Page 78 of Love You Too

I must look a little wobbly because Ren yanks a chair from the closest row and brings it behind me. “Here, sit.”

I obey because the only other alternative is to pass out. For the life of me, my brain can’t compute what’s happening. A minute ago, I was half convinced that Ren had changed his mind about me. About us. And now…

“What are you doing?”

He laughs again and pulls a second chair over to face mine. “Well, I had an idea.”

Ren signals to the minister, who I notice for the first time sitting in the shade of a tree a few paces away. He has a book inhis lap, and his foot crossed over one knee. The minister closes his book and walks over to us.

“He looked so comfortable. Don’t disrupt him,” I whisper to Ren, who shakes his head.

“Archer asked him to wait for us. That’s why he’s here.”

I don’t understand. “Wait for what?” The wheels whir off again of their own will, and my mind starts thinking that maybe Ren wants him to bless the baby or stage an intervention before I become a mother who can’t tell a breast pump from a boom box. My brain is still racing through ridiculous scenarios that require a minister when Ren again drops to one knee.

“Beatrix Corbett, I’ve already said this, but I want to say it again today. I am not with you because you trapped me with a baby. I’m not with you because you forced me into an impossible situation. I’m here for you. You are the reason I bought the winery in Napa, but what you don’t know is that I did it six years ago.”

I never knew what it meant when someone’s jaw dropped open until this moment. My chin feels like it’s on a hinge, my mouth gaping, no sound coming out.

“What?” I ask, finally.

“I bought the property six years ago. I did it through a trust, and it’s mostly been sitting dormant. I hired a property manager to keep the fields watered and do the minimum to maintain the place. He’s the one who hired the agriculturalist to plant the vines and fruit trees on the property. I mostly nodded and went on with my hockey career.”

“Six years ago?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Yes. And I did it as a love-struck twenty-something, hoping he’d find his way back to the one who got away. So all that crap about trapping me, get it out of your head. I’m here because I love you. End of story. For ten years, my heart’s ached for you, andthere’s no way in hell I’m walking away again. Zero chance. Zero. I give you my word right here today that I will be here for you always.”

“Ren…” I say when he stops to catch his breath. “I do love you too.”

He holds up a hand. “I’m not asking you to forgive me for ghosting you. It was wrong, and I regret it. And I can’t promise that I won’t fuck up sometimes because I’m a work in progress, but I’ll give it my absolute best. I’m asking you to have faith in me—in our future—because the only future I can imagine has you in it. I’m asking a lot, I know.”

It’s my turn to laugh because I can’t imagine him asking more than I already have of him. “More than me asking you to raise a child with me?”

He nods. “I’m asking for forever. I want you to be my partner, the love of my life, and my wife. And because I know you like efficiency, you can become my fiancée and my wife in one go. We can get married right now. If you want. Archer asked the minister to stay so he can perform a ceremony for us right here.”

Again, he holds the ring box out to me. When I take a closer look at it, I notice the diamond solitaire isn’t the only ring there. Beside it sit two plain, platinum bands. One for each of us.

I burst out laughing because I’m still not sure I’m understanding him right.

“Ren, are you serious? You want to get married right now? At my sister’s wedding?”

Ren picks up my hand and brings it to his lips. “Now, or not now. Whatever you want, honey. I just wanted to give you everything and anything you could possibly want. If you want to pull off the ultimate multitasking day, you can be a bridesmaid, a fiancée, and a bride all in a matter of an hour.”

When he says the words, I do feel a thrill of electricity hum in my veins, but for the first time, I know that being solely committed to my career is not my goal in life. Maybe it was, butit pales in comparison with what I see in front of me. The warm buzz of feeling I have is all for Ren and the possibility of spending my life with him.

“I love that you know me and my type A happy place,” I tell him, squeezing his hand. “But the reason I’m saying yes—yes to everything you just said—is not because I want to be efficient. It’s because I want to spend my life with you, Dominick Renaldi, so I say yes.”

“You’ll marry me?” He swallows hard as though the idea just occurred to him. “Hell yeah. Sorry,” he tells the minister, who nods.

“In the moment, people say all kinds of things. I’m used to it,” the minister admits before his voice is drowned out by a cheer in the vineyard just outside of where we’re sitting.

“PJ and Colin must’ve just walked in,” I tell Ren. We listen and hear glasses clinking and the rising chatter of happy guests, and I strain to hear more. Ren reaches over and cups my chin in his hand, turning my face to look at him.

“Hey, I don’t want to take you away from your sister’s wedding. Maybe this was selfish.”

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