Page 91 of Taming Georgia

“Oh my gosh, I love presents,” she says, giddy with excitement.

I place the large box on her lap. She runs her palms over the smooth paper and looks up to me, her lips turning up into a wide smile. She pulls the bottom of the ribbon. Her eyes sparkle as they dart up toward me again. The fabric falls to the side, and she lifts off the top of the box. After removing the tissue paper, she gasps.

“You kept this?”

“Yeah, I kind of stole it.”

“You did not.” She laughs.

“What were they going to do, come after me? Ruin my credit score?” I shoot her a wink.

She shakes her head. “This is where it all started, didn’t it?” She runs her hand over the cover of my old Biology textbook from high school.

“It sure did,” I tell her. “There’s a note.”

She picks up the small note and removes it from the envelope.

“Read it aloud,” I ask her.

Her eyes fill with tears, and she swallows. “This is when I started falling for you, and I’ve never stopped. I’ll continue to fall for you for all eternity because my love for you has no end. I love you. Wyatt. P.S. Open me.” Her beautiful face looks up from the card. “Open the book?” Her voice trembles.

“Open the book.”

Her hand shakes as she sets the card down. Grabbing the corner of the textbook, she opens the cover. Her hands go to her mouth as she stares, wide-eyed, at the diamond ring placed neatly in a hole cut out of the center of the book’s pages.

I grab the ring and get down on one knee. “Georgia, there was a time in my life when you were the only reason that I got up in the morning. Seeing you for one hour every day made my existence matter. At the darkest point in my life, you were my light. Now, you’re my favorite reason to get up in the morning, and you’re still my light. Life works in mysterious ways, and I’m so grateful that you came back to me. I was put on this earth to love you and only you. I promise to love and cherish you with my whole heart for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?”

Georgia sobs across from me and throws her arms around my neck. She peppers my face, her kisses wet with tears. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” she cries. “I love you! Yes!”

We make out like two seventeen-year-olds finding love for the first time. The truth is, every day, I discover more ways to love, more ways to be loved. Georgia heals a piece of my heart each day with the way in which she loves me.

“I can’t believe you stole that book.” She giggles between kisses.

“Yep, you’re marrying a criminal.”

“And I can’t wait.” She pulls my mouth to hers before abruptly stopping the kiss. “You have to put it on!” She grins.

“What?”

“The ring,” she squeals, her gaze dropping to my hand.

“Oh, yeah.”

I lift my hand, holding the diamond ring between my fingers. She extends her left hand, and I slide it on.

“It’s perfect.”

She holds her hand out in front of her, swaying it back and forth, allowing the light to catch the diamond. The ring I had designed looks completely stunning on her finger, as if it was always meant to be there. The two carat oval cushion cut diamond sits atop a rose gold halo band. It’s unique, classic, beautiful, and one of a kind—just like my Peaches.

“I can’t believe we’re getting married. How did I get so lucky?”

“I could ask the same thing.”

“Do you ever wish that we hadn’t had that misunderstanding in high school? Maybe we could’ve gotten together sooner. I could’ve gone to college in Ann Arbor, like London did. We could’ve been together all this time.”

I shake my head. “It wouldn’t have worked like that. I think we needed to be apart, so we could grow together. We had to discover who we were and what we wanted in life. So that when we saw each other again, we’d know without a shadow of a doubt that this was the life we wanted together.”

Georgia nods thoughtfully. “Yeah, maybe you’re right. I can’t imagine a life more wonderful than ours. I can’t believe this is all real.” Her stare leaves me to look down at her ring.

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