Page 98 of One Timer With A Wingman

“I was thinking Mom and Dad could join us,” I suggest. Then I get up and I get in front of her on one knee.

“Aaron, what are you doing?” she asks, looking alarmed.

“I’m proposing, Briar. So let me say what I have planned.” I’ve been so nervous about proposing my palms are sweaty.

She falls silent. “Briar, you entered my life at a time I needed you most. I was drowning and you were my life preserver. I knew you were special from the first time I met you, but I never realized how being with you would profoundly change my life. We are a family already, but I would like to make it official. Would you do me the honor of being my wife?” I open the red velvet box in my hand and show her the solitaire diamond on a yellow gold band.

“Yes,” she cries. “Yes, yes, yes.”

She gets up on her knees too, and I take her in my arms and we kiss. I place the ring on her finger.

“We’re forever,” I say to her.

“I believe it now, Aaron, because every time I look into your eyes, I see love, and I know that’s the kind of love that comes once in a lifetime.”

EPILOGUE

Briar

The plane ride to Punta Cana was worse than last time. Apparently, I am even more paranoid now than I was before Atlas was born. He is my everything and all I want to do is protect him. It helped that we had all our close friends and family on the flight with us, until we hit turbulence.

I got so nervous I started muttering how I was scared of dying. To calm me down, Aaron started using some sexy talk to distract me, telling me what he was going to do to me in the hotel room once we arrived. Unfortunately, he forgot that his parents were sitting behind us and now they know about all the unprotected sex we had in bed and in the shower the last time we were here, which was super embarrassing. When Aaron realized that they heard, he simply asked them to erase everything from their minds, as if that was a thing. They both said no problem very curtly, both of them sporting horrified looks and red cheeks.

The reality was we were happy his parents could be here. It wasn’t easy convincing the doctors to let Catherine come to Punta Cana, but we made it happen. She was in a wheelchair full time now. We always try to spend as much time as possible with her so she can watch Atlas grow. It’s been so hard on all of us watching her body slowly shut down. But she wanted to be here. She wanted to watch Aaron walk down the aisle. After my mom picked up my car, I never heard back from her. I called to tell her about Atlas’s birth but she never returned the message, so I didn’t bother to tell her about the wedding. Same with Dad since he never returned my only call when I reached out to him, panicking over my pregnancy.

It turns out that Aaron and Atlas are the best things to happen to me because I have a family now and Catherine, who I call Mom now, is walking me down the aisle so to speak. I’m walking her down the aisle in the wheelchair but it’s going to symbolize her walking me down the aisle while Brody walks Aaron down the aisle.

All of Aaron’s good friends are here. So are Ruby, Charlie, and Annie. We’ve all been there for each other, through thick and thin, and this is another time my friends are showing up for me.

We’ve already been in Punta Cana for a week, enjoying the sun and beach. Atlas loves taking naps in the cabana on the beach. We wanted a week of relaxing before the wedding to spend time with friends and family, and that’s what we got.

We even put Atlas to sleep with Aaron’s parents one night so we could wake up at the ass crack of dawn and watch a sunrise. Who would’ve thought, a year later, Aaron and I would be back in the exact same spot, ready to exchange vows.

We will be getting married on the beach. Cade, Finn, Luc, Hayden, and Macklin are all his groomsmen. While the girls are my bridesmaids.

Aaron walks down the aisle first, holding Atlas and walking side by side with his dad. Catherine and I wait for our cue to head down the aisle next.

“I’m so happy for you two, Briar,” she says, and tears fill her eyes.

“Thanks, Mom.”

“You know I always wanted a daughter, and you’re more perfect than my dreams,” she declares.

“You’re going to make me cry.” I swipe at the corner of my eye, where a tear threatens to escape.

I head down the aisle, pushing Catherine in the wheelchair. I watch Aaron with so much love in his eyes that I am mesmerized by his gaze. We are at the exact location where Aaron insisted on watching the sunrise with me. Not only was the sunrise a start of a new day for us, but a new life. We exchange vows, promises of forever, pledges of love and support. When I look into his green eyes, I’m home. He is my beloved, and I am his.