Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 95393 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95393 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
“We still have the girls,” she reminds me, “and I think there are two beds in one room.”
“Never.” I shake my head. “I got us a two-bedroom suite.”
“Of course you did.”
“The girls have two beds. We have one very big bed.” I wink at her. “I made a list.”
She throws her head back and laughs but grabs my T-shirt on the sides with both hands. “We are never going to get to the end of our list.”
“Good,” I tell her, grabbing her face. “That means we have a lot of dates in our future.” I kiss her lips. “I love you, by the way.”
Her forehead hits my chest. “Always has to one-up me.”
“Keeps you on your toes, baby.” I tip her chin up with my fingers and bend my head to kiss her. My tongue slides into her mouth, and she melts in my arms.
“I got it.” Luna comes into the closet, and I pull back. “I’m going to bring this one.” She holds up her white-and-pink bear.
“That’s a good one,” Koda praises, wrapping her arms around my waist. “You can pack that in your backpack.”
“It doesn’t fit,” she tells her and looks away from her mother, who disconnects herself from me.
“What do you mean, it doesn’t fit?” She puts her hands on her hips. “It was empty.”
“I added things,” she explains, twirling around in the closet, pretending she’s dancing with her bear.
“What things?” she asks her. “Let me go and see.” She walks out of the closet, taking Luna with her. “You.” She turns and points at me. “Pack your stuff.”
Luna smirks at me. “You’re in trouble, mister.” She smiles and then is ushered out of the bedroom.
The kids are so excited for the trip the next day that when my parents show up to take them out for ice cream, I give a sigh of relief. I quickly run upstairs to take a shower, walking out with a towel around my hips, and one in my hand as I towel off my hair, seeing the bed empty but my closet light on. “What are you doing?” I laugh, making my way over to the closet.
I stop at the entrance in my tracks when I see her wearing one of my T-shirts, my luggage open that I started earlier but then pivoted when the girls asked me to go for ice cream.
She turns to me, the black ring box in her hand, and tears running down her face. “Baby,” I say, taking a step into the closet, my heart is about to come out of my chest for two reasons. One, she found the ring and hates it, or two, she doesn’t want to actually marry me. I feel like I’m going to throw up.
She looks at me and then down at the ring. “I wasn’t snooping,” she whispers. “I just wanted to finish packing for you so we could go to bed.”
“One, I don’t care if you snoop in my clothes,” I say softly. “I have nothing to hide from you.”
“I know.” She looks down at the box in her hand. “The last time I went through his jacket, I found—”
“Baby,” I say, my heart breaking that this is the memory she has. “I love you,” I tell her, my heart beating in my chest because I know what I’m doing. I mean, I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m doing it, and it’s nothing like I had planned. “Are you happy?”
“You have no idea.” She shakes her head and smiles through the tears. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy before.”
“Good, that means my job is done for the day.”
“Christopher.”
“Are you going to marry me?” I just blurt it out, and the shock on her face is right away. “I asked you a question.”
“Um,” she stutters, “um…”
“So you don’t want to marry me?”
“Are you serious?” she whispers.
“Well, I planned on doing this on vacation with roses and champagne, but it seems nothing with us will ever be conventional.” I walk to her. “I’m sorry that you found it while you were packing my bag.” I grab the box from her and get down on my knee in the middle of my closet, with a towel around my waist and her in my T-shirt. “But this is where it’s going to happen.” She puts her hand to her mouth. “I know we didn’t find each other the way normal fairy tales are written.” She smiles. “But I don’t give a shit because this is our story, and we get to write it.”
“Yes,” she says, and I stop talking, “you asked me before if I was going to marry you.” She walks to me, holding my face in her hands and bending down to kiss my lips. “I love you. You make me happy. You make the girls happy. You put us first every single time. With you, I never have to doubt my worth. With you, I never have to doubt if you love me. With you, I feel like I could take on the world.”