Page 133 of The Reason I Married Him
Tons and tons of people.
Yeah, this was a huge mistake.
There is no way Aubree will cope with being surprised in front of all these people. I need to tell her what’s going on. Give her a heads-up.
“You know, I actually need to tell you something,” I say, turning toward her.
“If it’s about the murder sex thing, I really don’t want to know.”
“No, it’s not about that,” I say. “I actually, uh?—”
“Aunt Aubree!” Mac yells as she runs up to us, wearing a cute pair of pink overalls. Her hair’s tied up into wonky pigtails. “You’re here. You’re here.”
“I am,” Aubree says with a laugh.
“Come dance with me.”
Aubree cringes. “Ooo, you know, that’s not something I know how to do well.”
“Yes, you do.” Mac pouts. “You’re the best dancer.”
“Yeah, go and show off your dance moves,” Ryland says, joining us. “Show the town the dance moves you do with Mac in the kitchen.”
Aubree gives him a death stare as she tosses Mac’s sweater at him. “Those dance moves are not for the public.”
“Why not?” Ryland smiles. “They’re so good.”
“Yeah, they’re so good.” Mac bounces up and down. “Come on, Aunt Aubree. Pwease!”
Oh hell, good luck saying no to that.
Aubree sighs in capitulation and takes Mac’s hand. “Okay, but you better dance with me.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Mac says as they take off toward the dance floor.
“She’s a good aunt,” I say, watching her walk away as Ethel starts her next song.
That’s when Ryland turns to me and says, “So Ethel told me you’re proposing.”
Christ. I nearly choke on my own saliva. I was not expecting him to say that.
“She . . . she told you?” I ask.
“Yeah, she did. Told me you were planning a proposal and that I needed to be here.” From the stern set of his eyebrows, I guess he’s not too happy about finding out about the proposal through Ethel.
Call me crazy, but I assumed Ethel would sing a love song, and I’d propose afterward. I didn’t think she was going to tell Ryland. That means she definitely told Hayes. Who else did she tell?
“Uh, yeah. I was planning on proposing,” I say, pulling on the back of my neck. “Is that, uh, is that okay?”
He looks me in the eyes and in a very serious tone, asks, “You tell me. Do you love her?”
Man, do I hate lying to him, but at this moment, I know I need to pull out an award-winning performance.
“I do,” I say, giving him the same eye contact. “Very much so. And I know it might seem soon to you, but I just don’t want to wait around. We’ve both talked about wanting to get married, so I figured, why wait?”
Ryland slowly nods. He looks out toward where Aubree and Mac dance together. Aubree moves their arms up and down while Mac jumps and twists, her legs flailing about. Even though Aubree made it quite clear she’s not a dancer, the smile on her face and the way she looks at Mac shows me that there is so much more to Aubree than she likes to show. She has many layers, and when you get to the very core, the heart of her, it’s easy to see she’s such a beautiful, loving soul.
“She’s been through a lot, Wyatt. As someone who has lost a sibling, I know you can understand that.”
