Man's Best Friend (The Dogmothers #5) - Roxanne St. Claire Page 0,119
came back to walk between them down to the dock.
“What did you do, if you didn’t sleep?”
“Talked to my dad.”
“Aww. About?”
“You, of course. And I planned…this. Today. Coming back here.”
She slid her arm around him. “Do you think we can come back on our birthday?”
“Every year. And bring…Judah.” He inched closer. “And whoever else happens to tag along in a stroller.”
She bit her lip and wrapped her arms around him. “So is that why you brought me here? Thought the mountain air might make those swimmers even more eager to get egged?”
“Nope.” He took a step away and reached into his pocket. “I wanted to give you this.”
For a moment, her heart leaped, expecting…the little black box. But that wasn’t what Declan held out to her, and he certainly didn’t get down on one knee.
He flipped open a small index card that had handwriting on it, making her gasp and press her hand to her chest when she realized what it was.
“You found it?”
“It was never lost.” He put the card in her hand. “Gramma Finnie had it for twenty years.”
“So she really was our matchmaker.” She sighed softly, reading the words that she remembered so well.
DECLAN’S PROMISE
“Oh.” A shiver ran over her entire body. “Declan.”
He put his hands on her shoulders. “I know I said I’d wait twenty years, which I think technically gives me until our next birthday, so…”
“How did Gramma get it?”
“She picked it up from the grass that morning. It fell out of my backpack. She kept it, and the grannies planted it in your piano. For you to find, actually, but I beat you to it.”
“Why…oh wait. That’s what Yiayia was doing that day in the museum room. She called it subterfuge. I call it…” She lifted the card to her lips. “Magic.”
“I finally finished writing out my last promise,” he said. “Go ahead and read.”
She skimmed the words, the promises, all the roles Declan wanted to have in her life.
“Friend, lover, husband, confidant, partner,” she read in a whisper.
“Chef, traveling partner, fellow camper, handyman,” he added. “See how I’m already working on some of these?”
She laughed and read the last line. “And father to our…” One more word was written, in a different-colored ink. “Children.”
“That’s what I wanted to say, but you made me sign it, and I never wrote the word.”
“Children? I’d be happy with one.”
“Who knows, E? We can adopt or foster and have as many as you want.”
“You know, Dec.” She folded the card. “Somewhere deep in my heart, I always knew you’d keep these promises. I knew that morning that you made them that I would marry you. I just didn’t know it would take all these years.”
“And speaking of that…” For a long moment, he just looked at her, then he took one step back and then lowered himself to one knee.
“Oh, Dec.”
“Oh, E.”
She laughed, her eyes filling as he reached into his pocket, and…there it was. The little black box. “Really? Now? You don’t want to wait for…”
“I don’t want to wait another minute. I don’t want to wait until Christmas. I’d marry you this afternoon, but let me ask first.” He took a deep breath and reached for her hand. “Evangeline May Hewitt, my best friend, my sweet lover, and my favorite person on earth. Will you marry me?” He opened the box, letting the sun glint on a gorgeous solitaire.
But she really only had eyes for the man on one knee in front of her, the love in his eyes taking her breath away more than any diamond ring. “Yes,” she managed to say, spreading her fingers so he could slide it on. “I will marry you and love you and cherish you and never, ever leave you for the rest of my life.”
As her voice rose with the pronouncement, Judah came closer, got right between them, and howled as they kissed.
“What’s he trying to tell us?” Declan asked.
“This mutt be love?”
He laughed. “Yep. He’s our dog fur sure.”
Epilogue
Six Weeks Later
When Evie reached the top of the Gloriana House stairs wearing her great-great-grandmother’s wedding gown, carrying red roses that matched the holiday decorations around the house, and stood with her arm linked with her father’s, Declan decided that he couldn’t get any happier.
But then he remembered yesterday’s news, and yeah, he got happier. They’d kept it a secret, even from her parents, who’d arrived last night for the rehearsal dinner. But knowing what he knew and looking at the woman he was about to spend the