A sad little smile curls his lips. “They’ll be fine without me. If I miss them, maybe I’ll visit, but I have everything I could ever want right here.” He returns to where I’m standing in my plush robe, revealing a small, robins-egg blue velvet box in his hand. “Just one thing remains.”
“Trip?” Happiness rises in my chest as tears flood my eyes. I cover my mouth as he lowers to one knee, holding my left hand. “What is this?”
“I told you once before I wanted to stay with you, to protect you.” He opens the box, and I can’t breathe. “I tried to send you away, and it nearly killed me. I can’t survive without you, Gia. I love you with everything I am. Will you be my wife? Will you stay with me and know I’ll lay down my life for you?”
Tears stream down my face before I can even speak the wordYes.
The Tiffany engagement ring is a thick platinum band with a two-carat diamond in the center. It’s breathtaking and one of a kind and absolutely what my man would choose.
“You’ve only ever loved me for who I am.” I slide my hands down his cheeks, to his neck, dropping to my knees so our faces can be close together. “We’re wild and unpredictable. We break the rules, and touch what we shouldn’t.”
His brow furrows, and he hesitates. “Are you saying—”
“I’m saying there’s no one else I want to spend my life with.I want all my adventures to begin and end with you. I want to come to you when I’m afraid or overwhelmed. I want your eyes to be the only ones watching over me.”
He smiles, kissing my brow, my cheek, my lips. “My eyes are only for you.”
“I love you, William Alexander the third. I will be your wife. I will have your babies. We’ll create the new life we both deserve.”
The ring is on my finger, and his expression melts into pure love. Our mouths meet once more, and it seals a promise for forever. It’s a seal that will bind us through eternity.
It’s the transformation that makes us one forever.
* * *
