Page 82 of Cloud Nine Love

I started to nod, and I felt tears prick my eyes. I sat down on the bench behind me and pulled her into my arms. Just like I had when I’d shown up on her back porch to find out about my mom, I rested my cheek against her belly. This time, it wasn’t just her I was embracing.

“You’re pregnant.” I whispered, needing to hear myself say the words out loud for it to be real.

“Yes. I am.” She ran her fingers through my hair. “Are you…is that okay?”

I looked up at her. “It’s better than okay. It’s perfect. You have my baby inside of you.”

A wide smile spread across her face, and I could see the relief in her eyes.

It was then that I realized she might not actually know how I felt about having kids so soon with her. We’d talked about it in an abstract sense. She knew I wanted kids, and I knew she wanted at least one more so Harper wouldn’t be an only child like she had been. But I hadn’t pressed her about having any soon because I felt like she was processing enough with our relationship and the entire town finding out about us.

She sighed. “I guess this means that if you wanted to move up the timeline for asking me to?—”

Before she even finished, I was on one knee, pulling out the ring that I kept in my pocket. I held up the three-carat oval diamond ring with an eternity band.

She blinked down at me in shock. “What? How did you…did you know I was…Wait, where did you get this?”

“I bought this the day after we went to dinner with Kane and Ruby and told them about us.”

“You did?”

“I did.”

“And you just happened to have it in your pocket?”

I nodded. “I’ve been carrying it around just in case.”

Her smile widened. “Just in case, what?”

“Just in case you changed your mind.” I took a breath. “Taylor, I love you. I think I might have loved you before I even knew your name. I know that this?—"

“Yes!” she exclaimed, cutting me off as she held out her ring finger. “Yes!”

“I haven’t asked you anything yet.”

She shook out her hands impatiently. “I know, you were taking too long.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. I loved that she didn’t care about a sappy speech. She just wanted to get to the point. “Taylor Brielle Hale, will you marry me?”

“Yes, yes, yes, yes.” I slid the ring on her finger and saw tears forming in her eyes.

When I proposed to Misty, she’d picked out her ring the year before, so I knew she loved it. This time, I was flying blind. As soon as I’d seen it, I thought it was perfect, but I had no idea if she would feel the same.

“Do you like it?”

“It’s perfect,” she said as she sniffed back emotion.

I stood, pulled her into my arms, and kissed her. We were still kissing when we heard someone coming around the corner. We looked up and saw Kenna marching toward us, and she did not look happy. If she was a cartoon, she’d have steam coming out of her nose and ears.

“Hey, guess what—” Taylor started to say, but Kenna spoke over her.

“I’m looking for Sam. Have you seen him?” Anger seethed out of her. She wasn’t yelling, but that only made it worse. She possessed a calm fury that was terrifying.

Kenna had always been really fun and happy. I’d never seen her like that. The only glimpses I’d ever seen of this behavior were directed at the man she was looking for now.

I had seen Sam when I first arrived. He was making out with a curly-headed brunette while on duty on his shift at the kissing booth.

“No, I haven’t.” Taylor shook her head and then looked up at me. “What’s wrong?”

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