“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“You sure?”
“Yes, Luke. Don’t fuss,” I scold him playfully. Luke busies himself pouring us each a glass of lemonade and then hands me mine. “You could have had a beer, you know.”
“I know, but I didn’t want a beer. I want to remember every moment of being sat here with you.”
“Why are you being weird?” I ask as I glance at him from the corner of my eye.
“I’m not.”
“You are.” I hear him sigh and I feel a little bad that I am ribbing him. “Sorry.”
“You don’t need to say sorry, Char. Can I not just bring you here so that we can have a little alone time?” His soft smile distracts me from the fact that he seems a little nervous. I turn to look at the view in front of us. I love it here. As the world continues to turn beneath us, I can’t help but feel that this is a little slice of heaven. And the fact that I get to share that heaven with Luke makes it even better. I sip my lemonade and place my glass to the side. As I do, Luke comes in front of me, and I cross my legs. He kneels down and takes my hands in his.
“Charlie,” he begins with a quiver in his voice. Immediately my nerves are on edge.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, the blissful feeling of a few seconds ago leaving me.
“Nothing’s wrong. I just…” He lets out a puff of air and I wait to see where he is going with this. I stare at him eagerly. “Okay. Here goes.” He releases one of my hands and slips it into the front pocket of his jeans. I watch his hand and my heart starts to beat a little faster. Is he doing what I think he is? In answer to my question, Luke pulls out a small blue, velvet box. He doesn’t open it, but just holds it in front of us. My eyes go wide at the sight. Luke. Small box. Is this…?
“I love you, Charlie,” Luke says, diverting attention away from my own thoughts and back to him. I look up at him, my mouth hanging open. “I wanted to do this a while ago, but I couldn’t find the right moment… until now.”
Luke opens the box and inside is a beautiful diamond ring. It is only a small diamond, but the impact of it isn’t any less striking. I gasp and place my hand over my mouth.
“I had a long speech figured out, but it seems more fitting to speak from my heart, so that’s what I am going to do,” he continues. My eyes return to Luke’s and the love emanating from his is breath taking.
“There is nothing I could say that would express how much you mean to me. You have been my constant for the last ten years. I can’t imagine my life without you, and when I had to for a short time, it was torture. I never want to be without you again. Not only have you loved me for me, but you have given me a son. A beautiful baby boy.”
I feel a tear slide down my cheek, but I can’t move to wipe it away. I am rendered immobile.
“I would love nothing more than to make you my wife.” Luke takes the ring out of the small box and places the box on the ground beside him. He takes my left hand and holds the ring in front of my ring finger.
“I want to make our family complete. I want to protect you and look after you. You and Oliver are all that matters to me, and I will spend the rest of our lives together showing you just how much.” The tears are coming faster now, but I furiously blink as I don’t want them to distort the image of Luke’s handsome face as he pours his heart out to me.
“Charlie Thomas, will you marry me?” I suck in a breath at his final words. The ring hovers by my finger. Luke awaits my answer. But he doesn’t have to wait long. I have waited for this moment for a long time.
“Yes,” I whisper. “Yes, I will marry you. Yes, to us being forever, and yes to our little family,” I manage to say as my eyes fill with unshed tears.
Luke places the ring on my finger and lets out an audible sound of relief. He wraps his arms around my waist and places a kiss on my lips. I return the kiss, putting all the love that I feel for him into it. I wrap my arms around his shoulders and pull him closer to me. My life has been full of shocks over the last few months, but none of that matters now. All of the pain and heartache has been erased. Instead, it has been replaced by love and acceptance. Luke is a part of me, just like Oliver is. Between the two of them, they own my heart. They are the only two people in the world who could break me, and I know that that will never happen.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
We arrive back at the house after Luke’s proposal, and we are both giggling like teenagers as we enter the lounge. My mother is reading a book, whilst my father is cuddling Oliver.
“Hi, darlings,” my mother says, her eyes expectantly looking at me. “Did you have a nice time?”
“It was good,” I reply, keeping her in suspense for a few moments longer. It’s obvious that she was in on Luke surprising me.
“Oh. So, what did you do?” she asks, fishing for me to tell her what she already knows. I have my left hand behind Luke’s back, so she is unable to see if I have accepted his proposal of marriage.
“We just went to the park and enjoyed the peace and quiet,” I say with a shrug of my shoulders. He eyes dart to Luke, and I can feel his body trembling as he holds in his laughter.
“That’s nice,” she says, disappointed by my withholding of information.
“It was.” I feel Luke nudge me with his side and I look to him. He is giving me a look that says, ‘enough joking. Put her out of her misery.’ I raise my eyebrows at him as I move my hand from behind him and bring it in front of me. “It was made even nicer with this though,” I say as I hold my hand in front of her face so that she can see the ring. The smile that comes to her face is heart-warming.
“Oh, darling,” she says as she stands up and flings her arms around me. “This is wonderful news. Congratulations.”
