Page 74 of Lush Curves

That night, Annie had stayed over at Sam's house for the first time since Cindy had come into his life. The next morning, she'd joined them for breakfast for the first time. And she hadn't really left since. The moving in process of that day was really a formality, a nod to what everybody already knew and accepted, a confirmation of the obvious.

Sam had the ring in his pocket. He was going to propose that night.

Assuming all was OK with Sarah and the babies.

The answer that they'd all been waiting for came less than ten minutes later: Mac returned, Jax following right on his heels. Everyone shot to their feet – even the pregnant Tessa and Naomi – and they gazed at Jax in anticipation.

"Everything's fine," he told them, looking strained but happy. "Everyone'sfine."

They moved towards him as one, a wave of sheer delight and joy, hugging him, clapping him on the shoulder, kissing him. He grinned broadly, then raised his voice a bit:

"You can come and meet Jennifer Rose and Caleb Michael in about thirty minutes. Their mother is feeding them right now, and says that after, she needs to brush her hair and put on lipstick before she has visitors, because – oddly enough – she looks like a woman who's just given birth to twins."

"Jenny and Caleb?" Annie said a bit teasingly, knowing how long they'd gone back and forth on the names. "Final decision?"

"Final decision," Jax told her. "Sarah informed me of that about three minutes before big brother Caleb arrived, and I wasn't about to argue with her."

"Smart move," Mac said. "You really ain't as dumb as you look, are you?"

The room erupted into laughter, then everyone got ready to troop down the hall in small groups, to meet Jenny and Caleb Hamill.

**

Sam tucked Cindy into bed, kissed her on the top of her head. She'd slept through visiting the babies, which would annoy her greatly in the morning, he knew. But she was exhausted, and so he'd just make sure that she got to the hospital early the next day.

He went out to the living room, saw Annie starting to peel the packing tape off the boxes. He quickly went over to her, took her hands.

"Nah, honey. Wait until the morning, OK?"

"Oh, I'm not ready to go to sleep," she told him. "I'mwaytoo keyed up from meeting my beautiful grandbabies. I'll be up for a while."

"Good."

She cocked her head at him. "Good?"

"Yes, princess. Good."

"Why good?"

"Because I want to talk to you."

"Oh." She blinked up at him, a bit puzzled. "Um... OK."

Without a word, without letting go of her hands, Sam slowly sank to his knees on the floor in front of her. Annie gasped and he smiled. They were both disheveled and dusty, and they were surrounded by towering piles of cardboard boxes, and he knew that his hair was as much of a mess as hers was – and he thought that she'd never looked so beautiful, that this was the perfect moment. That he'd never loved her more than he did right now.

"Annie?"

"Yes?" she whispered. "Yes, Sam?"

He reached into his jeans pocket, pulled out the box, opened it to reveal the diamond ring. She gasped again, raised one trembling hand to her mouth.

"Annie, my gorgeous, wonderful, kind princess... will you make me the happiest man on the planet? Will you be a mother to that sweet little girl sleeping in there? Will you be in my bed and in my heart for the rest of our days?" He took the ring out of the box, held it to her finger. "Will you marry me, Annie? Will you?"

"Yes," she said, stunned. "Oh, God, Sam...yes."

He slid the ring on, and she smiled through her tears, thinking that the happiest day of her life had just become perfection. Unable to wait even one second longer, Sam got to his feet, took her in his arms. Their kiss was pure magic: gentle and teasing, passionate and fiery, tender and feral. It was everything that they were separately, but made perfect when combined together. Like love, like relationships, like marriage – it was bringing together two separate souls, taking two things that were fine on their own but were made much better as one.

It was the best thing in the world.

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