It wasn't fair how life had taught me that everything I wanted would be handed to me. I'd gotten lazy and I expected things like this to go easily. Yet there I was, learning the hard way how difficult relationships could be. But if there was anyone in this world that I'd want to do this with, it was her.
Lainey had no idea how badly I wanted this, or to what lengths I was willing to go to show her that it was her—it was always her.
How did I get through to her?
And how would I manage to keep my heart from completely disintegrating until I did?
30
LAINEY
The camera lights were too bright and the interviewer's smile was too wide and I felt like I might throw up any second. They’d been here for twenty minutes already and I just wanted them to leave.
"So tell us, Lainey, how does it feel to have raised over four hundred thousand dollars for cancer research?" The woman stood beside me with her microphone extended, fake-smiling to her camera man.
I forced a smile and tried to focus. "It feels incredible. This cause is so important and I'm honored that people showed up to support it."
"And the publicity for your bakery has been overwhelming, we hear. Orders are flooding in?"
"Yes." I glanced at Wren, who stood off to the side giving me an encouraging nod. "We've been getting orders from all over Nevada. It's been amazing, and we'll be incredibly busy keeping up for a while."
I wanted to feel happy about all of this, but I felt hollow. I had since Friday night.
"There's been a lot of speculation about your relationship with Kade Kingston," the interviewer continued. "Can you address those rumors?"
My stomach twisted. "I'd prefer to keep my personal life private and focus on the bakery." I knew this would happen and I wasn't really prepared for it at all. Without my sister's encouragement, I'd have just sent the reporters away. I was in no mood to deal with drama and gossip. I wanted my life back.
"Of course, but our viewers are curious?—"
The bakery door opened and Kade walked in with his chest puffed out and his eyes locked on me. The interviewer stopped mid-sentence while her cameraman swiveled to catch him. Wren's eyes went wide, and I watched her mouth move as she whispered, "Oh God..."
"I'm sorry to interrupt," Kade said, but he didn't sound sorry at all. He walked straight toward the camera. "But I need to say something."
The interviewer's giddy smile got wider, if that was possible. It was like she was feasting off the glee of ruining my poor private life.
"Kade," I started, but he held up his hand and sighed hard as he stopped in front of me. He was ignoring the camera entirely. The only person in the room that he saw was me. It made tears well up in my eyes.
"Let me say this." He pulled an envelope from his jacket pocket and tapped it on his open palm. "I sold my Lamborghini and Igave my parents back the keys to the house. I emptied my bank accounts... Lainey, I tried to tell you and maybe this is the only way you'll believe me.
The interviewer gasped. The cameraman moved closer, angling to get Kade's face in the shot.
"I have a check here." He held up the envelope. "For four hundred, seventy-nine thousand, two hundred and twelve dollars and thirteen cents. It's every penny I have in my name."
"What? No..." I mumbled, covering my mouth with my fingers.
"Use it for your bakery, the baby... whatever you need. I don’t want it anymore."
The word "baby" echoed through the room and I felt my knees go weak. No one knew about the baby yet. These people had cameras rolling. What was he doing?
"I don't want anything unless I have it with her," he continued, directing his words at the camera, though his eyes were on me. "I don't want the money or the cars or the life I had before. I just want her."
Then he got down on one knee.
Right there in front of the cameras and the interviewer and Wren and everyone watching at home, Kade Kingston dropped to one knee in my bakery. I pressed a hand to my belly and felt it rumble, then gritted my teeth to hold back the tears.
"Lainey Rowan." His voice trembled, and his hands shook as he reached up to take mine. "I love you. I've loved you since Vegas and I was too stupid to realize it. I treated you so badly and I had no idea how much I hurt you until someone else told me.
"You are the best thing that has ever happened to me and I will gladly give away my entire life, my name, the fame, the money. I don’t want any of it if you're not a part of my life. You are the only thing in the world that matters to me. Please... say you will be my wife, for real."
