“I love you, Violeta Perez. You’re mine and I’m yours. I know it’s only been two months, and with you living here, it might feel like we’re going at warped speed.” My lips quirked upward. “But I think we both know how life can be filled with highs and lows. How short it can be.”
“We do.” I nodded.
“I don’t want to wait. I want you to be my wife. And one day, if you want, be the mother of my children. Have a family with me, Vi. Build a life with me.”
“Logan,” I rasped. The image of the future felt bright and beautiful. I couldn’t hold back the tears.
“I want to be the man who stands by your side in the good times and the bad. I want to be the one you count on, lean on for anything and everything. Violeta, will you marry me?” He opened the baby-blue box, but I didn’t look at what was inside. It could have been a candy ring for all I cared.
“Yes!” I answered, staring into his beautiful blue eyes, eyes I was going to look into for the rest of my life. He took my hand and slipped a ring on my finger. My eyes dropped to it, and I gasped at what was on my hand. “Logan! This is too much!” The ring sparkled brightly right at me.
“Nothing is too much for you.” I couldn’t stop staring at the princess cut engagement diamond ring set in a gold band.
“You didn’t have to—” I started to say, but the words hitched in my throat with overflowing emotions. I didn’t need things from Logan. All I wanted was him.
“I know. I wanted to.” And that was the difference between the people in my past and Logan. It was why I was going to work my hardest, even when the most stubborn of voices wanted to seep doubt into my head, to make things work. It wasn’t going to be easy or perfect; I didn’t want that or need it. I wanted real, and as I stared at the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with, I couldn’t wait to go through life with him.
Sometimes, life was hard.
Life could even feel impossible, like there was no way out of the deep dark pits of despair, but when you meet someone who gets it, just by going through it together, holding on to one another, it becomes a little easier and brighter. And I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next, because one thing was for sure: loving Logan Monroe was going to be an adventure worth experiencing!
EPILOGUE
LOGAN
The backyard was setup for a BBQ with a little surprise. I had just finished setting up the balloons, flowers, and banner I had hidden in the garage late last night after Vi fell asleep. We had been engaged for two months, but with how busy the two of us were, this was the first weekend we had open to invite some of my friends and family over.
Violet had met everyone who was going to be over one on one, but she had no idea this was going to be a surprise engagement party. My phone pinged, and my lips twitched at Ron’s text. I hurried to the front door with a smile on my face at the sight of my buddy, one of my closest friends, holding a cake.
“You could have warned me about that bakery,” he started off with, and I chuckled.
“Oh, yeah? What should I have warned you about?” I took the cake from his hands as we both walked towards the kitchen after he shut the door behind him.
“There was nothing but beautiful women working there, man. I would have got my hair cut before going if I had known.” I grunted. I honestly hadn’t noticed. My brother’s girlfriend hadraved about the place last time we had dinner with them, so I had gone in and ordered an engagement cake.
“I swear, Lo, every girl who came out of there was prettier than the last.” It almost sounded like a complaint.
“See, you don’t have to try so damn hard on those apps you’re on. Just go get a cinnamon roll,” I teased. Ron grunted as I set the cake on the cake stand. It wasn’t usual that Ron brought up the ladies.
“But the owner… Damn,” he mumbled under his breath in a tone I hadn’t heard from him in a long time. Longer than either one of us would admit.
Once upon a time, Ron had been in a relationship.
An amazing one.
One that had been cut too short thanks to cancer taking her away and leaving him heartbroken and gun shy for the last decade. Not that Ron spoke about Sara anymore. I turned my head over my shoulder to look at my buddy.
“Do I have to call and apologize for something?” I pretended to be clueless about the interest in his voice.
“From me?” He touched the center of his chest. “You know I’m nothing but a gentleman.”
“Yeah, usually,” I grunted, adding a couple of petals around the table from the two roses I’d set aside for it. “What do you think?” I watched him look at the decorated table and back at me.
“I think I would never have seen you get whipped, but damn,” he teased. I rolled my eyes playfully. “Talking seriously, Logan, I’m happy for you. You deserve to be happy. I knew there was something about her that day in the hospital. You were different.”
“When you know, you know.” I shrugged and stared at him for a moment. It wasn’t the time or place. I wasn’t sure if there ever would be. Maybe it was true what people said about howpeople in love wanted to do nothing more than have those who mattered around you as happy as you were. “What about you?”
“What about me?” he laughed, but we both knew it was fake.
