Page 28 of Home for Nathan
“You! You were in on this. Telling me you were going out of town.”
“Well, I had to, baby. You make it hard to get stuff done if I’m not sneaky.” And then to his shock. Zion knelt down in front of him. “You deserve a baby shower.” Zion handed him a keychain, which held a key. “A baby shower. A nursery. A house to do it in. You deserve it all.”
That was it. Nathan was just going to die. Really wasn’t any other choice. No other options. He was just going to explode from sheer joy. He did manage to nod, though. And take the key ring, staring down at it. “You want me to move in with you?”
“Well, I want more than that. I even have the ring. But I was going to do that in private later tonight.”
His eyes went so wide they pulled at the corners. “Married?”
“Yep.” Zion’s eyes were so green. And gold. And perfect in their hazelness. “I want that.”
“Oh.” He stared, his lips parted.
So Zion kissed them. “I know it’s only been months and not years or anything, but you do it for me. And I realized not too long ago that I wanted you in my life for good.”
“I—I can do that?”
“Yep. Me. My yurt. My dog. If you want us.”
“I do want you. All of that.” He sobbed once, and Zion kissed him. Hard.
Cheers went up from around the room, his friends all clapping and hooting for them.
Saul walked over to him, chuckling softly. “It’s the perfect surprise.”
Nathan just shook his head, his whole self feeling frozen but totally alive. “I had no idea.”
“Yes, sweetheart, that’s what a surprise is.”
“He proposed,” Nathan blurted.
“I know. I’m so glad.”
His boss wandered over, winking at him. “I am too, because I tell you, you’re getting too big to work behind the deli counter. I’m glad to know you have someone who’s going to take care of you.”
He almost argued, and then Zion slipped something on his finger. The ring. It felt heavy on his hand, and he knew then that he was so, so in love.
Who was he fooling? He’d been in love since the start.
“I do, and I’m unbelievably lucky.”
Zion chuckled softly. “Me too. So how do you feel about rainbows to decorate the nursery?”
“I think it’s perfect. Which room is going to be the nursery?”
The one next to ours. I was going to make it an add-on to the master. This is better.”
The tears began to come again because he couldn’t help it. “The one you said was going to be a big closet.”
Zion nodded. “I’m a little farther along with things than I admitted to, and I’ve been keeping you out of certain rooms. We are totally set whenever you’re ready to move in, babe. The house is safe for you. I mean, we’ve got tons of work to do, but still, it’ll be nice to have our house. And your studio.”
He blinked at Zion, confused. “What?”
“You don’t have a studio. You haven’t had one in a long time. I found the key to the storage building that you have and, well, let’s just say I told the guy there what the situation was, that we were getting married, and I was surprising you. He asked around and figured out that I was telling the truth, so he let me clear your storage building out, so the pod is waiting, and we can spend part of the winter getting your yurt set up so you can work. Do your real job.”
“This is wild.” People didn’t have lives like this, where they made mistakes and got pregnant and then got everything they ever wanted, with people who they thought were amazing ending up actually being amazing. “Are you sure you want all of this? It’s complicated, and this is a complication that won’t go away. You just moved and you’re trying to start a business and?—”
“Hey, now. This is not a complication. This is our little girl. And we’re going to raise her, and have a ball, and teach her how to snowboard. Maybe she’ll be in the Olympics.”
