“Ask me to marry you, Josh.”
His jaw went slack as his eyes grew saucer wide.
“You want me to ask you to marry me? You want to marry me? Now?”
I laughed at his bewilderment as my thumb glided along his jaw. “I’ve loved you for my entire life. You’re all I’ve ever wanted, and you make me happier than I ever thought possible. Maybe it’s only a piece of paper, but I want to be yours in every single way.” I took his face in my hands and rested my forehead onto his. “Marry me, Falco,” I whispered.
His breaths came quick as he grabbed my hand and pulled me into the living room. He led me to the couch, everyone’s puzzled eyes peering over us.
“Just a minute.” He sprinted down the hallway into our bedroom.
Victoria looked back at me with her nose crinkled. “Where is he going?”
I shrugged, trying to figure that out myself.
He charged back into the living room holding something in his hand.
“What are you doing?’ I asked, now feeling a little exposed.
“Taking back my thunder.” He knelt down on one knee in front of me and opened a black velvet box with a beautiful diamond ring set in a platinum band.
“I’ve wanted to ask you to marry me hundreds of times. At first, I thought it was too soon, or the timing wasn’t right. You’re my best friend and my family, and I love you more than you could ever understand. A beautiful little girl gave me a sandwich and made me the luckiest man on the planet.”
I laughed through my tears as I cupped his cheek. He would never understand how much I loved him, either. Maybe the way we got here was messy, but the greatest love stories always were.
“And, I’m asking you again.” He craned his head and glanced at my father. I spied him give Josh a nod.
“Are they . . . ?” Victoria began to ask behind me.
“Morons?” Reid answered. “Yep, always were.”
Josh cleared his throat. “Brianna Marie, will you marry me?”
“Well,” I sighed. “It’s sudden.” I couldn’t hide my smile as I nodded. “Yes.”
Josh kissed me so hard I fell back on the couch. The clapping and cheering around us seemed far away.
As usual, all I saw was Josh.
Josh
“DID YOU GETthe flowers?” I asked Reid as I tried in vain to buckle my damn cuff link. In the couple of months we managed to piece this wedding together, I was fine. Today, I woke up with a bad case of nerves. Everything had to be right today, and I drove everyone around me nuts in order to make that happen. First on the list: my best man. If Reid rolled his eyes at me one more time, they would fall right out of the sockets.
“I was supposed to do that?” He tapped his chin with a smirk as he entered our dressing room in the back of the catering hall. “I run a school; I can handle picking up flowers. You’re a mess today. I just popped in on Brianna, and she’s calm as can be. I think her asking you to marry her first screwed up the natural order of things.” He chuckled as he set the box down on the table. “I can’t believe you’re this tense over three damn boutonnieres.”
“I want everything to be perfect. She deserves that.” I let out a long sigh. I wasn’t sure why I was so damn tense, either. We purposely planned a small wedding to not have to deal with the stress of planning. Today needed to be more than a formality to get a piece of paper, and for some reason, making sure of that was driving me and everyone around me up the wall.
“She doesn’t want perfect, dude. She wants you.” He dropped a hand on my shoulder. “As long as you’re on the other end of that aisle, she couldn’t care less about a flower on your lapel.” Reid reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a letter.
“This is for you. From your bride to be. I’ll go and count the pins on the flowers to make sure we have enough. If not, we’ll have to shut down the whole damn thing.” He chuckled at my annoyed glare before he picked up the box and headed out of the room.
I laughed to myself and ripped open the letter once he left.
Dear Josh,
Now that we’re together, our letter days should probably be over, but I thought we could still bring one out on special occasions.
My plan was to tell you all the things my letters should have said. I was going to tell you how much I loved you for every day of my life, and how I never stopped. But those things were said in person, like they should have been from the beginning.
