“No,” he opens his eyes and they burn into mine. “It’s not his.” The snow falling outside makes the interior of the car cozy. He reaches for my hand, covering my icy fingers with his. When he squeezes, his grip is tight. “It’s mine.”
“Yours?” I ask dumbly.
“Well, yours, actually. If you’ll have it.” He holds his palm open, staring at the ring box. “I’ve been holding on to this thing for a couple of weeks, trying to find the right way to ask you to marry me.”
I blink at him. He’s not looking at me, though, just staring intently at the box in his hand. My gaze falls on Shea where she’s twisted in her seat, her eyes wide and her mouth wide open. She looks as shocked as I feel. When I glance back at Declan, he lifts a shoulder helplessly, the half-grin that never fails to melt my heart on his face. “I guess this is the moment.”
“It is?” I’m not sure if I ever planned out how I would react to a proposal, but this is definitely not what I pictured.
He nods. Then he opens my hand and places the ring box in my palm. With a flick, he opens it, and that perfect diamond ring winks up at me. “Ivy Deveraux, we’ve been through so much together, but there’s no one else in this world I want to go through everything else with. When I’m with you, all the chaos inside me calms. You put up with my never-ending energy. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever met.” He swallows. “I promise to stay by your side, no matter what. In sickness and health, in hard and easy times. You’re my favorite person. I love you, and I want to keep loving you forever if you’ll have me.”
I sink my teeth into my lower lip to keep it from shaking and nod frantically. My eyes swim, and Declan lifts his hand to run his thumb across the tear on my cheek. The tenderness in his eyes makes my chest tighten.
He leans forward to press his forehead against mine. “I see you nodding, Princess, but I think I’m going to need some words right now.”
I gasp out a laugh, and the tears fall harder now. “Yes. Absolutely yes.” I cup his face with my free hand, pulling his mouth to mine. The kiss is tender, full of promises and joy. I close my eyes and breathe him in, wondering once again what I did in my life to deserve this amazing man. Two years ago, in the throes of cancer treatment, I didn’t allow myself to dream of a future, a marriage, a family. But Declan changed all that. I might have survived, but he taught me how to live.
A sigh interrupts us, and we both turn to find Shea, her hand propped under her chin, her eyes also wet. “Aww. You guys are the cutest.” She reaches over the seat to squeeze my arm. “Congratulations, you two. I’m so happy for you.” Her eyes are shining with happy tears.
Then she jerks as if realizing that she’s in the middle of a monumental moment for us. Glancing out the window, she motions to where I can see Linc rubbing his head. “Would you look at that? Um, I think that… well, that Linc needs me.” She pulls the door handle, and a stream of frigid air sneaks in. “I’ll be right back.” She slides out before we can say anything else, slamming the door behind her.
I lean into Declan again, and he chuckles against my mouth. “Linc one-hundred percent did not want her to go out in the cold.”
“Yeah, she’s a horrible liar,” I reply, and we laugh. “I love you.”
“I love you more, Ivy.”
As our mouths meet again in the back of Linc Reynolds’ sedan where we’re stuck in a snowbank, I can’t imagine a more perfect place for a wedding proposal.
Shea Carmichael
Ican’tseeLincover the roof of the car, thanks to short legs and a snowbank. So I carefully pick my way toward the trunk, using my gloved hand on the side of the car for balance.
He glares at me. “You should have stayed in the car.” As I shake my head, he sighs as he moves toward me. When he’s close enough, he steadies me with a firm hand under my elbow, assisting me closer to him. “I’m sorry for being bitchy in there. But I’m not trying to be overbearing or a chauvinist or whatever. I really don’t want you to get hurt.” His eyes search mine, and I smile up at him, my earlier frustration with him fading. Linc is usually even-tempered, and I figured he’d been out here, feeling bad for being irritable.
I lift up on my toes. Even then, he needs to lean down to accept the kiss I offer. “I know. I planned to listen to you.”
His eyebrows lift, and amusement colors his features. “You planned to?”
Snow clings to his lashes, and I smile up at him. “Yep. But then Declan proposed to Ivy. So, I gave them a second.”
Linc glances toward the rearview window where Ivy and Declan snuggle together. “He proposed to her in a ditch?” He sounds outraged.
“No,” I correct him. “He proposed to her in your car… which happens to be parked in a ditch.”
“That’s stuck in the ditch, you mean.” He shakes his head. “Christ, Mitch has always been unconventional, but this is ridiculous. When I propose to you, you can be damn sure that it’ll be somewhere more memorable.”
“When you propose?” I tease him. I’m not surprised by his words. I know as well as he does that we’re each other’s endgame. To hear him tell it, he’s been in love with me since we were kids, and though our path to each other was bumpy, I could never imagine my life without him.
“Yes. Memorable.” He nods, rolling his eyes at his friend in the car.
I shrug one shoulder. “I don’t know. This whole situation is pretty memorable if you ask me.” I motion to the snow falling around us and the car tilted into the ditch.
“Fair,” he concedes before glancing around at the empty roads. “Of course, we would run off the road in the middle of nowhere.”
“We’re on our way to Chesterboro. It’s kind of in the middle of nowhere,” I remind him.
“I suppose.” He points at the back right tire. “There’s no way we’ll be able to get that out on our own.” Sure enough, the wheel is sunken into the mud. Luckily, we aren’t far off the pavement. The front tires appear to be buried in the gravel and dirt on the side of the exit ramp.