I studied Dean. He had his hands clasped tightly in front of him. His focus was on Jessica, watching her make her way to Simon on the arm of her dad. Once she and Simon were standing together, the congregation sat back down, and Dean looked at me, breaking into a slow smile.
He’d been up early, steaming the wrinkles out of his suit. I’d walked in on him just as he’d gotten to the chorus of “Unchained Melody,” quietly singing to himself.
“I love you,” I mouthed.
He stared back with a gaze that set my insides quivering. “Marry me,” he mouthed.
My eyes widened.
Simon and Jessica began reciting vows, and all eyes were on them. Except ours. He did not just do that.
“Marry me,” he mouthed again.
I nodded. Of course I would. I would marry him right now if I wasn’t in the middle of someone else’s wedding day. We’d have to figure out our own where, when, and how. But having Dean with me for the rest of my life? Working with me? Loving me? Letting me love him back with everything I had? “Yes.” Oops. That was out loud.
There was a slight pause in vows before they continued. Jessica would kill us. Talk about upstaging.
Next to me, Jessica’s sister nudged me with her arm. “Did he just…? Did you just…?”
“Shh.” I turned my body towards Jessica and Simon, but I couldn’t keep my eyes off of Dean. Now he was the one getting teary. The second Jessica and Simon ran down the aisle withtheir clasped hands in the air after their I-Do’s and kiss, Dean ran at me and swung me around.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my cheek to his. “What were you thinking, asking me that in the middle of their ceremony?”
Dean put me down. “I was hoping for a yes. That was a real yes, right?”
“Was it a real proposal?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Then that was a real yes, Mr. Kinney.”
He gave me a quick, fierce kiss before we got herded outside to go help throw birdseed at Jessica and Simon. They were leaving in a carriage, although we’d see them again in a few hours to dance the night away at their reception. I was looking forward to it. Well, after I changed out of this dress.
Epilogue – Dean
“Those dishes were mine,” I growled in Grace’s ear, wrapping my arms around her waist and kissing her neck.
She continued scrubbing, though she angled her neck for more. “I can’t help it if Piper likes your singing better than mine. Is she asleep?”
“She’s close. Let me have the scrubber, babe.”
Grace put down the plate she’d been holding and handed back the scrubber. Only, when she moved out of the way, I didn’t see her grab the sprayer and aim it at me until it was too late. I got a blast to the chest that had me gasping in shock and her laughing her head off. We wrestled for the sprayer, and I got another blast, this time in the face, but then it was mine. Instead of soaking Grace, l stripped my shirt off and guarded the sink.
“What’s your big plan now?” Grace asked, openly admiring me with her hands on her hips. Her lips twitched with a smile.
“My plan is to finish these dishes and then come find you and bother you to death while you’re illustrating.”
“This plan sounds familiar. Except I like it when you come bother me.”
“Oh really?”
“I get plenty done during the day. Wanna have a dance party, husband-o-mine?” she asked.
“Always.”
“Here, toss me that shirt, and I’ll go start a load of laundry.” She caught my shirt when I tossed it and walked off down the hall.
I cleaned up the water mess and finished the dishes as quickly as possible. Then I went to find Grace, where she was indeed cross-legged on the couch, illustrating with her tablet in her lap and her stylus in hand.
