We share a funnel cake as we walk the grounds. As promised, Reeve agrees to balloon darts and, as expected, I kick his ass. Then we find the milk bottle toss booth and, just like that first night, he sends them crashing.
I clap. “Looks like we’re three for three on re-creating the magic.”
“That’s right. Which means it’s time for your prize, babe,” he says with a smile. “I’ll take that one,” Reeve tells the carnival worker, pointing to a row of neon animals suspended from the tent ceiling.
I laugh in disbelief when Reeve holds up the plush toy the man just handed him. “No way. It looks exactly like Jeeve! They really haven’t changed a thing here, have they?”
But Reeve simply holds on to his quiet smile and looks back at me, his eyes so full of anticipation they make my heart skip a beat. Something’s happening. Does he know what I planned to tell him tonight? “ItisJeeve,” he says, his voice uncharacteristically soft. He grasps the stuffed animal with both hands like it’s worth everything to him, but never breaks my gaze.
I look quizzically between him and the animal. How in the world could that be? But he’s right—the penguin is missing a patch of fur on its belly and its neon pink is sun faded and?—
“Oh my god.” I gasp as I see it—a giant pink diamond ring sewn with a single stitch just under the animal’s pink wing. I glance at the guy operating the game to find he’s retreated to the back corner of the booth, watching us with a small smile.
Tears well in my eyes as understanding dawns on me. With a flick of his wrist, Reeve breaks the stitch holding the ring in place, sets Jeeve aside, and lowers himself to one knee.
“I never told you that the night you brought me here to this carnival changed everything for me,” he says, taking my hand. “When I look back at my life, there’s before that night and there’s after. There’s life where you were out of reach for a man like me, where I was alone, where all I had was a sport that could never need me the way I needed it. And then there was life where you saw me and you didn’t look away, a life where I knew if I had you, I wouldn’t need anything else. And I never have—I’ve never needed anything except you, Jade.”
I take a deep, steadying breath as warm tears run down my cheeks, threatening to blur the sight of the most beautiful person I know saying the most beautiful words I could imagine.
“And I won’t need anything ever again if I hear you say yes tonight.” He slides the sparkling ring onto my finger and looks up at me. “So will you marry me?”
I can barely choke out a yes before I start crying full force. Reeve grins and stands to pull me into a hug, lifting me off the ground and wrapping my legs around him.
“Was that too long of a proposal? I wanted to keep going because it sounded even better out loud than it did in my head, but I was starting to get lightheaded.”
I laugh, which only makes tears come harder, my emotions engulfing me.
Reeve lowers me to the ground and takes my face in his hands, his smile replaced by concern. “Fuck,” he says softly. “Did I just screw up? I didn’t know if a public proposal was everyone’s worst nightmare but mine, but I figured?—”
I force myself to swallow the tears and give him the smile that’s hiding underneath. “It was perfect, Reeve. Absolutely perfect.”
“Then why are you sobbing uncontrollably, baby?”
“I’m happy,” I tell him, which is true but not the answer to the question. “Now let’s walk around. I need to get a little airand stare at the most beautiful piece of jewelry I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Reeve buys me a bottle of water and guides me to a quieter corner of the carnival grounds, where we sit at a picnic table as I pull myself together. I knew this night would change our lives, but I had no idea this was his plan. There’s so much happiness inside me I feel drunk. I glance down at Jeeve in my arms, remembering the plan I’d had for this night with this stuffed animal, smiling at the way Reeve’s mind works so much like mine sometimes. Then I hold my hand out and stare in disbelief at the beauty on my finger.
“I took a risk with the pink diamond,” Reeve says. “But the second I saw that color, it reminded me of your hair the first time I saw you. If you don’t want it, I’ll get you another color. Or I’ll get you every color. I’ll get you anything you want, Jade. For the rest of my life, I won’t quit until I’ve given you everything you want.”
He doesn’t know he already has. “I love it more than I ever thought I could love an inanimate object.” I lean against him, letting the familiar strength of his body soothe me. As my emotions settle down, determination takes over. “You know, there is one more thing I want from you tonight. Ride the Ferris wheel with me?”
He runs a hand through his hair. “Shit. When I said let’s re-create our night, I was hoping you’d forgotten that part.”
“Forget watching the great and powerful Reeve Dalton quake in his boots at the sight of a carnival ride? Never.”
“It would have been so much more romantic if you’d said that kiss was the part you’d never forget.”
I kiss his soft lips. “That too.”
“Ferris wheel, huh?” He looks up at the hulking ride behind me. “Okay, but only if you promise to make it worth my while like you did last time.”
“Oh, I promise.”
The sky is dark by the time we climb into our little pod. Reeve seems slightly less nervous than he did the last time we were here, but he still holds my hand tight as the wheel begins to move. I think I’m the more nervous one tonight.
“So tell the truth,” Reeve says as our pod lifts higher into the air. “Did I really surprise you down there? Because I know you’re a damn fine actress.”
“I am and you did. It was a beautiful proposal, Reeve.” I squeeze his hand. “The funny thing is, I probably shouldn’t have been surprised, because I had a little plan of my own here tonight.”
