“If someone had told me back in February that I’d be standing at center ice and celebrating a second Cup win, I’d have probably believed them. My teammates are that good.” He casts his eyes around the group of players I know he considers to be family.
“But if they had told me that I’d be standing in front of my best friend’s daughter, planning to offer her my ring, I’d have called out that lie in aninstant.”
Over Emmett’s shoulder, I can see Jack excitedly fist-bump his stepdad.
Pulling a deep breath into his lungs, Emmett slowly drops to one knee, one hand still wrapped around my hip.
The hum of the arena falls completely silent, anticipation fizzing in the air as I pull deep gulps into my lungs.
“You’re probably going to think that I’m an idiot for choosing this moment to ask you.” He chuckles, gorgeous gray eyes staring up at me as he flips the lid on the box, and a blue oval diamond ring, set on a thin white band, glistens under the lights. “Maybe even delusional to think that the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on could want to spend the rest of her life with an old man like me.”
When I drop to my knees in front of him, dampness soaks through my jeans and trickles down my cheeks.
“Emmett,” I breathe, reaching out to touch the ring of my dreams, nestled in the palm of the greatest person ever.
Emmett tucks his other knee beneath him so we’re almost face-to-face.
It’s like we’re washing and drying dishes in my parents’ kitchen or lying awake, talking in bed until the early hours of the morning.
There’s just us and no one else.
“I promised you that I’d always be honest, Bill.” He rubs his thumb under my eye. “And I’d be a liar if I said that I wanted to or even could wait another day to make you my wife. We may have our doubters, and to them, I say,Watch me love this girl and our baby until I breathe my last goddamn breath.”
I blow out a wet sob, not caring that my mascara isn’t waterproof.
“I want to wake up to your face each morning and kiss your lips every night. I know that there are so many years between us and that we’ve only been dating a short while. But what I’ve recently learned about the metric of time is that it doesn’t actually matter at all. Not when you realize that love doesn’t play by therules. All it cares about is how two souls fit together, never to be torn apart.” He rolls his lips, mouth no doubt as dry as my own. “So, what I want is for you to say yes as I pluck this ring from its box and lower it to your finger, asking for permission to make you mine forever.”
As Emmett does as he just described, he hands the box off to Sawyer.
With our foreheads pressed together, his trembling hand hovers the ring over my finger.
“Billie Freya Quinn, will you marry me?”
Emmett could’ve asked me this question today, next year, or a whole decade from now. There was only ever going to be one answer.
“With every piece of me, Em, yes.”
EPILOGUE
Eleven Years Later—June
Seattle
EMMETT
“How many goddamn floors does this building have?”I grumble to myself when I hit the twelfth floor and pause, gazing up at the seemingly endless stairwell.
Reaching into the back pocket of my jeans, I pull out the map the security guard gave me down in the lobby and study it quickly. This floor is circled as the location of the new Seattle offices for Morgan Jones & Richards LLP, even if the new plaque hasn’t been fixed above the door.
As soon as I key in the security code and enter, the smell of fresh paint hits me, quickly followed by the scent of a thousand different flowers, all set in vases that line a wooden reception desk, which is located in the center of a vast white space. I have no doubt that every single arrangement has been sent by clients and friends to celebrate Billie’s recent appointment as managing partner, one of them from my little brother, Beau, and his family.
For the past eleven years, my wife has been gradually conquering the world, with me riding along to enjoy the show.After I won the Cup and we had a very public marriage proposal, my knee decided it was time to call it quits. I spent the entire offseason convincing the trainers and my body that I had another season left in me, questioning and fearing what it would be like to live life without pro hockey in it.
The answer? Fucking spectacular. It wasn’t that I didn’t miss the buzz of the crowd each time my skates hit the ice—because I did. I still do. But what I found in place of my career was a side to life I had been missing and trying to compensate for through hockey. There are only so many seasons a pro athlete can last before it’s time to take a step back and enjoy what really counts. Family. And, man, do I have it in spades.
“Can I help you?”
I spin around to find a small middle-aged woman dressed in a smart black suit. She must be a new member of staff since I’ve never seen her before.
