“That’ll feel good,” she told him. “It was warm in the kitchen.”
He opened the door and the blast of arctic air felt good on his heated skin too.
There was so much snow from the storm that the peaks and valleys of the fields had disappeared under a smooth blanket of white.
But the sky was clear for the moment—a mantle of velvety black dotted with twinkling stars.
She looked up at him, her eyes so solemn, her hand clinging to his as if she were the one who was nervous.
“Evangeline,” he began, wishing he’d thought about what to say in advance, but knowing it was better to speakfrom his heart. “I know we haven’t known each other long, but I feel like everything in my life changed for the better the moment you flung yourself in front of that stroller.”
That earned him a smile, and suddenly she looked relaxed again.
“Mine too,” she said softly.
“Maybe I’m jumping the gun,” he said. “But I don’t want to go slowly and I don’t want to wait and see. There’s only one thing Idowant, and that’s to make you my wife.”
“Grayson,” she breathed.
“Oh, right,” he said, feeling like an idiot for not remembering to go down on one knee.
He pulled the little wooden box from his pocket and lowered himself before her.
“Evangeline Dunn,” he said, his voice deep with emotion. “I love you more than anything in this world. Will you marry me?”
Her eyes widened and something like joy filled her expression.
“W-we haven’t even been on a date,” she murmured.
“Yeah, but we already live together,” he told her, winking. “If you’d rather take me out for a couple of test drives though, I’d be happy to take you to dinner and the movies, or even out dancing, and ask you again in a month or a year.”
“You would take me out dancing?” she asked him dubiously.
“You brought me out of myself, Evangeline,” he told her, his voice breaking a little on her name. “If you wanted, I’d take you to the moon.”
“Oh, Grayson,” she sobbed. “Yes.”
“You’ll marry me?” he asked.
“Yes, yes, yes,” she said.
He practically leaped back to his feet again, pulling her into his arms while she wept against his chest. When she caught her breath, he slid his hand under her chin and tilted it up so that he could kiss her forehead, her eyelids, her cheeks.
When she went up on her toes and offered him her perfect mouth, he kissed her until his heart thundered and he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to stop.
But when she pulled back slightly, he found that he was still enough of a gentleman to let her go.
“Rory might be a little stunned at how fast this happened,” Evangeline said as she watched him slide the ring onto her finger.
It twinkled in the porch lights and Grayson felt like it was chasing away the last of the shadows in his heart.
“He gave me his blessing last night,” he admitted.
“He did?” Evangeline asked. “No wonder he kept giving me that look all morning.”
“What look?” Grayson asked.
“You know,” she said. “The one where you can’t tell if he’s going to start cracking up or sweep you up and waltz you across the living room.”
