Page 100 of My Vows Are Sealed

“No. I just felt like making something special. I’m finally done with school and we haven’t heard from my dad since I left. And I sort of promised Kate and Ash I’d give them some privacy tonight because her mom’s not going to be home. So I figured I’d surprise you with dinner.”

“Are you spending the night?” I wondered.

“I didn’t think you’d complain,” she said, turning an adorable shade of pink.

“I’m not,” I chuckled. “I’ll never complain about spending time with you. And soon enough, you’ll be here all the time.”

And God, I could not wait for that day.

“Okay, I love you, but you need to go take a shower. You smell like sweat and sawdust,” she teased. “There’s only ten minutes left on the timer, but it has to cool once I take it out, so you have time. Unless you feel like burning all your taste buds off.”

I leaned over and stole a kiss from her, and her quiet giggle as she opened for me made my heart swell. I loved that sound, and I didn’t get to hear it nearly often enough. I didn’t think I’deverseen her this happy and carefree in the entire time I’d known her. Even when she was smiling or laughing, she always had a dark cloud of sadness looming over her and the weight of the world on her shoulders. But today, it was like that had all disappeared, and it gave me hope like I’d never had before. Hope that once this was all behind us, this was what our life would be like every single day.

I knew I had to tell her about Ethan being back in town and wanting to talk to her, but it could wait until tomorrow. I didn’t have to ruin her good mood with that heavy news tonight. She needed justoneday in her life when nothing was going wrong and she wasn’t afraid of the unknown.

“I love you,” I whispered, brushing my lips over hers again. “I’d ask you to shower with me, but then dinner would probably burn.”

That made her turn the color of a fire engine as she giggled again, and I chuckled and pecked her nose, then made my way to the bathroom.

After quickly showering and throwing on some clothes, I walked back toward the living room and kitchen area. When I saw Darla bent over the oven as she pulled the Pyrex dish and something wrapped in tinfoil out, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

I’d been waiting for the quintessential “perfect” moment to give her the ring I’d been holding onto for the better part of a year. I’d wanted to go all out for her and spoil her rotten because she hadn’t gotten that very much in her life. But all she really wanted – all webothwanted – was a quiet, normal life. We both wanted the other person to be the first thing we saw in the morning and the last thing we saw at night. To be able to just enjoy each other’s company every single day.

We wanted to spend the rest of our lives having days exactly like today.

Before she could notice me staring at her, I quietly slipped back into the bedroom and grabbed the small velvet box out of my sock drawer, slipping it into the pocket of my sweatpants. When I walked back into the kitchen, she was cutting the baked spaghetti into portion-sized pieces, so I waited for her to set the knife down in the sink before wrapping my arms around her waist and kissing her shoulder.

“Mm,” she sighed contentedly. “You smell much better now.”

I chuckled. That just proved to me that I was right.Thiswas the perfect moment. I couldn’t remember a time when she’d ever been so lighthearted and carefree that she’d had the presence of mind to tease me about something like smelling like a construction site after I got home from work.

“Do you know how much I love seeing you this happy?” I murmured, kissing her neck.

She turned her head to look at me, and I couldn’t resist the opportunity for a real kiss. Her quiet moan as she slid her tongue out to meet mine made my heart swell, and the slow, unhurried kiss she gave me was complete and utter perfection.

“Youmake me this happy,” she whispered. “You always have.”

“And I’m going to do my best tokeepmaking you this happy for the rest of our lives,” I told her. “All I want is to be able to give you a life where days like today are the norm, not the exception.”

The blinding smile that spread across her face actually made a lump rise in my throat. Maybe because this was such a monumental moment for us, and she had absolutely no idea yet. I swallowed it down and took a deep breath.

Why was I so nervous all of a sudden? This was just a formality. I already knew her answer. But it didn’tfeellike a formality. It felt like my entire future hinged on this moment. Well, I guessed it kind of did.

“I’ve been trying to find the perfect moment to do this for almost a year, and I can’t believe this turned out to be it,” I chuckled awkwardly as I gently turned her to face me.

When I pulled the box out of my pocket and dropped to one knee, Darla’s eyes went wide, and I saw a tear slip down her cheek.

“Darla Jones, will you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me?” I asked, popping the box open to reveal the thin white gold band with three small diamonds that were so much smaller than she deserved.

She didn’t even answer me. She just bent down and kissed me senseless.

“I take it that was a yes?” I teased when she let me talk.

“Yes, that was a yes,” she giggled. “I love you so much.”

I let go of her and took the ring out of its box, then grabbed her left hand and slid it on her finger, smiling when I saw that it was a perfect fit.

“It’s nowhere close to what you deserve, but—”

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