Before I can process any of it, the last order goes out.
The kitchen goes quiet.
Too quiet.
Gracie slides a hand to my shoulder and squeezes. “You should step out for a second.”
“What?”
She doesn’t answer. She just nudges me toward the swinging doors with a smug little smile that says,You’ll see.
I step out into the dining room slowly, cautiously, my heart thudding so hard it’s practically trying to break free of my ribcage.
Then the lights dim.
The music changes.
Soft, romantic piano chords float out from hidden speakers, and I whip around like someone hit me with a spotlight.
“Tuck?”
The crowd parts like a movie scene, and there he is, Knox’s dog trotting through the restaurant wearing a satin bowtie and a tiny velvet ring box tied to his collar with a silk ribbon.
Someone gasps. I think it’s me.
Tuck trots up like this is his grandest moment, tail wagging like a metronome of chaos and cuteness. He stops in front of me and lets out a single bark. On cue.
I drop to my knees. “What is happening?”
From behind the bar, someone shouts, “Look behind you!”
And I do.
And I die.
Because Knox Knightly, six-foot-five grump, ex-NFL legend, and the father of the twins currently doing somersaults in my uterus, is standing in the middle of The Marrow in a dark navy suit and a crooked tie, looking at me like I’m the only thing in the universe that makes sense.
And oh. He is soft.
His eyes. His smile. The way his hands are clenched like he’s holding onto something big, like he’s holding onto everything.
He starts walking toward me, and my whole body goes still.
“Hey,” he says, voice just above a whisper as he stops in front of me.
I can’t speak. Can’t breathe. I’m completely undone.
Knox takes the box from Tuck’s collar, then looks at me like I invented the sun.
“I used to think I was done,” he says. “That the best parts of my life had already happened. That love was something I didn’t get again.”
He pauses, and his voice cracks just enough to wreck me.
“But then you walked into my kitchen with that crooked smile and impossible optimism and made me fall so stupidly, completely in love with you that I forgot how to be anything but yours.”
I blink fast. My mascara is not waterproof. I press my hand to my belly, smiling to myself.
“And now, every day, I get to fall harder. Especially with all the joy we have to come.”
