Ryder looks out to the crowd and waves. His head dips toward the microphone.
“What do you guys think?”
The crowd roars. They are loving every minute of this while I am panicking.
“Let’s go somewhere private,” I suggest despite being in the middle of a set. Clearly, the show won’t go on until this is settled.
“I like it right here.” Ryder towers over me, arms folded across his chest.
A microphone on a stand appears before us. As if him disrupting the show wasn’t bad enough, everyone’s watching, and now everyone can hear, too.
Ryder’s loving every minute.
“Have you lost your mind?”
Ryder nods. “A year or so ago, yeah.”
I roll my eyes at the sweet but corny response.
“Never in a million years did I plan on falling for another woman, let alone a woman like you.”
“Like me, huh?”
“Strong and smart, more beautiful than she realizes. Someone who would walk into my life and accept me for who I am and love my daughter as if she was her own.”
Any amusement I found in the situation disappears. Something is happening, and there is only one thing I can guess. When I see Amelia and Hazel standing at the side of the stage, my thoughts are confirmed.
He can’t be serious. Is he really doing this in front of all these people?
“We’ve certainly have had our share of rough times, but there is no one I would rather go through them with—through life with.” Ryder smiles, then drops to one knee.
“What are you doing?” I ask, my hand flying to my mouth to cover my shock.
“I’m asking you to marry me, to be my wife. I’m asking you to make me the happiest man on this planet.”
“But…”
“There are no buts, Ember. Me and you, we’re forever. I knew it the moment I met you.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
The audience chants, “say yes,” on repeat.
Tears roll down my cheeks, and laughter falls from my lips.
“Yes,” I shout loud enough, everyone in the venue could hear me even without the microphone.
Ryder springs to his feet, the pain I know he feels in his knee pushed to the side as he pulls me into his arms.
“I love you, Ember.”
“You better,” I say before pressing my lips to his.
With thousands of people watching, I kiss him like it’s our first and our last time. It’s hello and goodbye and everything in between. Lips together, tongues dancing, we seal a silent promise.
How I’m supposed to get back to the show after that? Somehow, with him by my side, I manage.
Together.
It’s the only place I want us to be.
THE END