctantly pulled away from him. “That must be one of my guests. I hope nothing is wrong.”
But she soon found out there was. The couple who had checked in that afternoon, then headed out to drive through the mountains of Calistoga, had blown a tire on their rental car.
The manual was missing from the glove box and they couldn’t find the spare.
They’d called the rental company, but they had no cars left on the lot.
And when they’d called their auto service hotline, they were told there was a backup of several hours.
“I’ve got to go pick them up,” she said.
“I’ll come too.”
Taylor knew there would be many more wonderful nights with Justin, especially now that they were engaged. Still, she couldn’t help regretting that they couldn’t yet celebrate their engagement.
He seemed to read her mind. “Before you know it, we’ll be back here, warming each other up in your bathtub.”
She gave him a quick kiss, told him where to find the pump and patch kit in the garage, then went to change into jeans and a jacket.
She thought briefly about taking off her ring—she’d hate for anything to happen to it while she was helping with the tires.
But that was a risk she was going to have to take.
Now that Justin had put his ring on her finger, she never, ever wanted to take it off.
Four hours later, they finally made it back to her B&B.
Her guests had been beyond thankful that they’d not only come to help them, but had also brought warm blankets and a flask of hot cider.
After tucking them into the backseat of her car, Taylor and Justin had gone to see what could be done about the tire.
As much as the previous part of their evening had been magical and perfect, the next was one long string of errors.
Once they found the spare, the security lug-nut tool that should have been with it was missing, so they couldn’t loosen the nuts to take off the flat tire.
It was sheer luck that a county road maintenance worker came along in his service truck with an air compressor and a plug kit, and could repair the tire enough to get them down the hill to St. Helena.
The sun hadn’t yet started to rise, but it would soon.
It was tempting to fall into bed to catch a little sleep before morning officially came.
Taylor felt as though she was buzzing inside, which tended to happen when she was just on the borderline of exhaustion.
But she desperately wanted to give Justin the same magical romance he’d given her just hours ago.
She wouldn’t make a habit of pulling all-nighters, but just this once surely couldn’t hurt.
Fortunately, though her side still ached, she hadn’t had another full-on burst of pain in the past few days.
After she gave him her surprise this morning, she’d be careful not to push her body any harder.
After all, she had promised Justin that she knew her limits, and she wanted him to know that he could always trust her.