Page 95 of Hold You Close
Ian
“So what happens now?” Morgan asks from the back of the minivan I still can’t believe I’m driving.
“We go home.” London squeezes my right hand, which she’s holding in her lap.
“Whose home? Are you going to live with us now, Aunt London?” the nosy little thing wants to know.
“Um, I’m not sure.” London seems a little flustered by the question, but I’m not.
“I hope so.” I pick up her hand and kiss the back of it. “All that running across the back yard is getting tiresome, don’t you think? I feel like a teenager sneaking around.”
“Ian!” London laughs, her cheeks going beautifully pink as she glances into the back seat.
“Please. It’s not like we don’t know you stay the night.” Christopher’s tone tells me he’s rolling his eyes right now, even if I can’t see it.
“Seriously,” Morgan agrees. “You guys are, like, so obvious.”
In the rearview mirror, I catch Ruby’s eye and wink at her. “Well, Lon? What do you say? Think you can live with a hot caveman, two smart-ass teenagers, and one adorable almost-first-grader?”
London laughs, and the sound warms my insides. “I think I can handle it.”
“What the heck, Uncle Ian?” Morgan shrieks in outrage. “Was that supposed to be a proposal or something? That’s not how you do it!”
I meet her defiant stare in the rearview mirror. A week ago I probably would have been angry at her big mouth, but today I just grin. This is my life now, and I’m embracing every chaotic, unexpected moment. “Oh no?”
“No! You have to give her a ring,” Morgan insists.
“And get down on one knee,” adds Ruby.
“And maybe phrase it a little differently,” my nephew suggests, the traitor.
“It’s okay, you guys.” London smiles at me sweetly. “Your uncle has already made me very happy this morning. One thing at a time. There’s no need to rush.”
But here’s the crazy thing—I want to rush. I want to marry London. I want to be her husband and introduce her as my wife, and love and cherish and protect her and these kids for the rest of my life. I feel like we’ve spent way too much time apart already, and patience has never been my strong suit. So when I spot a billboard for the Love Me Tender Wedding Chapel off the next highway exit, I quickly veer onto the off ramp.
“Ian?” London gives me a funny look. “This isn’t our exit.”
“It isn’t?” I spy a sign for the chapel, one of those horrible all-in-one places that will supply everything from rings to a license to witnesses to an Elvis-impersonating officiant, probably all for ninety-nine bucks.
London sees it too. “Oh, my God. Ian Chase, what on Earth are you doing?”
All I can do is grin.
When I pull into the Love Me Tender parking lot a couple minutes later, my heart is pounding. I turn off the car, turn around and look at the stunned faces in the back. “Well? Are you going to help me do this right?”
Morgan recovers first and beams. “Get out of the car. You too, Aunt London.”
London, who looks like she’s in shock, does as Morgan says. A minute later, all five of us are piling into the chapel’s lobby, which conveniently contains a glass display case featuring some gold wedding bands of dubious quality. Nothing even remotely resembles the engagement ring I’d have chosen for London, but I can remedy that later. I take her hand and whisper in her ear. “Pick out the one you like, sweetheart. I’ll get you a diamond eventually, I promise. Anything you want.”
She looks at me with tears in her eyes. “Are you sure you want to do this now?”
“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my entire life.”
She smiles. “Me either. And I don’t need a diamond on my finger to prove it.”
She’s going to have one anyway, but I love her even more for saying that.
I grab her hand and pull her toward the chapel. “Good. Now, let’s go make you my wife.”
