But then his mother had come back into the room.
She’d stopped in front of him, taken his hand, and pressed a small gold band with a modest solitaire into his palm. Tears had shone in her eyes as she folded his fingers around it.
She’d told him she knew he’d find the woman this belonged to.
That had been a good day.
“What’s up, Mathew?”
His head snapped up, and he closed his fist around the ring as River came toward him. Her gaze moved over his suit, slow and appreciative. “You clean up nice.”
Mathew stood and held out his free hand. “We’re going to be late if you don’t get upstairs and change.”
River groaned. “Do you think Isabelle would forgive me if I showed up in my coveralls?”
He laughed. “If it were up to me, you could go exactly as you are.” He tipped his head. “But considering today’s probably going to live forever in wedding pictures, maybe go with something a little less covered in grease.”
She smirked. “Give me ten minutes.”
River leaned in and kissed him, then squeezed his shoulder before heading up the stairs.
After she disappeared inside, Mathew looked down at the ring once more. He had gone over this a hundred different ways—when to do it, how to do it, whether he should wait.
But every time he landed in the same place.
He didn’t want another day without River fully in his life.
Mathew stepped inside and shut the door quietly behind him. Then he moved toward the center of the room and waited, nerves tightening with every passing second.
“Do you want to do something fun after the ceremony?” River called from the other room. “I know the reception’s right after, and you probably have to make an appearance since you’re the best man, but maybe we could sneak away later?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he drew in a breath, dropped to one knee, and opened his hand.
At that exact moment, River stepped out of her room in a beautiful navy gown and stopped cold.
Her eyes flew from his face to the ring.
“Mathew,” she whispered.
He looked up at her, his heart pounding hard enough to drown out every prepared speech he’d rehearsed.
Then he told her the truth.
“I never believed in happily ever afters. I thought that it was perfectly acceptable to go through life simply surviving. But then I met you.”
Tears welled instantly in her eyes.
“Loving you changed that.” His voice roughened. “You changed that. You made me want more than survival. More than routine. You made me want a life that felt full.” He swallowed. “And you’ve made me want to be a better man inside it.”
River covered her mouth, her shoulders trembling.
He smiled a little, because there was only one way he wanted to ask her this.
“River Brooks, will you be my happily ever after?”
This time her laugh was a startled burst of sound. She’d asked him that very question when they’d first met, and it had nearly knocked him off his feet. If he’d known then what he did now, he would have accepted and held her to it.
Then she nodded.
