I watched Ella as she ripped up lettuce and chopped vegetables for the salad. I knew at that moment, that she belonged in my mother's kitchen, using it the way my mother would have wanted.
I went to her and slipped my arms around her waist, pulling her against me.
"This is nice," I said and kissed her neck.
"It is."
She turned around in my arms and we kissed deeply.
"Things turned out much better than I expected," she said when the kiss ended. "I figured I'd be crying my eyes out in Concord, my mother consoling me with hot cocoa and cheesecake."
"Does cheesecake console you?"
"No, but it does console my mother. I'm a crème brûlée kind of gal."
"That's right. I'll have to remember that for when you need consoling in the future."
We hugged each other and then the timer on the stove went off. The grill was ready for the steaks.
We ate at the dining room table only because it was a bit too windy on the patio, but we had a nice view of the ocean as the stars began to rise.
Later, while Ella sat reading the paper, I moved our bags to the master bedroom that my parents used to share. I hadn't been there since the early summer, when my father asked me to come out and retrieve some of my mother's pictures for him. He was too sick to make the trip.
While I was standing at the large dresser my mother used, I saw her jewelry box and opened it, wondering what was still there. My father had refused to pack up her things when she died and instead, kept everything on the dresser as she left it.
There, on the top shelf of the jewelry box, was her engagement ring, the single solitary diamond huge in a wide platinum band. She had been so thin at the end that she couldn't wear it any longer and so she'd taken to wearing only her wedding band on a necklace around her neck. She hoped that one day, one of us boys would give her engagement ring to our bride-to-be.
I hadn't given it to Christie, for she had already picked out her engagement ring -- a huge square diamond surrounded by emeralds.
When I saw the ring sitting there, waiting, I knew what I wanted to do.
I picked it up and slipped it into the pocket in my sweater. Then, I went out onto the patio where Ella, brave soul that she was, was sitting on the huge sectional, her head back, watching the stars overhead.
She smiled when she saw me and patted the sofa beside her.
"Come and sit with me," she said. "The wind has died down and stars are so beautiful, and you can see so many out here. I could live here and be quite happy."
Instead, I knelt beside her and took her hand.
"Ella," I said and reached into my pocket, removing the ring. "This was my mother's engagement ring. She wanted one of her sons to give it to their fiancée one day and I hope I can fulfill her wish. I love you and I want you to be my wife. Will you marry me?"
She covered her mouth and glanced down at the ring. "Josh..." She let me slip the ring on her finger and it almost fit perfectly. "It's so beautiful." She stared at the ring, and I feared she'd say no.
"This is sudden," she said softly, glancing up at me, her expression serious. "We've only been dating for a few months."
"I know, but I can't deny how I feel. If this weekend taught me anything, it's that I love you and can't imagine life without you."
"I can't either," she said. " Of course, I'll marry you. I love you and can't imagine life without you."
We kissed and spent the rest of the evening lying on the sofa, a blanket wrapped around us, watching the stars of the Milky Way rise in the sky overhead.
THE END OF BOOK TWO
Book Three, the conclusion of Josh and Elle’s story, Tame Me, to be released in 2019!
Excerpt From Endless
Drake