Love Survives (Love's Suicide #2)(121)

“Thank you for waiting your whole life for me.”

I wiped her tears away with my thumbs. “Maybe in our next life you won’t make me wait so long,” I joked.

“Let’s enjoy this one first.”

I waited until the bedroom filled with people to get down on one knee. It was important that everyone was around for this. “There’s just one more thing, Kat.” I popped open the old velvet box and watched her eyes light up. As we stood in her parent’s room, I was proposing with the same ring her father had given to her mother.

“I’d very much like it if you had my name. What do you say, Kat? You think you might want to be my wife?”

She dropped to her knees and let me put the ring on her finger. She kept kissing me, all over my face. “Yes, of course.”

I could count on my hand the moments in my life that mattered to me. This was one of my top events. I’d never forget the way it felt to have her accept my proposal, or to hold my daughter while we celebrated it.

A little later, downstairs in the kitchen, we popped open a bottle of wine and each held up glasses. “Here’s to coming home.”

In unison the rest of the family announced, “cheers.”





Chapter 60


February 14th 2014

I’d already been up for hours, pacing around my parent’s kitchen when my phone rang. She knew we couldn’t see each other until she walked down the aisle, and I wasn’t going to let her persuade me to sneak a peek. “Hey, babe. Don’t you dare beg me to come over there. You know the rules.”

“I’m calling on behalf of your daughter. She’s up and insisting on being with you.”

“I’m in the kitchen. If you promise to stay in bed, I’ll come get her.”

“I hate that you wake up before the sun rises.”

I laughed as I walked out the door and followed the path to our kitchen entrance. “Do you miss me yet?”

I could hear her talking to our daughter, who had become quite impatient. “He’s coming.”

Little patters of feet could be heard as soon as I got inside.

“She’s on her way down to you.”

“Stay put until you hear me leave,” I added.

“The answer is yes.”

“To which question?” I’d forgotten already. My mind was in a million places. It hadn’t helped that I’d stayed up late writing a message in a special card for her.

“Both. I will stay put, but also that I missed you. I hate knowing you’re that close and I can’t see you. How much harm can one kiss do?”

“I don’t want to find out. In a few hours you’ll be my wife, and then you can spend forever kissing me. Just so you know, I’ll expect morning breath kisses, coffee kisses, and every other kind of kiss that you find gross. Now’s the time to back out, Kat. When you say forever today, you better mean it.”

“I’m ready to take the plunge. How about we just call the official right now, get him over here, and have them marry us so we can go back to bed for the rest of the day?”

“You didn’t sleep either?”

I started walking up the stairs even though I knew I wasn’t going to open the door. The last thing we needed was bad luck. “I couldn’t get comfortable.”

“Me either. Listen, its a couple more hours. Get all dolled up for me and meet me out back. I can’t wait to see you, Kat. You’re going to look so perfect.”

“I’m going to look fat. You better say a prayer that this dress still fits me. I haven’t tried it on for two weeks, and I swear I’ve gained ten more pounds.”

“Being four months pregnant will do that, but just to be clear, you’re not fat. You’re beautiful.” She was. I loved her little bump. “Imagine if you would have gotten pregnant over the summer. Then you’d be huge,” I teased.

“Are you just going to stand at the door all morning torturing me?”

I tapped it twice before I replied. “I came up to tell you that I love you. I’ll see you in bit.”



Cold feet.

It was something I’d never have with Kat. She was mine and the piece of paper making it legal wasn’t going to change anything.

I’d been wondering how I was going to sneak into our house without seeing her, but B made it the perfect excuse. Before we headed back to my parents, I tucked a card underneath of the package of peanut butter cups on the countertop.

She’d get a kick out of the card considering it was sentimental. Being that it was both our wedding day and Valentine’s Day, a particular special day for someone that carried the name, I was more than excited to give it to her.

When Katy opened my card, she’d probably cry. The poor woman had been a babbling mess with her pregnancy hormones.

I smiled thinking back to the day we found out. On the first day of her missed period, I drove to the store and bought the test while she and B waited at home for me. I always got a kick out of seeing my daughter standing at the window, watching for me to pull in the driveway, especially since we’d moved into Kat’s family home.

They’d met me at the door and the three of us rushed into the bathroom as if there were a tornado headed for the house.

Three minutes later we celebrated.