I push open the door and freeze.
The rooftop is completely transformed. There are pink roses everywhere, along with pink tulips, snapdragons, and a dozen other types of flowers, some of which I don’t even recognize.
Bray is standing by the bar area in a suit with a pink pocket square poking out that perfectly matches the new dress he bought Ava, which she’s wearing as she bounces from one leg to the other while standing next to him. I look around to see all our friends gathered in a crowd to the side. The bar has a giant chocolate fountain going and is lined with bottles of champagne. And a few sparkling ciders.
Then I see my sister, and I frown. What the heck is happening?
I walk toward Bray as a hush falls over the crowd.
Bray falls to his knee in front of me and takes my hand, and I gasp.
“Carly Aileen Maxwell, I’ve been in love with you since the first moment you walked through that door over there and into our lives. You and Ava”—he turns to wink at Ava, who grins at him as if he’s the center of her universe—“are everything to me. I want us to be a family. I want to sit on the park bench, get our coffee at Cam’s Cafe, have drinks on this rooftop every week, and journey through this crazy adventure called life together. I’m not perfect, and I took too long to figure out that I don’t just love you, I’m in love with you. And I know it’s only been a little over a month, but I don’t want to waste any more time. I want us to start our happily ever after now, or soon. You saved me, you and Ava both. I wasn’t living until I allowed myself to fully love you,” he says, and I grin down at him. “Will you do me the great honor of being my wife, my partner, my everything?”
I look toward Ava, and she squeals in excitement and nods as everyone else laughs at her adorable behavior.
He glances at Ava and smiles. “Ava has already said she is one hundred percent on board with the idea.”
“Oh?” I manage through tears of joy and probably hormones.
He nods and gazes back up at me.
“So what do you say, Carls?”
I smile back at him and nod. “Yes,” I whisper. “I want all of that.”
He opens a dark blue velvet box, and I gasp as I see a pink diamond in a band of gold. He slides it on my finger, and I fall into his arms, hugging him as we kiss.
Everyone is clapping and cheering. When I pull away, he removes another small box and opens it. It’s a matching necklace.
“Ava, this one’s for you,” he says, and she walks over and looks at it.
“Here,” he says as he takes it out while balancing me on his knee. He fastens it around Ava’s neck, and she twirls with it on.
“You are my princess,” he declares, and she grins at him and then jumps into our open arms. We all hug, and I hear a few of our friends sniffling with the same happy tears I feel running down my face.
When I pull back, Al is standing nearby with champagne flutes. He goes to hand them to us as well. I take mine awkwardly as Al turns to everyone else. Somehow, they have all gotten their champagne already.
“To the happy couple!” he yells to a round of cheers. We raise our glasses, but I don’t take a sip. Bray stops drinking and looks at me.
“What’s wrong?” he asks.
“I…uh, so…I’m pregnant,” I whisper.
His eyes widen. “I didn’t think…how?”
I give him a pointed look, and he laughs. “I mean, how is it possible?”
Shrugging, I say, “I have no idea. My doctor said it was a one-in-a-million chance, but it happened, likely in Italy. I was late last week and went to see him. And he confirmed it. I mean, it’s very early, but so far, everything is going well.”
He sets down his glass, and his hands fall to my belly. I see a tear fall from his eye, and then he looks back into mine.
“Are those happy tears or sad tears?” I ask as I wipe his tear away.
“The happiest tears in the world,” he says. And then he turns to everyone, “We’re having a baby!” he exclaims to hoots and hollers of congratulations.
“I’m gonna be a big sister?” Ava screams.
I’m a little nervous because things could still go wrong, but I decide to let myself enjoy this for a moment. I’ll explain more to her later. So, I nod, and she runs at me and throws her arms around my belly.
