Page 149 of Give My Everything
I see his hand rise in front of me as he looks at his watch. “It’s 6:45 and our reservation is for 7:00. Let’s walk back.”
“Bummer,” I say, spinning around wrapping my arms around his middle. “Nothing sounds better than just standing here with you.”
He snuggles me closer, ignoring his own suggestion about walking back, giving us a few minutes to enjoy the sun as it drops in the distance, the handful of clouds giving just enough coverage to paint the sky in oranges and pinks.
“You know, I had a plan for this,” he says.
“Mmhhmmmm.” My mumbled acknowledgment is hummed quietly as I continue to stare off into the distance.
Ben pulls back slightly, drawing my eyes up to his.
“I had a whole plan, a dinner reservation and candles and soft music.”
My brow furrows. “Huh?”
And then he steps back even farther…before dropping down on one knee in front of me.
“Remington Wallace,” he begins, and I can’t help it when my hands fly to my mouth, my eyes wide. “Tonight I had a plan for how I was going to do this, because I like plans. I like when I have things laid out so they make sense for me. But, I’m starting to see that sometimes, scrapping the plan and going with something completely different can be the best thing in the world. When you came into my life, just a short while ago…I thought I had a plan then, too, thought I’d mapped things out perfectly. I’m going to be honest—you blew it to shreds.”
I let out a soft laugh.
“But I’ve never been happier, choosing to leave behind ‘the plan’ and instead welcome something new and beautiful and better than I ever could have imagined into my life.”
He reaches out for one of my hands and I quickly place my left palm in his.
“I never could have planned for you, for the type of happiness you bring to my life, for the way it makes me feel to makeyouhappy. God, that smile is my favorite thing in the world.”
When I smile at him, he points at my face.
“That smile, right there. Remmy, I want to spend the rest of my life making you smile like that, loving you with everything I have.”
And then his hand drops to my stomach, the heat from his palm warming something inside of me.
“That goes for this little baby, too. I can’t wait to be their dad, to make sure they know how loved they are, give them the best chance at being happy and healthy and so overwhelmed with love that we embarrass them to death.”
I giggle, but it fades off quickly as he continues, my soul overflowing with love and gratitude for this man who has completely overtaken my heart.
“Remmy,” he continues, his hand dropping to his pocket and emerging with a tiny blue box. “I want you to be my wife on this unplanned, unmapped life, on this crazy journey into the unknown. I can’t imagine anyone else standing at my side. We were both lost when we started this thing together, but every day that I’m with you, I feel found. If you spend your life with me, I will never let you get lost again. I will spendmylife searching for you in every moment, in every blessing, in every piece of happiness.”
He opens the box, revealing a beautiful ring, a princess cut diamond sitting on a white gold band. Simple and elegant and gorgeous.
“So, I’m going to ask you my third question,” he says, and my heart pings at the reference to our previous conversations. “And it’s the most important one. Will you marry me?”
At his final words, I drop down on my knees in front of him, bringing my face level with his.
“Nothing in the world would make me happier than to be at your side. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
He grins, taking the ring out of the box and slipping it onto my finger. I examine it for a second, something shifting in my mind before I look back at him, at the man I’m going to spend the rest of my life with.
Ben leans forward and presses his lips to mine in a soft kiss, something delicious and slow and sweet.
When we talked about the future before, I couldn’t ever see it, could never imagine what it would truly look like for the two of us to be together, married, with a child.
Now, as he wraps his arms around me and I hear the distant applause of some of the other people watching the sunset on the pier, I can see it.
That future. The two of us, together. Doing all the crazy shit that happens in life.
Chasing after a toddler. Going on trips. Making breakfast on weekends. Spending Christmas with our families.
