Page 102 of Forever Home

“August. I want to wait until after the baby is born.”

I laugh. “Who imagined that would ever come out of your mouth, Dante?”

Dante and Knox both chuckle. “You got that right,” Knox adds. “Mrs. Kendall sure knew what she was doing in the end, didn’t she?”

“What do you mean?” I ask, my gaze shifting to him with curiosity.

“Well, she brought us all back together. Even if it was in death. She always said we’d be together forever and I mean… she wasn’t wrong.”

Just thinking of how happy Mrs. Kendall would be right now brings a smile to my face. Knox is right. She would absolutely love how things turned out, even though she probably didn’t intend for everything to happen the way it did. Then again, maybe she knew exactly how it would go.

Before I can continue the conversation, my gaze meets Kylie’s who gives me a pointed look. The presents are done, and everyone is talking amongst themselves. Which means the time has come to pull the trigger and take a leap of faith.

Checking one last time that the ring is still in my pocket, I take a deep breath and make my way towards where Madison sits, preparing to give a thank you speech slash… something else.

“Can I have everyone’s attention?” All eyes turn to me, and the masses fall silent.

“As many of you know, things over the past few years have been strained on all of us. And it took Mrs. Kendall passing, God bless her soul, to bring us all back together. This place…” I say gesturing to the house and back garden. “Is where we all began. It’s what started our friendship, and what keeps bringing us back for every major event since she passed.”

Madison’s hand touches my arm, causing me to look down at her as she mouths,what are you doing? I ignore her and continue.

“But what’s most important, at least to me, is that she brought Madison and I together.” Turning to Madison, I pull the ring from my pocket and get down on one knee next to her. The collective gasps and shortoh my Godresponse from Allison is the only approval I need as tears start to fill Madison’s eyes.

“Madison, I love you more than life itself. You’ve been with me through the good and the bad, and I know that we’ve talked about marriage before and how it wasn’t important right now, but… I want to spend every day with you for the rest of my life. I want you to be my partner, now and forever. The ups, the downs… I want to share every moment with you until the end. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

A sob creeps from her throat as she nods her head over and over again. She flings her arms around my neck as she kisses me. “Of course, I’ll marry you, silly.”

Collective cheers erupt from our friends and family as everyone starts clapping. My fingers shake slightly as I slide the ring on to her finger and watch as Kylie, Sam and Allison allawwwin approval at her rather large and expensive ring.

She always said she didn’t care about the finer things in life and opted for cheap, but I didn’t want to go that route with her ring. I wanted to spoil her. I want her to know that she deserves everything in life and I plan to give it to her.

Now and always.

Because from here on out, I’m forever home.

THE END