Page 94 of Colton
My eyes are glassy. So are his.
“Are you asking… I mean, is this….” He shakes his head, then reaches into the pocket of his gray sweats. “I had a plan for this, you know,” he says ruefully. “I thought I might take you to a nice dinner, and maybe have the bedroom filled with roses or some other corny shit like that. But as usual, you go and keep me on my fucking toes. But I’m not gonna let you steal my thunder this time, lady.”
He grins as he drops to one knee in front of me. I nearly choke on my tongue as I realize what he’s doing. He brings up his hand and in it a simple black box. “Oh my God,” I stutter out.
“I might not have known exactly who you were going to be to me when I saw your picture the first time Evie, but I knew you were important. And when I met you… That day was a fucking punch in the gut because I knew then. I knew I would do absolutely anything to convince you to be mine. We are so good together. You call me on my shit and I keep you out of your head. That works for us.” His fingers tighten on the ring box. “I’ve been carrying this around for a month.”
He gently pops open the top of the box, revealing a stunning simple band with inlaid diamonds. For the first time, he looks a little unsure. “I thought about getting you a different ring. One of those big fancy diamonds, but I thought you might have to take it off at work when you’re wearing gloves, and I didn’t like that idea. The jeweler worked with me to make this smooth so it won’t snag. But I can get you anything you want. We can go tomorrow —.”
I dive at him, cutting off his words. I’m crying. Not the pretty crying like in the movies during a proposal. Big heaving, snotty crying. I have no idea why. I mean, I was basically proposing to the man already. I pepper him with kisses. Cheek, nose, eyebrows. He’s laughing as he lifts his shirt to wipe my face. “Is that a yes?”
I laugh and a snot bubble comes out of my nose. Kill me now. Colt laughs even harder, wiping that too. He gags a bit, but he pushes through.
“You think this is gross? Wait till you change your first diaper. I can’t wait to see you deal with that.”
His face turns solemn. “Neither can I. Is this a yes?”
Cupping his cheeks, I smooth my thumbs over his cheekbones. “Of course, it’s a yes.”
38
COLTON
Iused to have this dream, where I have everything I ever wanted in my hands, and then it turns to sand and drifts away. Thank fuck this is not a dream. No fucking way am I ever letting go of Evie. I’m going to be the best damn husband she’s ever seen.
No one’s noticed yet. We’re halfway through family dinner and no one’s made a single comment about her ring. It looks like a boulder sitting on her hand.
To me, it’s so fucking obvious. I need them to notice. I wanna shout it from the fucking rooftops. But nothing. If Mia was awake, she would have told everyone. Instead, she shoved a bun in her mouth, then crashed on the couch. Fucking Ransom and Jonas wore her out.
Her reaction was a little anticlimactic. Evie was so careful about explaining that we loved each other and we loved her and we were going to get married so we could be a family. Mia just patted her mom on the cheek and said, “we are family, mama” and then went off to play. I swear that kid is a fucking genius because she’s right. We’ve been a family for a while. We’re just making it official.
Evie didn’t want to make a big deal about it tonight. She’s overloaded with everything that’s happened today and just wanted things to be calm and quiet. I can respect that.
“Evie and I are getting married.” Oops. “Sorry,” I mutter to Evie, who’s trying, but failing, to glare at me.
Everything at the table stops. The scraping of forks, the clinking of glasses, the laughter. All of it. All eyes are on us as they register my words. Then they erupt. I can’t decipher one voice from the next, one slap on my back from another. It’s all a loud crazy cacophony. Through it all, Evie’s smile grows bigger and bigger.
When we’ve accepted all the congratulations and everyone settles back down at the table, I reach over and take her hand. Pulling her closer to whisper. “Are you OK?”
She scrunches up her nose, “You just couldn’t wait, could you?”
“Nope. I really tried, but you know me well enough by now to know it’s a fucking miracle I held out this long.”
Ransom comes back to the table with four bottles of champagne clutched in his hands. “Now usually, we’d just celebrate with a beer, but this calls for something with a little more class.” He winks at Evie, taking the sting out of the echo of her mother’s words. My brothers find champagne glasses in some cupboard we’ve never looked in and pass out a drink for everyone.
“Now, how do the rich people do it? Right. A Toast. To Evie and Colt. Thank fuck you said yes. He’d be moping for the rest of his life if you didn’t.”
We clink glasses like all the fancy people do in the movies, laughing when Kade and Becca clink too hard and break their glasses. Everyone drinks.
Well, almost everyone. Maybe I wouldn’t have noticed it if she wasn’t sitting straight across for me. No one else seems to see it. But I did. She pretended to drink and then handed it to Micah to finish.
“Holy Fuck! Holly’s pregnant!” I yell.
Holly’s eyes widen, and she throws her bun at me, hitting me in the forehead. Oops again.
“You’re such an ass,” she yells. Evie slaps me on the arm, too. Clearly, I’ve fucked up.
“I’m sorry. You’re mad because it’s true, and I stole your thunder.” I catch her eyes. “I really am sorry. But it’s really fucking exciting.” My stomach drops. “Unless…”
