“Cici, you mean everything to me. I was enamored from the first moment I laid eyes on you and knew I had to have you. You, Cici, are truly it for me. I’ve been in love with you for two years and in absolute misery without you for the past eight months.” I shake my head and scoff. “You’ve kept me waiting so damn long. Please don’t make me wait any longer. I’m asking for forever, because forever is how long it will take to prove there’s only one true love in life, and for me, that’s always been you.” She nods as tears stream down her beautiful face, and as much as I want to wrap her in my arms, there’s a confession to make. “But before you say yes, there’s something you need to hear.”
Her brows furrow in confusion. This is it—the last piece of the puzzle, and the only one left that could ruin everything.
Taking a deep breath, I continue, “My engagement to Rebecca was a sham. It was only to satisfy a condition of our trust requiring me and my brother to marry by the age of thirty to keep our inheritance and company. I found out on my twenty-ninth birthday.”
Her eyebrows scrunch as she puts the pieces together and takes a step back in retreat.Please don’t let this be the thing that breaks us.
“Wait. That was right before you proposed last time. Is that why you asked me?”
“Yes and no. Marrying you was something I’d already wanted, but I always knew you weren’t there yet—that you may never be. Iwas willing to wait, but because of the condition, I couldn’t and was forced to ask you too soon, praying I could persuade you before you were ready. I should have known better than to try and convince my stubborn girl of anything, but nonetheless, I tried and failed.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me? I probably would have said yes.”
“I have no doubt, but that’s not the yes I wanted. The yesIwanted had to come fromhere.” I put my hand over her heart. “I didn’t want you to marry me because of an obligation and certainly not out of charity. I wanted you to marry me because you love me as much as I love you.”
She’s crying harder now, but there’s one more box to check. “There’s one more thing you’ll have to agree to if you say yes,” I say with a smirk.
“Now what?” She laughs through her tears.
“Well, cutie, we’ll be getting married next month, because if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. And Jackson and Mia already agreed.” I wink. “Oh, and your mom and dad give their blessing.”
“WHAT?” Her gasp cuts her tears off while she swipes them away.
Grabbing her left hand, I hold the ring around the tip of her finger. “That’s the deal. Yes or no?” I slowly begin to push it up, hearing no objection.
Her free hand goes to her jutted hip as I slide it on the rest of the way. “Are you really in a position to be making demands?” she asks in that sassy way I love so much. But what do I not love about this woman?
Keeping hold of her hand and placing my other over hers on her hip, I rise to stand. “You haven’t seen anything yet, baby. I’ve got eight months of demands ready to unleash.”
“Is that so? What kind of demands?”
“How about we start with this one? Tell me you love me.”
She giggles but then goes serious before saying the words I feellike I’ve waited my whole life to hear. “I love you, Eli Dubree. More than I ever thought possible to love another human being.”
“Now this one.” I cup her cheek and stare into her eyes, showing every ounce of emotion, before I slowly make the most important demand of all. “Say. Yes.”
“Yes.”
EPILOGUE
Cici
Three months later
“Our baby better be this good. Why didn’t we have one months ago?” Lily asks Sebastian, making me laugh silently as Sebastian’s eyes bulge. Lily’s cradling Abby and has been staring at her most of the time we’ve been here, except while I fed her.
“You’re joking, right? I’ve been trying to knock you up since our wedding night. You were the one who wanted to wait,” Sebastian argues.
“Well, you should have tried harder,” Lily pouts.
“Trust me, sweetheart, if I’d tried any harder, you’d be broken.”
“Okay, I think that’s our cue to leave,” Eli says next to me and lifts Ebony to the ground before helping me off the couch.
“No,” Lily whines. “You can’t take her from me.”
I laugh. She’s been like this from the moment we brought our daughter home, which was eight weeks ago now. Thank God she’s due soon, or we’d have to work out a visitation plan.
