“I did. And he said I could marry you if you said yes and I promised him you would. Because I mean it this time, sweetheart. Not that I didn’t mean it before...” I felt the lump form again. “This time I won’t take no for an answer. I know you’re scared and you worry that—” I began, starting my spiel to sell myself to her when she cut me off.
“Yes,” she breathed out.
One simple word, three little letters, had my world halting on its axis. I was prepared to go full-out, explaining every which way why she should marry me and she said yes.
She. Said. Yes.
“Yes?” I asked, not wanting to put too much credence into it in case there was a “but” coming. There had to be. I was dealing with Kari Stanley, after all.
“Yes.” She smiled at me again, wider this time. She shrugged like it was no big deal, like she’d just agreed to go to dinner with me.
Well, hell’s bells.
I couldn’t speak. I was afraid if I said something, she’d backtrack. Instead, I started opening the box I sat on her lap.
“You’re really going to marry me?” she asked, her voice just above a whisper. I could hear the hesitation in it, but not like I expected. She sounded surprised, like she couldn’t believeIwanted to marryher.
I laughed loudly. “Sweetheart, if I could figure out a way to make it legal, I’d marry you right now. But yeah, I’m marrying you—you better believe it.”
Her arms were around my neck before I knew what was happening, her lips on mine, her hands in my hair. She kissed me like I was her last breath, like her life depended on it. Maybe it did because my life sure as hell depended on her.
She pulled back and let me slip the ring on her finger. She took a look at it, a 2 carat brilliant cut diamond set in both white and yellow golds. It had 32 small brilliant cut diamonds flanking the center one.
“Max! Oh my God. This is gorgeous.” Her right hand flew to her mouth, her eyes filling with tears.
“It was my grandmother’s,” I said quietly, thinking how perfect it looked sitting on her finger. “When I told Mom I was going to propose, she offered it to me. If you don’t like it, I can always—”
“I love it,” she whispered. “It is absolutely perfect. Your mother doesn’t mind?”
I grinned. “Nah, she’s said to tell you to remember what she said and that’s enough.”
Tears began to spill over her cheeks and she wrapped her arms around my neck again. I buried my face in her neck and picked her up, heading for the stairs. “I don’t think I actually got to say the words,” I mumbled in between kisses to her neck. “And I want to actually say them.”
She nodded and I could feel her hold tighten.
“Marry me?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said.
Finally.
THIRTY-FIVE
KARI
Payson had been the best weekend of my life. I called my father and Jada on the way back to the Valley and they were both ecstatic.
Max called his mother and she demanded to talk to me. She welcomed me into the family, making me simultaneously uncomfortable and yet so amazingly content. He then called Pierce and Isa and Isa had insisted we start planning a party.
The way the Quinn’s saw family was hard to wrap my brain around. They welcomed me with open arms, no questions asked. After our mother died when we were young, Jada and I only had our father—that was it. No grandparents. No aunts and uncles. No cousins. So this new way of looking at it was going to take getting used to, but I had a feeling I’d adjust quickly. It was nice being a part of something bigger than myself, of knowing these people cared about me and were excited to have me around. I never expected to feel so okay about something like that, but I did.
Before I left for work on Monday, Jada stopped by the house. She wanted to see the ring and get every last crumb of a detail about the proposal. We sat in the living room while I relived the moment ofMax starting to ask me and me cutting him off. Jada was aggravated that I didn’t let him get the question out.
“But he had asked me a million times and I said no. I just needed him to cut to the chase and he was rambling,” I said matter-of-factly.
“You ruined his moment! You should have at least let the poor guy ask!” Jada said.
“He asked me again later. And made me repeat it over and over...or maybe that was just me saying ‘yes’ when I was getting off. Either way.”
