Page 117 of Make It Without You

“You can’t just spring a picture like that on someone,” I say when he picks up the phone.

“Yeah, well if you’d answer my phone calls you’d know that we got married last month.”

I stop outside of Monty’s. “Shut up!”

Brandon’s chuckle comes through the phone. “I know. We’ll tell you all about it when we’re up there next week.”

“Oh, thank you for letting me know this time,” I deadpan.

“Angie made me.”

“I’m sure she did. Well I’m about to walk into Adam’s restaurant but I’ll see you next week.”

“Okay. Bye, Em,” he says.

I put my phone in my back pocket with a smile and open the door with a screech. The lights are off, but in their place are flameless candles, rose petals, andLana Del Reycrooning softly over the speakers.

“Adam,” I breathe out.

“I planned to do this at home, but this is where we began,” he says from behind me.

I turn around and see him down on one knee. Dressed in jeans and a flannel like that day at the parent-teacher conference, but this time he’s holding a ring box.

“A year ago you wiped the line away. A year ago, you decided to give this single dad a chance. I feel like I’ve given you plenty of speeches in our time together. But this one ends with a crucial question. Will you marry me?” He asks and opens up the ring box.

“Yes,” I tell him as if I would say anything else.

Adam slides the ring on my finger and I don’t even know how it looks on my finger because all I see is him.

“She said yes!” Adam cheers and our friends and family pour out from the kitchen and the patio.

Now I can’t stop the tears from falling. “You did this for us?”

“No, baby,” Adam tells me and wraps me in his arms. “I did this for you. Because you deserve to be celebrated every single day.”

I rise up on my tiptoes and murmur, “I love you,” against his lips before sealing our new future together.

Epilogue

Emily - Three Years Later

Gurgling and little legs kicking from the bassinet signals that my little girl is awake.

“James Rose, what are you doing awake?” I coo as I bend over carefully to pick her up. I settle into the glider that’s in our bedroom and feed my baby girl.

When we found out I was pregnant with a girl, I asked Adam if he ever thought of girl names. His response was that he never thought he’d have a daughter and that I should be the one to name her. So I chose James. Named after one of the most impactful people to ever come into my life. Adam looked at me and said James Rose and that was that. Our little girl had her name.

Some would say Adam and I moved fast. But I think we moved at just the right pace. Soon after we got engaged we went right into wedding planning. But after a month of putting off the actual planning, we decided on an intimate backyard wedding. And in the early winter afternoon, Adam and I exchanged vows in front of our family and closest friends.

How did Dylan take us getting married? He was overjoyed and immediately moved into calling me mom. Of course, I cried when he first called me that. And when Adam asked if I wanted to adopt Dylan as my own, I cried for a week straight.

My heart is full of love with my three heartbeats. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Adam - Two Years Later

I am one lucky son of a gun. I have an incredible wife, who only gets more breathtaking as the years go by. A lively son, who is, God help me, about to go into high school. Dylan still loves hisMarvelandTransformersmarathons with Emily. I have a vivacious little girl who has me wrapped around her little finger. James is about as mobile as one can get at two years old. She inherited her mother’s delicate nose, but the eyes are all Montgomery much to my wife’s dismay. Emily claims our eyes are her weakness so we make sure to use them on her as much as possible.

Me: Dylan is spending the night at Jackson’s house.

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