Page 85 of Bending The Rules

“Here,” I said, holding out my hands. “Why don’t I take the baby, and you two take the opportunity to have a moment to go dance?”

“I don’t want to dance with this fool!”

“Yes you do, Pussy Nurse,” Joseph said, plucking Jaden from Devyn’s hands to put him into mine. Without really giving her a chance to protest, he pulled her up from the chair, taking her out onto the dance floor with him.

Jaden grinned at me, and I grinned back, but we’d only been alone for a few moments when Justin came from nowhere, sliding into the seat beside me.

“Where have you been?” I asked him, using Jaden’s little hands to cover his eyes for peekaboo.

“Just taking care of some things. You’re looking really good over here with a baby in your arms. We may have to make something happen sooner than later.”

I chuckled, and shook my head. “Our adoption paperwork is already in. When they find the child that needs us, they’ll let us know.”

“WURFUR,” Jaden said suddenly, bellowing the word out as if he’d been trying to tell us for hours.

Justin frowned. “What the hell is a wurfur, nephew?” he asked, and I shook my head.

“That’s the new word you told me that Joseph was so tickled about.”

“That still doesn’t explain what it is.”

I grinned. “It means he’s hungry.”

Justin was still confused, but he stood up. “Alright. Well, let’s get him back to his Mama. I’ll take him,” he said, and I lifted Jaden up into his arms. “In the meantime, I have something I need you to look at.” He bent down, reaching under his chair for a white box I hadn’t noticed before, tied with a white bow.

“What is this?” I asked, my heart pounding hard as I accepted the box, not knowing what was inside yet.

He shrugged. “Just open it. I’ll be back.”

With that, he disappeared into the crowd with Jaden. I carefully untied the ribbon from the box, and pulled off the top. Frowning, I reached into the box for the old school iPod –myold iPod, from my parent’s attic – that was laying on top of another, smaller box. It had a sticky-note on the front that read “play me”, so I glanced around, then put the attached earbuds in my ears, and hit the button to start the music.

My heart leaped up into my throat when Jagged Edge’sLet’s Get Marriedstarted playing in my ears. I looked around again, searching the crowd for Justin, but didn’t see him. My hands were shaking when I turned back to the box, reaching for the smaller one inside.

It was another box inside of a box but this time I was almost 100% sure what I would find in the tiny black velvet box. I opened it to find a note folded on top, and picked it up, taking a second to marvel about the perfect, princess cut diamond ring. I pushed out a trembling breath, then unfolded the note.

“Rule #38: You can have your own bedroom if you want…under two conditions. One: never take this ring off. For the second... read the inscription.”

My hands were shaking so bad that I barely got the ring from the box without dropping it. I held it up, squinting to read the tiny words inside.

“Rule #1: Best Friends Forever.”

I broke into giggles, then looked up, looking for Justin again. This time, I saw a line of familiar faces – my parents, Aviva, Eric, Jason, a very pregnant Reese, Joseph, Devyn, Nikita, EJ, Rich, and all the kids... and Justin, right in the middle, all smiling at me.

Waiting.

“Are you asking me to be your wife,” I said, looking right at him as I pulled the earbuds from my ears. “Or your best friend?”

He split from the crowd to approach me, then dropped to one knee. He took the ring from me, and held it up. “That’s an impossible distinction, Tee. I need you to be both. Think you can handle it?”

The corners of my mouth curved into a smile as I held out my hand for him to put that ring on me.

“Absolutely.”

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