Her mouth opens, then closes before she finally concedes. “I think that’s great, Seth. I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done. I’m proud ofyou.”
“I’m proud of you.” I give her hand a little tug. “Sunday, you’re over a hundred thousand. We have three hundred fifty thousand dollars ready to giftthem.”
“Oh my God!” Her voice shrills into the sky. “How is that even possible? Please tell me my father had nothing to do with it. But if you can’t, I totallyunderstand.”
“The only thing your father had to do with it was bringing you into the world. All of the drives, all of the fund matching we were able to get the corporations to participate in boosted us over the edge. Collins and Associates may have helped in tipping thescale.”
“Seth!” She rings her arms around the back of my neck. “You’re incredible, you know that? You really are a livingsuperhero.”
“I’m glad you think so because—Sunday, I know that we’re in a unique situation, but what I’m about to say has less to do with that and more to do with how I feel about you. I realize we’re young, we have an entire lifetime together, but my love for you is solid. It’s not fly-by-night, and I’m not caught up in the moment. This is real, and it’s for alltime.”
Her eyes water on cue. Sunday’s emotions only seem to grow more extreme by the day, but I’d like to think she’d be shedding tears at this point no matter what end of the scale these emotionstip.
“Sunday—” I drop to one knee and pull out the white sapphire ring I purchased last week. Nolan and Rush went with me. We thought a diamond was nice, but the white sapphire means so much more since that’s the stone that represents the month our precious son or daughter will enter this world. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I would love to make you my wife.” I bear hard into her watery eyes. “Would you do me the honor and marry me? No hurry to answer. We can do the ceremony whenever you want. It could be tomorrow or ten years down the road. I just need you to know, I’ll be waiting for you if you’ll haveme.”
“Seth!” Her voice comes out threadbare as if it expended all of her energy just to squeeze it out. “I don’t need to wait. I already have my answer. Not only do I want to marry you, I would never wait ten years to do it.” She pulls me up with tears raining from her eyes. “Yes! I love you, Seth Baker!” She looks to the cliff side and shouts into the great expanse, “I’m going to be Mrs. Seth Baker!” She pulls me in close, giggling through tears. “And I cannotwait.”
Sunday collapses her arms around me, and I can’t help but laugh as she crashes her lips to mine. Sunday Knight will one day soon become Sunday Baker, and it’s because she loves me, because she wants to. I’m not sure what’s happened this last year, but I can honestly say it’s been the best year of my life. And something tells me with Sunday by my side, each passing year will only getbetter.
She saidyes.
And she loves me. Lifemade.
Sunday has always had the ability to make it or breakit.
A sharp jab pins me in the gut, and we back off from that perfect kiss with alaugh.
Sunday cups her belly. “Somebody ishappy.”
“Hey, Little Fish, we’re a family. And we can’t wait to meet you and make itcomplete.”
Sunday lifts her brows. “I guess we’d better start entertaining names. I’m pretty sure Little Fish Baker will make for a tough start inlife.”
“How about Baker Baker? It’s gender neutral and has a nice ring toit.”
Sunday swats me as she tips her head back. “Good thing we didn’t wait until we were in the delivery room to come up with something solid. I think we’re going to need all the time we canget.”
I take her back in my arms and pull her in tight. “All the time we can get together is something I look forward to spending withyou.”
Sunday and I dive right into a kiss that christens this moment. It rings a bell, letting the universe know this is how it’s going to be forever, Sunday and me, in love, a child to raise, the first of many if we want. I couldn’t be happier. I couldn’t be luckier. It looks like something good has come from what once felt like an impossible situation. And with Sunday by my side, we will always look for the good ineverything.
