Instead of answering, I pull her to me, kiss her deeply. Then ask, “Well, what do you say? Will you marry me, or am I the biggest idiot who ever crossed an ocean for a gorgeous librarian who definitely increases my circulation?”
She’s smiling, no more tears, and that’s definitely progress… but I can see in her eyes that she’s overwhelmed.
“Why do you want to marry me?” she asks, her hand going to her stomach as she adds, “I told you that you didn’t have to be in this baby’s life.”
My eyes light up, my heart skipping a beat. “Does that mean… Did you already take the test?”
She nods. “At lunch today, with Brooklyn and Cassidy.”
“And?” I swear to God I’m not trying to be pushy about this, but I’m practically floating with happiness because I can see the answer written across her face.
“I’m pregnant,” she says, and I immediately scoop her into my arms, spin her around right there on the stoop, kiss her like I never want to let her go again.
“That’s amazing,” I say. “You’re going to make an amazing mother.”
When I finally set her back down on her feet, she asks, “And that doesn’t change anything about how you feel? Your proposal?”
Now is the moment. I can tell because my heart is hammering in my chest. I pull a small jewelry box from my pants pocket and drop to one knee. I open the box and Nora’s eyes go wide when she sees the ring. It’s a princess cut diamond with a ring of sapphires all the way around it, the same color as her eyes.
“Where did that come from?” she asks.
“Well, I had a couple of hours to kill after I got here, before you came home from work,” I say, taking her hand. “Nora, I’ve loved you since the moment I met you, and I know we’ve only spent a couple of days together, but that’s all I need to know you’re the one for me. The one I’ve been waiting for. And I think you’ve been waiting for me too.”
She’s nodding her head, her hand shaking in mine, and she looks like she might cry again—but I’m pretty sure they’ll be happy tears this time.
“Oh Nash…” Nora’s brow wrinkles and my heart stops because now it feels like a no is coming. “I love you too. I really do—you’ve got no idea how many times I’ve wanted to reach out to you and tell you that over the last few weeks, but I didn’t want you to feel like you were trapped in a situation you didn’t mean to sign up for.”
“I would never feel trapped by you,” I say, getting off my knee so I can pull her to me. “All I want is you, and this baby—our family.”
“What about your job?” she asks. “You’re not going to quit the Army for us, are you?”
“I was kind of hoping you’d want to come with me,” I say. “Travel the world, see everything you’ve always wanted to see.”
“Raise a baby in Italy?”
“Why not? As F. Scott Fitzgerald says, you can’t live forever.” I present the ring to her again, then add, “If you hate it, we can always put in for a transfer, or I can ask to be stationed stateside. What do you say, Nora? Will you be my family?”
A smile spreads across her face, starting slowly then lighting her up from within. “Yes, Nash, let’s be a family!”
I lift her up, twirl her around again, then set her down and slip the ring onto her finger. I’m the luckiest man alive.
Epilogue 1
Nash
8 months later…
Not quite a year later, Nora and I are truly living the dream.
We got married right there in Golden Creek a few days after I proposed. It was a small courthouse ceremony, but we followed it up with a big party for all our friends and family that weekend.
Quinn and her husband Owen were there, and Chelsea was our flower girl, carrying around a huge basket full of petals and sprinkling them in front of us wherever we walked all night long. I got to meet Nora’s family—her mom and dad and all of her sisters, plus her best friend who Nora explained is like a sister.
They all promised to look after her when I had to go back to Italy a few days after the wedding, and to support us while we bumbled our way through the first couple of months as long-distance newlyweds.
Fortunately, that didn’t last long, and at the end of Nora’s first trimester, she put in her notice at the library, ended the lease on her little house, and moved to Italy to be with me. If she wasn’t so damn excited to explore, I’d have felt bad asking her to uproot her life for me… but now I’ve got everything I ever wanted right here.