Page 84 of Beneath Pearly Irish Skies
“I like you,” Megan said softly. “I dressed up tonight because I wanted you to like me. I was afraid you might not.”
Ryan’s mouth gaped. “Not like you? Why wouldn’t I? Why wouldn’t anyone? You’re not different—like me.”
She let out a small sigh. “Maybe not, but I feel different. Like I don’t fit in. I don’t make people laugh like my sister does.”
“Aunt Angie’s funnier than you, Mom,” Ollie said matter-of-factly. “You don’t like to joke or play practical jokes. Did you know Aunt Angie put a fake spider in Brady’s glovebox because he said he was going to start telling people she wanted more models for her naked paintings? He almost ran off the road when he found it. It was so funny.”
Kade bit his lip. “That’s not quite the whole story. Brady was going to say she was doing a series of elderly nudes.”
“That’s the craic,” Ryan said, smiling before it faded. “But you don’t have to make people laugh for them to like you, Megan. Kade doesn’t tell jokes either. He’s just kind to people and he listens. Like you. I think that’s why you fit. Can I make cocktails at your wedding?”
Kade coughed. “Let me ask her first, man.”
Megan put her hand to her mouth, her brown eyes searching for his gaze. “Are you—”
She didn’t finish the thought.
“Of course he is, Mom.” Ollie let out an aggrieved sound. “He loves you and me. We hang out all the time. It’s what happens next. Kade, where are we going to live?”
“Yeah, Kade, where are you going to live?” Ryan asked. “Your cottage is way too small for more kids.”
Megan let out a squeak worthy of Pip. “That’s— Oh, my God! I can’t believe this. Just…excuse me. I need a minute.”
“Your ice is going to melt all the way,” Ryan called as she left through the front door of the cottage.
Kade looked at Ryan and Ollie, grinning at him. “Who knew the two of you could be so much trouble together?”
Ollie took Ryan’s hand. “I told Ryan—he said to never call him Mr. Hughes—that if he was your good friend, then he’d be mine.”
Kade got up and hugged both of them, and they embraced him back. Hard. “I’ll go see about Megan.”
He grabbed Pip and a cocktail, wondering if he’d need both.
Megan was standing a few steps outside in the cool fall night. The moon was a half shell in a sky filled with curvy clouds. He smelled oranges and looked around for the source.
Sorcha held up her left hand, pointing to her ring finger, then disappeared. He wasn’t sure what she meant. Then Megan turned to him, and he knew. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, but her smile was radiant.
“I’m sorry I left like that, but I… Kade, I came out here and all I could think of was being with you and having more kids. Watching them run around the farm like Ollie does. It made me so happy. I’ve…never imagined feeling as happy as I do with you. It feels like I’m watching the glitter settle in my Dream Jar. I didn’t let myself think…”
“That I’d want to marry you?” Kade tucked Pip into the crook of his arm and handed her the cocktail so he could trace the line of her cheek, rubbing away the tears. “Megan, I knew you were the woman I was to marry before you arrived. Then I met you, and Ihopedyou would want to marry me someday. I’d been waiting on you to heal,mo chuisle, and to find yourself. Be yourself. That’s the woman I love.”
“Not the woman in the sweater set.”
“No, I love her too.” He met her gaze in the moonlight. “She got you to where you are now. With yourself and with me. But you weren’t happy being her, love. So putting her on doesn’t fit anymore. I like this Megan, the Megan who wants to try three cocktails. The one who moans my name when we make love in the sunlight. The one who cried tears of joy when she thought about us marrying and having a family.”
The rightness of the moment stole over him. “I’ll be right back, love. Stay here.”
He headed back inside, Ryan and Ollie trailing him to his room.
“What are you doing, Kade?” his friend asked.
“If it’s okay with Ollie, I was going to ask his mom to marry me.” He opened his sock drawer and drew out his grandmother’s handkerchief. She’d given him her ring before she died, saying the woman who wore it would be the most fortunate woman in the world.
“Cool!” Ollie took Pip from him and jumped up onto the bed. “Are you going to do the slobbering after?”
Kade rolled his eyes as Ryan pounded him on the shoulder. “Kade’s getting married. Oh, I can’t wait!”
“Will you stand up with me?” he asked Ryan, putting a hand on his shoulder.
