All eyes wereon Bodie and me.
He walked up, grabbed my hand, and pulled me over to the center of the massive great room where we were on display for all our family.
Even my brother was there watching me closely. He hadn’t left for any jobs, claiming he’d be around until the threat against me was resolved. My heart broke for him as I remembered the haunted look in his eyes when he mentioned he didn’t know where his mother was and that he was worried that she could be involved. I hoped that wasn’t the case for his sake but now that we had more history to go off of, it wasn’t too far of a stretch.
My gaze traveled around the room and all the ladies looked as confused as I was. The guys had smiles on their faces and it dawned on me that they knew what was happening and all the women had been left in the dark. Then, Peyton and Piper walked up and flanked Bodie on each side of him.
When Bodie took each of my hands in his and I looked into his eyes, I saw a flutter of nerves and love shining in their depths. My heart started pounding and an idea started to form but I brushed it off thinking I was imagining things.
Then Bodie dropped to one knee and all the oxygen swooshed from my lungs. There was a symphony of oohs and ahhs all around us.
I guess I’m not imagining anything.
“Gemma, love…” Two words was all he got out before his voice broke and caused a tear to slip down my face.
My hands still engulfed in his big ones, he swallowed and started again. “For years, I haven’t truly been living. Then, you ran into my life, looked up at me with your soulful brown eyes, and everything changed.”
By the time he was done, I was going to be a blubbering mess.
“You opened the door to happiness and made me feel whole again. And you also made me not want to just travel through the motions of life like a robot and only do what was necessary, but truly live it. You have brought so much joy to not only me but Peyton and Piper too.”
I glanced at the girls and they were nodding their heads up and down in agreement. That made more tears stream down my face. Bringing my eyes back to Bodie, I sucked in a breath at the love I could still see shining in his gaze as he focused on me.
“Sweetheart, you showed me love again. Finding you was a miracle. You are my miracle. With your heart, body, and soul, you dug me out of the pile of rubble I was in and you, my love, brought me back to life.”
His deep, masculine voice wobbled as he dropped my hands and said, “The girls would like to share something with you.”
It might have seemed odd to get on my knees but I wanted to be close to them and down at their level when they said whatever they needed to.
They both stepped forward a bit and reaching up, they flipped the heart lockets open so I could see inside. As they mentioned before, but I didn’t know they had done it, on one side was the picture of their mother, Isabelle, I’d added before giving them the gift. Now on the other side, was a picture of me.
“Please say yes to our daddy,” Peyton began before her sister Piper finished.
“We want you to be our mommy too.”
A sob broke free as I gathered them both in my embrace and held them tight. God, I would do anything for those two little girls. And their father too.
Pulling back I looked at the beauties before me. “I would be happy to be your second mommy and I love you two princesses with all my heart.”
They were hugging me again, bouncing up and down. I could hear murmurs around me from our friends who were watching us but could only concentrate on the three people in front of me.
Looking back at Bodie, his eyes were glistening with tears.
The girls released me and I stood. Bodie grabbed my left hand and with his right, he reached into his jeans pocket. Pulling out a black, velvet jewelry box, he flipped the top open and my world stopped.
I never pictured the kind of ring I would want, just as I’d never thought about my type of man. But as Bodie was perfect for me, so was the ring he’d chosen. It wasn’t too flashy and it was absolutely stunning. It was also not huge, which was perfect since I was petite. Some big rock on my tiny fingers would have looked ridiculous.
A sterling silver band sparkled with small diamonds on each side of a princess-cut amethyst stone set in the middle. The wedding band was all tiny amethyst stones. The set was beyond mesmerizing.
Bodie knew how obsessed I was with purple and I couldn’t believe he’d incorporated it into something I would wear for the rest of my life. The life I shared with him. Well when I said yes.
After pulling the engagement ring from the box and placing the other part back in his pocket, he slipped the ring on the end of my finger.
“Gemma, I love you, heart and soul. Will you marry me and make me the happiest man in the world?”
When my head started frantically nodding yes, he slid the ring the remaining way on and jumped to his feet.
“Yes, yes, yes!” I chanted, finally getting my mouth to work.
