Page 17 of Faking Forever
The bear was awkwardly tucked under one arm and Smith nearly dropped it as he rooted around in his pockets with his free hand. After awkwardly shifting the bear to his other arm, he finally found what he’d been hunting for.
A dark blue velvet box.
Kenny stared at it in confusion as he held it up and dropped to his knee in the same motion. The bear dislodged from beneath his arm and bumped against her shins. The unexpected solidity and weight of the stuffed toy caught her off guard and unbalanced her a little.
She stumbled and he leaped instantly to his feet to steady her with his hands, an embarrassed flush highlighting his sharp cheekbones.
“Fuck. I’m making a mess of this,” he muttered after they’d both regained their balance. He was standing very close to her, warm hands clamped around her upper arms and despite her height, Kenny still managed to get a crick in her neck as she tilted her head to look up at him. The difference between her five foot ten and his six foot three felt much greater than a mere five inches with his solid, muscular bulk invading so much of her personal space.
“What are you doing?” she asked in a hoarse whisper.
“Trying to propose.” His response was dry, then his eyes widened in comical horror before he said, “Fuck, where’s the…”
He thankfully released her arms and stared wildly down at the floor before releasing a shaky breath and bending to retrieve the box that had fallen from his hand when he’d reached for her.
“Nana Pat—my mother’s mum—must be rolling in her grave right now,” he told her with a lopsided, self-effacing grin that charmed Kenny in spite of herself. He flipped the lid of the box to reveal a delicate and obviously vintage pale gold band showcasing a beautiful pear-cut diamond, haloed by a constellation of smaller diamonds.
Kenny knew that her appalled reaction to the lovely ring was far from flattering as she staggered a few steps back.
“Butwhy?” The question flew unbidden from her lips and she winced at the panicked pitch in her voice.
His smile disappeared almost instantly, even though it still lingered in his gentle eyes.
“I know it’s not anything like how you may have imagined your marriage proposal would go,” he said, laughter lurking in his voice. “But?—”
“I hadn’t imagined a proposal at all,” she interrupted, her eyes dropping back to the ring.
He faltered for a moment, before clearing his throat andcontinuing, “Butthe way I see it, marriage was a given. The baby has just accelerated the timetable a little.”
It didn’t surprise her that he’d always intended to marry at some point. He was warm, affectionate…the kind of man who would relish having a family.
Kenny, meanwhile, had never really believed that she would marry. And hadn’t even considered the possibility of children. And yet, when she discovered her pregnancy, she’d immediately known she was keeping her baby.
She now felt horribly guilty that Smith believed that this pregnancy had stripped him of his choice of bride. He shouldn’t be offering his grandmother’s engagement ring to her. Not when it was clearly meant for the woman he would one day love and with whom he’d want to start a family.
“You don’t have to marry me, Smith,” she told him, and this time the smile faded from his eyes.
“I know I don’thaveto,” he said, shrugging. “Iwantto.”
“Because of the pregnancy?”
His head tilted, and his jaw tightened as he stared at her for a long,longmoment.
“Sure,” he said, his voice had dropped, and the tone he now used sounded like something one would implement when taming a particularly skittish horse. “Let’s have a seat and talk this through, yeah?”
Kenny blinked and glanced around, suddenly realizing that they were both standing in the middle of her living room.
“Oh, yes,” she nodded, happy to focus on something so mundane. “Of course. That makes sense.”
He pocketed the little blue box in a move that would have been discreet, if Kenny hadn’t been so damned hyperaware of the thing’s existence since the moment he’d produced it. She heaved a silent sigh of relief at its disappearance. Something he didn’t miss, if the thinning of his lips was any indication.
She sank down onto the sofa. Then instantly regretted herseating choice when he carefully placed the bear on the wingback chair to her left, and sat down on the couch beside her.
“Marriage isn’t necessary,” she said, keeping her eyes trained on the bear’s comically serious face.
“I want to be a part of this child’s life, Kenny.”
“You can be. Youwillbe, but you don’t have to marry me to do that.”
