Page 143 of Gracefully Yours

“Ours, darling. It’s ours.”

“W-what?” I practically stammered out the words.

Ourhouse? But we had a perfectly good house. Sure, he bought it for just him, but it washome, and therefore it was good enough for the two—soon to be three—of us. But… he looked so serious that I knew he wasn’t kidding.

Our house.

He ran his fingers through his hair bashfully. Like this gesture wasn’teverything.“I had it built and designed for you. All those late nights in the office, all the secret phone calls… I wanted to surprise you, Charlotte. To show you how serious I was about this. Us. And now…” He let his hands rest over my still-flat stomach, over our baby.

“Oh,” I said simply. But he hadn’t even known until yesterday that I was pregnant. And he’d gone and had a house built for me? “But the lot… I thought it had sold?” Months ago.

“I bought it.”

I snorted. “Obviously. But you didn’t tell me.”

All my doubts about his love vanished in that moment. I couldn’t believe he had done something like this for me.

“Charlotte… In case it wasn’t obvious, I love you.” His forehead rested against mine, and my breath caught. “I’m in love with you.”

“You really love me?” I whispered, even though he’d already said it. Proved it, too. But I was selfish, and I just wanted to hear him say it again. “Not just as my best friend?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed, “I really fucking love you, Char.”

“Daniel—” I was blinking back the tears.

“I’ve been so in love with you—so desperately,hopelesslyin love with you—since your freshman year of college, and I always hoped you’d see me like that too. That you’d wake up and realize I was right here, and I always had been. Watching you date other people broke my heart, and I tried so hard to move on. To not want you. But I couldn’t. When we made that marriage pact my senior year, all I could think about was how much I wanted to tell you I had feelings for you. That I wanted to be with you, for real. But I didn’t want to lose your friendship. The thought of not having you in my life was unbearable, so I decided it would be better to stay friends.” With a shake of his head, Daniel paused and took a deep breath. “But this… thisisreal, darling. I’ve always longed to call you my wife. From the moment I met you, I knew you were the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I want to walk through this life with you, hand in hand, and raise our children together. I want us to settle down and make a home here. Start our family here.”

He dropped to one knee right there. In our future kitchen, where we would spend countless hours cooking and laughing, lay before me. There was no doubt about that in my mind. “Charlotte Alexandra Bradford, will you marry me?”

I couldn’t suppress my giggle. “We’re already married, silly.”

“Then will you marry me again?” He ran his fingers over my ring, pressing a small kiss to it. “For real this time. If you’ll have me.”

“I don’t know what to say.” Because there were toomanythings to say. Not because I didn’t know what my answer was. I’d always known what my answer was.

“Say yes. Because you’re it. You’re it for me. I took one look at you and I knew I was going to marry you one day. I have loved you since I first laid eyes on you, and I’ll love you for the rest of our lives if you let me.”

“Daniel…” My eyes were definitely full of tears. “I love you too. And I’d marry you a thousand times over, if that’s what it took.”

He pulled me into his arms, placing a light kiss to my lips before he started swaying us in our new kitchen.

“You know, I first bought that ring two years ago,” he said, his voice rough. “I saw it sitting in a shop window, and I just… knew.”

“Youdid?” He’d had a ring, all that time? At first, I’d thought our marriage was a spur-of-the-moment decision. But this was proof that he’d been planning this all along. That he’d always wanted me. My eyes filled with tears. Damn pregnancy hormones.

“I didn’t even have a reason to back then. The marriage pact was in the back of my mind, always, but… It’s yours. It’s always been yours. Just like my heart.”

“I’m yours,” I said, sealing another kiss over his lips.

“Now, can I show you the rest of our house?” He asked, giving me the most dazzling smile as he pulled me towards the hallway.

“Lead the way, husband.”

“Always, wife.”

* * *

The house was perfect.But for now, I just wanted to go home. Sleep in our bed. Adjust to all the news of the last forty-eight hours. Shower off all the airport gunk from my body.

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