Page 118 of Sometimes You Fall

“Well, we were at it for almost three hours, so I agree…didn’t know it could be that tiring.”

The sun has set on the day, and even though the shower was over two hours ago, I had to keep Scottie at the house until night fell. According to Astrid, everything is in place, and as soon as we pull into the driveway, I’ll be prepared to give Scottie one last gift for the day—which, in my opinion, is the most important one.

Scottie lets out another yawn. “I might even just skip a shower and go straight to bed.”

“Aw, I was looking forward to scrubbing you clean.”

She eyes me knowingly from her side of the truck. “Scrub me clean, or make me dirty first, Grady?”

I wink over at her. “Both, baby.”

“Men. They only have one thing on their mind…always.”

“Actually, I currently have two things on my mind, Scottie.”

“Oh yeah? What’s the other one?”

I don’t have to reply because as soon as I pull into the driveway, the light from the electric candles in my front yard comes into view.

“Grady…what is that?” Scottie leans forward in her seat as I cruise toward my house, inching closer to our home and hopefully the beginning of our forever.

When I shift the truck in park, Scottie looks over at me with tears in her eyes. “What’s going on?”

“Let me help you down,” I say, exiting the truck and walking over to her side, taking in a few deep breaths to calm my nerves. I’m fairly certain this woman wants the same things I do, but it still doesn’t diminish the nerves that I feel racing through me.

“Grady…” Scottie holds on to my hand intensely as I lead her over to the giant tree in my front yard, the one that currently has a tire swing and a baby swing hanging from two of the branches.

When we get to the baby swing, I spin her around to face me and prepare to deliver the most important speech of my life. “Scottie…the first time we sat together under a tree, all I wanted to do was kiss you. The second time I got you under a tree—this tree to be exact—I finally did. But now, I want to push our baby girl in this swing under this tree and watch her grow into the tire swing when she’s old enough for that too.” Scottie’s eyes are filled with tears, but I keep going. “I want to marry you under this tree if you want that too, but all I care about is not wasting anymore time, baby. We found each other again on purpose, and our daughter is going to experience love and family better than you could ever imagine. That’s what I want for my life, forourlife, Scottie. So, I guess the question is, are you going to let me give it to you? Are you going to trust me enough to fall? Because I fell for you a long time ago and I don’t ever want to stop falling in love with you. I want you in my life forever—as my wife.”

“Oh my God.”

I drop to one knee and pull the ring from my pocket that I’ve had in there all day. “Scottie Daniels…” She laughs at my use of her maiden name. “Will you marry me?”

With a trembling lip, she nods before whispering, “Yes.”

That familiar intensity lifts from my chest as I slide the three-carat emerald cut solitaire diamond ring on her finger. Standing back up to my full height, I frame her face in my hands. “I love you.”

“I love you more,” she says, her voice thick with emotion. And there, under the tree, we seal our future with a kiss—a future we never imagined could be ours.

***

A Few Months Later

“All right. This is it. This is where we beat Dallas and bring the Carrington Cove Cup to Smells Like Sugar,” Penn says as we huddle around in preparation for the last game.

Scottie is a few days past her due date, but she insisted I still play in the games and take Penn up on his offer to play on his team to try to dethrone Dallas. And we are so fucking close. One more competition and it’s over.

Astrid jumps up and down. “Oh my God! I can’t believe we’re so close!” She looks past me and sticks her tongue out at Dallas and Willow, who are glaring in our direction.

“Isn’t Willow your best friend?” I ask her before taking a sip of my water.

“Not today, she’s not, Grady. Not today.”

Chuckling, I glance over at my fiancée, making sure she’s okay. Scottie is sitting in a chair under a big beach umbrella, trying to keep cool, even though it’s hotter than Satan’s asshole out here.

The past few months have been intense, and not just because of the heat wave rolling through the East Coast. As soon as Scottie hit her third trimester, she’s been miserable. School is out for the summer, and she’s officially on maternity leave now, thank God. But that means that she’s been more than eager to give me a mile-long to-do list of things that need to be done before our daughter arrives.

Having her move in with me has been incredible because I get to go to sleep and wake up next to her, but when people warned me about the hormones and mood swings that were waiting for me as my fiancée approached her due date, I had no idea just how powerful they could get.

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