Page 100 of Tangled

“Come on! Walk, please,” Amy demands as she shuffles through the door with two kids in front of her and one attached to her hip. Her hair is a mess from the wind and her son who’s currently grabbing a huge chunk of it, her jeans have some sort of stain on the leg, and you can almost see the tears on the verge of falling from her eyes.

“Come here, Evan!” Olivia says with a motherly voice as she turns from Drew, Tammy, and myself and grabs the baby from Amy’s arms when they stop in the entryway. Seeing her with a child on her hip does things to my heart and has my stomach flipping. She’s going to be the best mom. I can’t wait to watch her love and nurture our child.

Drew, Tammy, and I move away from the door as Perry comes forward to join Amy and Olivia.

“Where’s John?” Perry asks Amy once she’s directed the kids to the patio where the rest of them are. Perry’s children are a little older so it’s nice to know they’re partially supervised while the parents can converse.

Amy’s eyes find the ground as she drops the diaper bag on the floor and peels off her coat. “He’s working late. There’s some mad rush to get something finished before the holidays,” she explains, but it seems she’s more upset about that than she’s letting on.

Perry shoots a knowing gaze at Olivia as Olivia shakes her head.

“Okay, well I’m glad you and the kids still came. Clara is working late tonight too, but she should be here soon. She insisted she had to finish a presentation before the weekend. But, come on. Let’s go eat some yummy snacks,” she smiles down at the baby in her arms while leading everyone into the kitchen around the food.

Everyone chats and nibbles on the appetizers while dinner finishes in the oven. The screaming and laughing of kids in the other room provides a glimpse of our future—but it doesn’t scare me. In fact, it makes me anxious in a good way—a way that shows me what this next chapter of our lives is about to look like. It’s scary but full of optimism—and my house full of people that care about us assures me we can handle it with everyone’s support.

“Knock, knock,” Cooper shouts as he comes in through the front door, dressed in his uniform, the tan and green fabric stretched across his broad chest. His radio clings to his vest, which holds a few other tools I’m sure he uses from time to time. The belt wrapped around his waist holding his gun and keys clangs as he walks further inside.

“Hey, Coop! What are you doing here?” Olivia rushes over to hug her brother with his surprise visit, ruffling his dark hair a bit. We knew he was working tonight, so we didn’t think he’d be able to come.

“I had to stop by a least for a little bit. I’m on the clock, but one of the other patrol units is on standby in case we get a call. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss tonight,” he says, which makes my gut clench.

‘What’s going on tonight?” Olivia asks just as I shoot a wide-eyed look of death at Cooper.

“Uh, your party, of course,” he tries to recover, but Olivia narrows her eyes at Cooper before directing them to me.

“You wouldn’t just show up for some party, Coop. Why are you really here?” Her hands find her hips while she stares down her brother, making me sweat.

This wasn’t how I planned this. I had it all mapped out in my head, and then fucking Cooper had to open his loud mouth. I feel retribution coming for my future brother-in-law in more ways than one.

“Uh… I…,” Cooper stutters and then looks at me to save him. I point my finger at him and then mimic a punch in my hand, the sound pulling Olivia’s attention back to me. Our friends dart their eyes across the room at each other, waiting to see how I handle this wrench in my plan.

“Kane?” She turns to me now just as I drop my hands and take a deep breath.

“Well, this wasn’t how this was supposed to happen… but I guess since almost everyone’s all here, there’s no time like the present,” I concede while walking over to the bags of gifts under the Christmas tree Olivia had wrapped in preparation for the white elephant game we were going to play later. The ring was ready to go in the gift I had strategically placed for Olivia to pick. She would have opened it to show everyone and I was going to drop down on one knee. But apparently life doesn’t go as planned for us.

And in this moment, I realize that’s okay. In fact, I willingly accept that life with Olivia will constantly be a path of twists and turns and tangled plot lines—and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I pick up the bag and retrieve the black velvet box, standing and turning around to see Olivia watching my every move. Walking up to her, her eyes glance down at the box and she sucks in a deep breath.

“Olivia,” I say before dropping to a knee in front of her. I hear the shuffle of our family and friends around us, moving closer so they can see and hear. I hope Drew is coming through for me and recording this like I asked.

“Three years ago, my life was shattered. I was betrayed by the two people closest to me and I never thought I would bounce back from that. But when I saw you dancing away on that stool at Tony’s, something inside of me pulled me to you. What started out as hot and passionate, quickly turned to something more meaningful with the help of a bunch of crickets.”

Olivia laughs while everyone else around us chuckles. Our friends and family are all familiar with the cricket story by now.

“You showed me that opening my heart up again was worth the risk. And even though our pasts were intertwined, in some twisted up way, it was my tainted betrayal and your devastating disappointment that brought us together. We healed the cuts both of us had yet to recover from. And now, we’re going to be joined together forever by the life we’ve created,” I reach up to caress her belly.

“I love you more than I ever thought was possible. I need you and want you more than you will ever know. You’ve put me back together, built me up to be the man I always wanted to be, and I want nothing more than to be that man for you for the rest of our lives.”

I reach down and open the box and extract the ring—a classic princess cut diamond with smaller diamonds on the band—before reaching for her hand to place the ring on her finger once she says yes.

“Olivia Walsh, will you marry me?”

Olivia’s eyes are clouded by tears, but they never leave mine as she smiles down at me so wide, tears cascading down her cheeks, and her hand trembling before she nods.

“Yes, Kane,” she says, choking out the words through the emotion clogging her throat—but those two words are all I needed to hear. I slide the ring on her finger as our friends and family clap and cheer, filling the room with celebration as I rise and pull her into me for a searing kiss—sealing our commitment to each other in front of everyone.

“I love you,” I whisper when we part.

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