Only You (Adair Family #5)(104)

“What the …” Monroe gaped at what I had Arro do for me just minutes before our arrival.

In what would be our living room, a picnic blanket was laid out with pastries and petit fours Sloane had baked especially for the occasion, two glasses of non-alcoholic sparkling wine, and a bottle in a bucket. And along the edges of the room were candles upon lit candles. The flames flickered and glowed, dancing in the reflection of the windows.

“Come on.” I led her inside and helped her out of her light spring coat. I draped it carefully over one of the stacked boxes that contained pieces of our kitchen. Then I shrugged out of mine, my eyes going to Monroe’s small, rounded belly as she turned to gaze at the candles.

“What is all this?”

She was four months pregnant, and other than morning sickness that dissipated after her first trimester, Monroe was doing well. Which was a good thing because who knew your fiancée being pregnant could make her hornier than a teenager? Roe’s libido was in overdrive at the moment, and she was extremely sensitive. We were taking advantage of it now since Arro and Robyn had warned Roe that she probably “wouldn’t want to touch me with a barge pole by the middle of the third trimester.”

The candles cast a glow over Roe’s hair, making it dance like the sunset. We didn’t know if we were having a boy or a girl yet, but I was hoping for a girl with hair like her mother’s. And a heart like Roe’s. I’d love a boy, too, of course. Whatever the universe saw fit, I would be grateful. I was just bloody in awe and amazed that I was standing in a house that belonged to me and Monroe Sinclair, that she was pregnant with my child and wanted to spend the rest of her life with me.

Speaking of … “Come here.” I took her hand and led her over to the layers of picnic blankets. “Stay there.” I lowered myself down to one knee and her eyes rounded as I raised the black velvet ring box before her, snapping it open to reveal the ring that had taken me weeks to pick from the selections jewelers had sent me. I watched Roe’s face like a hawk for her reaction.

To my utter relief, her jaw dropped, and she lifted her hands as if to touch it, but then stopped, delight and disbelief dancing in her eyes. “Brodan.” Her gaze flew to mine. “It’s perfect.”

I hadn’t wanted to get her a ring that was too modern or too old-fashioned. Finally, I’d found one that had a vintage edge that I immediately could see on Roe’s finger. The jeweler told me it had a vertical marquise center, which I think was just a posh word for oval. Smaller marquise diamond petals on either side, then two single horizontal marquise diamonds on a knife-edge, rose-gold band.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to make good on my promise to propose properly … but I wanted to find the perfect ring.”

Her eyes brightened with emotion. “You certainly did that.”

I grinned, relieved, and she reached out to clasp my face in her palms. I leaned into her touch, feeling so much, too much. More than I could ever deserve to feel. “I have loved you, Monroe Sinclair, since I was a boy. I’ve loved you as my best friend, I’ve loved you as a teenage boy’s fantasy”—I laughed as she rolled her eyes—“I’ve loved you as a scared young man. I’ve loved you even when I didn’t realize I loved you.”

She nodded in tender understanding.

“I have loved you most of my life, and I know with a certainty that awes and terrifies me in equal measure … that I will love you until my last breath. Maybe even then.”

Tears spilled down her cheeks, and she lowered to her knees beside me.

“And I promise I will love our child with the same fierceness. That I will do everything in my power to make our family happy. To spend the rest of our lives loving you the way you’ve always deserved to be loved.” At her choked sob, I felt my emotion rise, and I released the ring from the box and took hold of Roe’s left hand. “Will you spare me the agony of life without you, Monroe Sinclair, and do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

She laughed through her tears and nodded frantically. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Brodan.”

Even though I’d been pretty certain of her answer, I laughed with pure joy and slipped the ring on her finger. It winked in the candlelight, and she shook her head, marveling at it. “It’s so beautiful.”

“You’re so beautiful.” I cradled her face in my palms and drew her in for a deep kiss. She melted into me, winding her arms around my neck, and I felt her baby bump rest against my stomach. I kissed her like there was no tomorrow until she broke the kiss, panting for breath. Resting her forehead to mine, she whispered against my lips, “I have loved you every minute, every second of my life too. There has been no one else. Only you.”

I closed my eyes, feeling the magical pleasure pain of those words. So much time lost. So much time to make up for. But we’d do it.

“I can’t wait to make you my wife.” I settled onto the blanket, pulling her over my lap. “For us to begin our lives together.”

“We already have,” Monroe assured me, taking a hand to rest it on her belly. “And we deserve this, handsome. After everything we’ve been through to get here.”

She wasn’t just speaking of the eighteen years we’d spent apart, but of the night Ian Moffat attacked us. It had taken weeks for Monroe to find sleep easily, and I knew guilt rode her. But my constant assurances that she’d not only protected us but the life of our unborn child eventually seemed to sink in, and she was on the path to forgiving herself.