my shirt?”
Her laugh was quick as she combed her hair behind her ears. “I knew I wanted to propose, but I didn’t want to be naked when I did it.”
“That’s what I thought.” Then he reached for his shorts and pulled them on before he returned to the bed.
“What was in that box?”
“The one over there?”
She nodded.
Then he held out an even smaller black box. “I bought this when we were in Myrtle Beach,” he began solemnly. “I was so nervous and worried about giving it to you, and when I realized how things were going between us, I knew the time wasn’t right.” Then he shrugged. “I was too embarrassed to return it and now I’m glad I didn’t.” Opening the box, he showed her the petite solitaire engagement ring.
With a soft gasp, Sydney looked at the ring and then him. “You bought this…”
“You are the only girl I ever wanted to marry. And I know it’s not anything special to look at—it’s barely a half carat—and I promise to buy you something much better…”
“Don’t you dare!” she cried as her eyes welled with tears. “It’s the most perfect ring ever.”
“It’s really not. Just remember I was nineteen and working at my father’s garage, so…”
“Kyle?”
“Hmm?”
“Put the ring on me.” Her hand was shaking as she held it out to him, and he held his breath as he slid it on.
It was a little snug.
When he tried to take it off of her, she smacked his hand away. “Don’t you dare! It’s on and it’s staying on.”
“Syd, come on. It’s tight. Tomorrow we’ll go and pick out something else.”
“Nope.”
“But…”
“Nope.” Her smile was pure joy as she looked down at her hand. “I love it and I love you.”
“Yeah?”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
“Then how about you lose the shirt and let me show you how much I love you?”
No sooner were the words out than he had a face full of white cotton.
“Oh, it’s gonna be like that, huh?”
Laughing, she lay back against the pillows. “Yup. Now let’s see what you’ve got.”
And he was more than happy to show her.
“Oh, my God! Finally!”
“Finally?”
“Um, yeah. Finally.”
Sydney glanced at her niece and then Kyle before returning her attention to Haley. “How can you say finally? We just got back together yesterday!”
“I’m just saying the two of you should have been engaged a long time ago,” Haley reasoned.
“Need I remind you how it was you who said…”
“Uh, uh, uh,” Kyle interrupted. “Let’s not go down that path.” Then he grinned at Haley. “Personally, I believe we have Haley to thank for this.”
“Now this I’ve got to hear,” Sydney muttered.
“She made us take a step back and see how this was definitely what we both wanted and that we wanted it to be forever. We could have gone on dating and wondering and second-guessing ourselves, but now we know this is it.”
“Which was my plan all along,” Haley said with a huge smile.
It was hard to hold her tongue, but she did.
“Well, it worked perfectly, and here we are,” Sydney said. They had the house to themselves because her parents had gone out to visit some friends and she and Kyle felt it would be best to talk to Haley one-on-one rather than with an audience. “And we want to make sure you’re really okay with this.”
Nodding, Haley looked at them both. “I am. I know we were just joking around here but…I’m really happy for you guys. I know you said I don’t have to keep apologizing, but I’m going to. What I did and said wasn’t about either of you. I was scared and lashing out.”
“It’s okay to be scared, Haley. Just know you can come and talk to us about it. You’re not alone and you don’t have to deal with your emotions all by yourself.”
She nodded. “When the boat tipped over the other day and I was holding on, I wasn’t sure how long I could do it.” She looked a little nervous as she straightened in her seat. “I was crying and I called out to Mom and Dad and…well…after that, I swear it was like somebody was holding me up. I can’t explain it other than I felt like I got lifted out of the water a little. One minute I was sure I was going to drown and the next…I had the strength to hold on and wait.”
“Oh, Haley…”
“I know it was my parents and that they wanted me to be here with you. And when I saw Kyle swimming