Marek (Cold Fury Hockey #11)(72)
“Romantic?” I say with a smile.
Lilly nods with bright eyes. “Robactic.”
Josie laughs and asks Lilly, “Did he say what he had planned?”
“It’s a secret,” she maintains primly, and that makes me burst out laughing. Lilly was going to pick and choose which parts of the secret she’d divulge.
My eyes cut to Josie, and we share the moment as my heart thrums over the knowledge that Marek wants me to be his wife. I mean…I suspected. We’ve talked about our life together and the permanency of it, but I wasn’t sure what that meant in terms of marriage.
Josie nods toward the door, and I see Marek ambling back in. He’s got a gray velvet box in his hands. My gut instinct is to hand Lilly to Josie, but for some reason I tighten my hold on her. If Marek’s going to propose, our daughter should be a part of it.
He walks up to me and I have to crane my neck to look up, since his skates add more height to his already impossibly tall body.
Smiling down at me, he says sheepishly, “I’d get down on one knee but I’m afraid I might not be able to get back up.”
“That’s quite all right,” I assure him in a giddy voice.
“I had this planned out a little more—”
“Robactically?” I insert.
“Yes,” he agrees, understanding my Lilly-speak and shooting her a faux glare. Lilly just giggles in response. When he looks back to me, his expression sobers. There’s no more kidding in his eyes. “Gracen…you and Lilly are my life. While our paths diverged briefly, there’s no denying that what I feel for you is stronger than it ever was. I know you’re the one I want to spend the rest of my life with, and if you feel the same, please say yes.”
Marek opens the velvet box and I gasp at the beautiful pear-shaped diamond set in yellow gold.
“Do you like it?” he asks quietly, and my eyes drag up to meet his. “And do you like me enough to say yes?”
It dawns on me that something is different than it was just a few moments ago. The room is absolutely silent, and I look around to find everyone watching me. People I don’t know but will get to know in the upcoming weeks and months of the season.
I look back to Marek and smile. “Yes. I like you enough to accept.”
* * *
—
“Sorry Lilly ruined your robactic proposal,” I say from the passenger seat. My eyes are on the diamond that I haven’t been able to stop looking at. Yes, it’s beautiful, and I’m sure horrendously expensive, but that’s not why I stare at it.
I stare at it because it represents how far we’ve truly come. How much better my life has become.
Turning my head, I check on Lilly in her child seat behind me. She’s immersed in an educational game on her iPad. I’m still boggled how well she works that thing.
“It wasn’t ruined,” Marek says, and I turn to look at him with a smile. He takes his eyes off the road just for a second to look at me. They go back to the road, and then to the rearview mirror where he briefly checks on Lilly. That soft smile on his face turns me to mush. He looks back to the road, and his words are for me. “I think it turned out perfect, the way she let the cat out of the bag and forced an impromptu proposal.”
“It was kind of perfect,” I say dreamily, eyes going back to the diamond.
“But she didn’t tell all my secrets,” Marek says, and at first it doesn’t penetrate.
Then my head snaps up and I look at him. “More secrets?”
He responds with a shit-eating grin on his face and nods out the passenger-side window.
I realize we’ve come to a stop. I had no clue we’d done so, so immersed in my joy over being engaged. I also don’t know where we are, but when I turn to look, I see a brick ranch home set on a beautifully wooded lot. There’s a FOR SALE sign out front with another sign above it that says SOLD in big red letters.
I turn back to look at Marek in confusion, but he’s already getting out of the driver’s seat. I unlatch my seat belt and scramble out after him. By the time I shut my door, he’s leaning in the back to unbuckle Lilly from her seat. He pulls her out and sets her down on the sidewalk that runs in front of the property.
“What’s this?” I ask as I nod to the house. For the life of me I can’t imagine why we’re here. Marek owns a beautiful house already, and no offense, it’s way bigger than this.
Marek just sidles up to me casually, throwing an arm over my shoulder. I look up at him in confusion, but he nods again toward the house. I turn slowly that way, and my mouth drops open in surprise as my parents come walking out the front door to stand on the porch.
“What’s going on?” I whisper, but I already know. In my gut, I know what he did.
“Your parents are brand-new residents of Raleigh, North Carolina,” Marek says, and I can’t even take offense at the smug pride in his voice. He deserves to have it.
Lilly sees my parents and screams, “Mimi, G-Pa!” and takes off running toward them. It’s been two months since she last saw them in person.
“You bought my parents a house?” I ask in amazement.
His eyes darken slightly. “Well, they wouldn’t let me buy a house for them. But I wanted to get them down here fast and not wait for their house to sell up there. So we came to an arrangement. I bought this house, and once their property sells, they’ll buy it from me. For now they’re my renters.”