I was surprised Remington had extended the invite to everyone. He hadn’t officially met anyone other than Uncle Axton and Aunt Dallas, but after they saw me with Remington even for those few minutes at Lyric’s wedding, they all knew I was with him now.
Luca’s parents didn’t make it awkward. They never really had, and I was pretty sure they still felt guilty for keeping Luca’s bomb from me the Thanksgiving we officially broke up. I didn’t blame them, although it took Dad a little while to calm down and forgive Uncle Jesse for not telling him. But thankfully, their relationship was back to normal these days, and I was so happy to spend the day with so many of my family.
It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining down on us, and the wind was fairly calm. The captain sailed us out a few miles then set down anchor, and the staff set up a huge lunch for us on the top deck. Music played in the background, and everyone was having a great time, laughing and catching up like we hadn’t seen one another in years, even though the majority of them saw one another nearly every day.
“I never got to thank you for helping to get Nevaeh back home after Lyric’s wedding,” Aunt Lana said from across the table. “She was so miserable and just wanted to be home.”
“Thank Remington. It’s his plane. I just sat and rubbed Nevi’s tummy the whole flight,” I told her with a grin. “And Uncle Drake wasn’t there to stop me this time.”
“That’s okay. I went over to their house the next day and felt the little guy jumping up a storm.” I stuck out my tongue at him, and he grinned. “One of the perks of having my baby girl living on the same street.”
“I wouldn’t know what that’s like,” Uncle Nik complained. “Mia lives in Beverly Hills.”
Aunt Emmie snorted as she picked up her glass of iced tea. “Like you don’t practically live there anyway. You spend more time at her house than you do ours.”
“My Little Em is there,” he grumbled. “You can’t deprive me of my sweet little baby girl.”
“Sweet…yeah, sure,” Jagger laughed. “She’s a terror.”
“Whom you love more than life,” his mother said with a smirk.
“I plead the Fifth.”
Remington’s hand covered mine on the table. I turned my head, a smile already on my lips as I looked up at him. But there was something in his eyes that had my smile dimm
ing. He seemed nervous all of a sudden, when he’d been all laughs and happy to be with everyone earlier.
I leaned toward him. “Everything okay?” I asked quietly, stroking my free hand over his smooth jaw.
He cleared his throat and glanced across at my dad. I followed his gaze and frowned when I saw Dad’s jaw clench. Thinking they had argued, I opened my mouth to demand to know what the problem was when Remington pushed back his chair and stood.
“Wait…” I reached out to stop him in case he was going to leave, but instead of walking away, he dropped to one knee beside me.
Several people gasped around us, and I heard someone let out a broken sob. Vaguely, I realized it was Dad, but I couldn’t bear to tear my eyes away from Remington to check on him.
His fingers shook as he took hold of both my hands and lifted them to his lips. “I wanted today to be magical. To have as many of the people who love and adore you present as possible. I asked Shane’s permission to do this, and if he hadn’t given it, I wouldn’t be doing it. Because I know he’s the most important man in your life.” He swallowed hard. “And I don’t want to change that. I’ll settle for being the second.”
“No,” I whispered, shaking my head adamantly, and his face fell. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I quickly clarified, trying in vain to keep my tears back. “I mean, no, you could never be second in any aspect in my life.”
“Way to give the guy a heart attack, Vi,” Shaw muttered from beside me, making a few people laugh.
“I-I’m sorry,” I choked out. “But you have to know you’re first in my heart.” I looked at Dad apologetically and saw he was bawling like a baby, but he smiled at me. Turning my gaze back to Remington, I cupped his face again. “I love you, Remi.”
He kissed my hands again before reaching into his pants pocket and pulling out a small velvet box. When he opened it, the sun sparkled off the emerald cut diamond that was flanked by two smaller baguette diamonds. The band was thin and platinum, and as I looked down at it, I realized it looked a lot like Grace Kelly’s when she married her prince.
It couldn’t possibly be the same ring. “Is that…?”
He grinned, his nervousness fading. “No, but I remembered you saying you loved that ring when you and Shaw were watching one of Grace Kelly’s movies a while back. Cartier made it, so it was nothing to get something similar.”
“Don’t tell me how many carats that thing is,” I told him. “I don’t want to know.”
“Does that mean you don’t want the ring?” he teased as he took it from the box, but he didn’t move to put it on my finger.
“I want you,” I whispered. “You could have given me a ring pop, and I would have never taken it off.” When he still just knelt there with the ring in his hand, I wiggled my fingers. “Put it on me already!” I cried.
He cocked his head to the side, his smile making my heart skip a beat. “I’m waiting for you to say yes, my love.”
I lifted a brow at him. “I don’t believe you asked me a question, my love.”