feel nervous now as she fills two cups. One pink. One blue.
Her mouth is deliciously pink the moment she starts drinking it.
“This is glorious!” she declares. “Coming home to something like this feels like a dream!”
We are playing our fourth game of the night on the pinball machine. It’s like Ella is hyped up on all the sugar from the slushies she’s been devouring all night. I look at my watch again, and it’s nearly eight. Mom and Kirk are probably going to bring Mia back any moment now.
I have the diamond ring in the pocket of my pants. Ella looks so happy right now. So excited and satisfied. She is having the best time. A part of me is afraid that if I get down on a knee and ask her to marry me, it’s going to ruin the night. I can’t shake off the feeling that she’ll say no.
We have never discussed marriage. She has never spoken about a dream wedding. We know we are perfect for each other, and we want to spend the rest of our lives together and raise our daughter together, but that doesn’t mean she also wants to marry me.
Maybe she’s just not the marriage-type.
“What are you thinking?” Ella’s voice breaks through my thoughts. She was focused on the pinball machine for a while. Now she’s come over to me and is wrapping her arms around my waist.
“You look like you’re trying to come up with a strategy to defeat me,” she adds with a grin.
I push her stray curls behind her ears and kiss the tip of her nose.
“No, I’m just thinking about how lucky I am and how amazing you are.”
She smiles and snuggles into me, placing her cheek on my chest. I hold her close with one arm and reach for the ring with my free hand. Ella is still stuck to me when I bring it up, holding it out where she can see it.
She stops moving. Goes very still. Then lifts her head off my chest.
“I’m sorry if this isn’t what you want to hear right now, and it’s okay if you want to take the time to think about this. I don’t want you to do anything just because I asked.”
“Reed—”
“I should just say everything that’s on my mind. I am going to ask you to marry me. Not because we have a daughter together, or because the sex is…quite frankly, groundbreaking and earth-shattering.” This makes her smile. “I want you to be my wife because I know there is nobody else for me. Because I never want to be without you. I want to share my life with you in every way possible. I love you, Ella.”
She lets me pause, doesn’t interrupt me. She’s looking straight at me with her eyes firm.
I shouldn’t be doing this. I’m only making a fool of myself. I get down on one knee even though I’m sure she’s going to refuse me.
“Will you marry me, Ella?”
“Yes,” she replies without missing a beat.
“Yes?” I shout and jump up. She opens her arms wide, and I reach for her, picking her up and swinging her around. I slip the ring on her finger, and we kiss like long-lost lovers.
She’s going to be my wife.
Epilogue
Ella
Three years later
Matt has Mia up on his shoulders as they walk ahead of us. He has Jerry and Kirk on one side, Reed on the other. Annie and Christie are even farther ahead. The boys, Luke and Liam, are clinging to Annie. She is the ‘cool’ grandma who plays basketball with them.
Finally, after a lot of planning, this summer, we have finally been able to go on our hike together. As one family. It hasn’t been an easy road getting here. Firstly, Reed had to become completely comfortable with having his mother around, and then we made a trip to Bridgeville so we could apologize to Matt and Sal together. It took them some time to accept Annie back into their lives too. They welcomed Reed and Kirk with open arms, of course. Then there was the other matter of how we had lied about being married when we weren’t even in a relationship back then. That was an awkward conversation, but it was like they were willing to forgive Reed of anything. Just as long as this time, he was here to stay.
And once they found out about Mia and the fact that we were engaged and planning a wedding, everything fell into place smoothly. The general