to the cake. “That would be my preference. I’ll have to run it by my groom. It’s his wedding, too.”
Reece moved closer. “I’ve been thinking a lot about weddings lately.”
Robin reached for the container of rose petals. “It would be hard not to. You’re surrounded by engaged couples. First it was Sylvie and Lonnie, and last week Kait and Miles joined the club. I told you that they’d be engaged before the end of summer.”
“I’m hoping we will, too.”
A handful of rose petals dropped from her suddenly nerveless fingers. She turned quickly to look at him. “What did you say?” she whispered.
He calmly returned the container to the trolley. Then he reached for her hand and placed it over his heart. It was beating almost as fast as hers. “My heart has been yours from the moment we met. I’m shocked you didn’t see it leap out of my chest and land at your feet. For months, being with you was something I could only imagine. Then it changed to a miraculous reality. I’m ready for the next step. The one where we live in the same house and wake up in the same room. Where we raise Owen together and give him as many brothers and sisters as I can talk you into.”
Robin’s heart was now in her throat and tears were threatening. With a mixture of disbelief and hopeful anticipation, she watched him drop down on one knee and remove something from his pocket. Through her blurry gaze, she saw a square-cut diamond ring set in an old-fashioned white gold setting.
“Will you marry me, Robin?”
Other than ‘I love you’, there were no more beautiful words in the English language. She nodded as a few tears trickled down her cheeks. “Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!”
Almost before she finished, she was swept up in his arms, his tender kisses and the passionate nature of his embrace proving beyond all doubt what her answer meant to him.
His smile was wry when he drew back. “I’m forgetting the second most important part of a marriage proposal.” He held out the ring. “My father gave this to my mother for their engagement. I’d like it to be more than a memory. I’d like it to be a symbol of the love we share.”
She touched the ring with a finger that trembled, momentarily speechless at yet another demonstration of Reece’s intimate knowledge of her. He’d made her feel part of his family in a way she’d never forget.
“The ring is lovely, Reece. Thank you.”
She held out her hand so he could slip it on. Then she pulled him close and kissed him, her happiness almost a physical thing. He didn’t let it end with just one. He kissed his way from her eyes to her lips to the hollow in her neck. When she tilted her head to give him access to her shoulder, he murmured her name against her skin, an action that had her toes curling inside her baby blue Crocs.
Her last coherent thought was about love, not surprising considering her current position. It was everything she and Kait had talked about, but they’d left something out. Love had the ability to make everything new again. It could heal the oldest of wounds and fill the deepest of holes in your heart.
* * * * *
Reece’s awareness of his surroundings had been reduced to the honeyed sweetness of Robin’s lips and the fingers caressing the nape of his neck. She did more than rob him of breath and thought. She took him to places he hadn’t known existed. Nothing compared with loving someone and knowing yourself to be loved in return. It was soul-stirring and humbling; beautiful and transformative; utterly unlike anything else life had to offer.
Someone cleared their throat. “I hate to interrupt,” an amused male voice said from somewhere behind them, “but there’s a couple getting married today.”
Robin laughed as she drew away from Reece. “You’ll have to excuse us, Benson. We were getting engaged.”
“Congratulations to both of you!”
“Thanks,” she said. “Reece, this is Benson Waters. As you’ve probably figured out from the camera hanging around his neck, he’s the photographer. He’s waiting on me to finish so he can take pictures of the cake. I’ll get back to scattering rose petals now.”
Benson looked at Reece. “I’ve been part of hundreds of weddings, but I’ve never seen a proposal happen at one before.”
“I was going for original. Looks like I nailed it.”
“You’ll do our wedding pictures, won’t you, Benson?”