“It doesn’t change the fact that none of this matters. The job, the money, Rafe being out of my way, if I don’t have you,” he says. “I’m sorry that I didn’t recognize you. My maid. My waitress. The girl in the green dress who bewitched me. But know this, Mila Rojas, every version of you did just that: bewitched me. Including the version you are now.”
“You mean the hot, blubbering, homeless, jobless mess?” I ask, only half joking.
Dominic pulls me against him. “No. The beautiful, talented, driven, stubborn, loving woman standing in front of me. The woman who is carryingmychild. A child I want more than I’ve ever wanted anything.”
“Do you mean that?” I ask shakily.
“I do,” he smiles softly. “And I also mean this…”
Dominic drops to his knee, and my hand claps over my mouth as I half laugh and half sob.
“Mila Rojas, will you marry me? For real?”
The ring is his mother’s ring still, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I nod and hold out my hand before answering. “Yes. Yes, I will.”
Dominic smiles and sniffs as he slips the ring back on my finger. Then he comes to his feet and pulls me into a kiss. I soften into him, and after a warm, sweet moment, he pulls back.
“Alright everyone,” he shouts, startling me a little. “She said yes!”
The lights come on and everyone we know, from Lainey to Niko to Andrew, along with people from his office and even his dad, appear; all clapping and cheering.
“Oh my god,” I laugh, leaning into him. “Did you plan all of this?”
“I did,” he says as he pulls me from the ring. Our friends all rush us, everyone wanting to see the ring again.
“I still wonder what he would have done if you’d said no,” Andrew laughs, clapping a hand over Dom’s shoulder.
“God, imagine how awkward that would have been,” Lainey says, hugging me.
“Imagine how much money I would have lost, closing this place down all evening for nothing,” Niko says, and everyone laughs.
“Well, it wasn’t for nothing,” I say, pulling away from Lainey to lace my arms around Dominic again. “Because I did say yes. And I’d say it a hundred more times.”
“Well, that settles it. Let’s have a party,” Niko says, and everyone cheers. Music comes through the speakers, and the ballet girls take the stage again. This time Amanda begins a modern dance routine as the bartenders pass out drinks to everyone.
Dominic looks down at me and I look up at him, holding each other in the middle of the bustling room.
“Do you mean it?” he asks. “Would you say yes again?”
“Again,” I smile, pressing my lips to his for a short kiss. “And again,” I plant another kiss. “And again,” I whisper before our lips lock. We melt into a kiss that blurs the edges of the room and muffles every sound around us until it’s only me and him.
Epilogue
Mila
“Are you sure this is what you want?” Dominic asks me for the hundredth time. We are sitting at the back of the limo, and our friends are packed into the side seats. That was another thing I told him I wanted: to ride with our friends and not take our own limo to the reception.
“Yes,” I smile, taking his hand in mine as we dodge yet another confetti bomb as it sprays right in front of us. “This is what I want.”
“Alright,” he says, shielding me from a balloon that makes its way back to us after bouncing from Lainey to Andrew and back. “Because you can just say the word and I’ll tell my guys to pack everything up and haul it over to a hotel lobby or even your studio.”
“She wants the reception at the Cockpit, Dom! Jesus!” Lainey lets out. She is on her third drink already, and I laugh. I can’t believe limos actually let people drink in them, but I also don’thate it. I am six months postpartum, and I can’t say much because I haven’t turned down a drink since Joanna was born.
“Alright, alright! Punch me for wanting to make sure mywifehas the wedding of her dreams! Damn,” Dominic says, and I laugh, attempting to flatten down my dress. I might have gone overboard with the poof, but Lainey told the woman at the bridal shop that I needed a dress to match the ring. The ring could be the center of a solar system, so I guess a princess dress is fitting. I look like Cinderella, but in white, and I love it.
The limousine pulls up to the back door of the Cockpit, and I wait for everyone else to get out before I try. My dress takes up half the car. It’s a bit ridiculous, but I don’t care.
“You look like a birthday cake,” Lainey giggles as she helps me straighten it out once I am standing on solid ground.
