“Hold still!”
“Okay, okay.” I paused. “Wait, you just happened to find my makeup bag in this bathroom? What’s your angle?”
“Oh, you’ll see.” She smirked as she dabbed a small amount of blush on my cheekbones, rolled mascara on my lashes, then placed everything back inside the bag.
“Okay, there’s definitely something going on.” Everyone had been dropping weird hints all day. Was there something else I was missing? I thought the entire surprise was already over. I crossed my arms.
“I don’t know,” Lina sang. “You’ll just have to come with me.”
I startled when she opened the bathroom door and dragged me back through the main living area—which was oddly empty, proving that something was definitely up—and to the back door in the living room. I knew it was fairly cold out by now, so I reached for my jacket that hung over one of the chairs, but Linastopped me, adjusting it on my shoulders. She smoothed out any crinkles it made in my dress and fluffed the roots of my hair before eyeing me up and down.
“I am so lost.” I stared back.
“Oh, you won’t be in a minute,” she replied.
I shook my head in complete confusion, but Lina ignored me, going to open the back door. When I turned around, she was gone, and Jack had slipped inside.
My insides melted seeing him after the emotional rollercoaster that was tonight. His warm smile and trusting eyes. His broad shoulders that were…
Sinking to the ground in front of me.
His right hand reached into his pocket and pulled out a velvet box.
Oh, my god.
He’s proposing.
My palms cupped my mouth before I could let out a sob and screamyesbefore he even asked the question. My legs shook and my heart pounded.
“Maggie Hennicke. My first love. My childhood friend. My barn partner. You were my first kiss. My first time. And now I get to be the father of ourbaby. I know I asked you to be my fake wife on the way here, but I’m sick of pretending. I want to take your last name for real. You took my firsts, and I took yours, and I want to keep taking yours until my last breath. Please, Mags, say yes. Say you’ll marry me for real.”
His words were so sweet. So real and so true. We were each other’s firsts. I wanted to be each other’s lasts, too.
“Yes!” I cried and fell to my knees with him. He slid a beautiful, pear-shaped diamond onto my finger and pulled my lips to his. I kissed him with everything I had. Every ounce of gratitude that this man—the man I swore I would never marry—made me want everything with him.
“Okay, good.” He pulled back with a smirk that I knew meant he had something else up his sleeve. “I have to go.”
Then he turned around, opened the back door, and left, with my dad entering all but half a second later. “Are you guys on a carousel, or something?” It was suspicious that no one would let me see the backyard.
My father only smiled and reached his arm out to mine. When I hooked my elbow with his, he opened the door wider.
The moment the chilled air rushed inside, my jaw dropped for the second time that night. The entire party had moved outside and split into two groups, creating a makeshift aisle that led to…
Jack.
Of course, it was Jack. It would always be Jack.
There he stood, under an arch of white and green flowers that blossomed in the most beautiful way. His eyes were misty as I looked him over, nearly ignoring the scene around him and focusing on the man I entrusted my entire future with. He turned it intothis.The Maggie panicking on her bathroom floor at two pink lines would never have thought thatthisis what her life would look like a few months down the road.
A baby on the way into a perfect family? Check.
The most sincere and thoughtful husband who turned our lives upside down for me? Check.
An incredible community of people who have supported us on our journey? Check.
My vision became blurry as tears filled my eyes. Everything about this night screamed romantic gesture, but I never expected what was in front of me.
Jack offered a slight nod, asking me, without words, to approach him. I was entranced, wobbling with each step of certainty I took. The faces beside me blurred into translucent shapes and colors. All I could see washim.
