by Bry Ann
He leaned over and wiped a very confused tear from my eye.
“There was no way to have that many emotions for one person without loving them. It’s a complicated thing…”
“No, I get it,” I said, smiling and taking his hand. “I do.”
He smirked and then gently pulled his hands away, and dropped to his knees.
“What are you…?”
I knew exactly what he was doing. My body never had a chemical reaction so fast. I started shaking profusely and got goose bumps from head to toe. My eyes immediately welled up with tears. For some reason, my whole reaction made him laugh as he pulled the little black box out of his back pocket.
“Aly Abernathy, will you please,” he emphasized humorously, “marry me? I won’t be perfect, and I’ll probably ruin a few walls, but I swear, like I fucking swear to you that I will always be here for you and I will always love you. I will do everything I can to make you as happy as you make me. You bring me peace, Aly. I love you so much.”
My head fell into my hands, and I cried. No one had made feel as loved and accepted as X had. He saved to me more times that I could count, in more ways than I could care to imagine. He never gave up on me or judged me. I felt like I was falling apart with happiness. X grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into him while I just cried on his shoulder.
“So I’ll take that as a yes?” he said with a nervous laugh in my ear.
I pulled away and grabbed both sides of his face with my hands. I didn’t care that my face was stained with tears or my eyes were probably swollen. I didn’t care.
“Yes, that is most definitely a yes, Axel. I love you so much!”
He picked me up and placed me on his lap. Both of us were laughing and crying as we kissed by the water where we had had our first date. Eventually, he pulled away and took my hand. He put this beautiful silver ring on my finger. It was small with a floral design circling the ring. In each of the flowers was a small diamond. It was the perfect ring. I kept staring at it.
“I know it’s not the biggest or most expensive ring, and if that’s what you want, I can go get you the biggest fucking diamond, but I just saw it and thought of you. It just seemed like you.”
I planted my lips on his, cutting him off. “It’s perfect. It’s so perfect. It’s beautiful.”
He smiled. “I know.”
I shook my head and laughed. Then X pulled out his phone and started texting someone.
“Who the heck are you texting right now?” I said, trying not to sound upset.
He looked at me with a smile.
“We’re going to have company when we get back,” he said, laughing.
“Oh my gosh, your parents, Axel!” I said, punching him in the arm. “You couldn’t wait an hour, you crazy!”
“I also texted Ginger,” he said smugly.
“Everyone knew you were going to propose! What if I said no?”
“Then I would have told them that and waited until you were ready to say yes, but…” he said, leaning forward until he was two inches from my face. “…you were always going to be my wife.”
He kissed me, stood up, and walked back towards Panter. I stood up quickly too so I could follow him.
“So, I’m going to be your wife?” I said, smiling like an idiot.
He turned back towards me with an unreadable expression on his face. “You’re my girl, Aly. Always have been, always will be. Now I will just have proof of it and legal binding.”
“I’ve moved up in the world, then,” I said, hooking my arm on the saddle as I got ready to swing my leg over.
“How so?”
“You used to just call me‘girl. ‘Now I’m ‘your girl.’”
He kissed my head softly. “You were always my girl, Aly. Always.”
With that, we rode back to Ginger’s. Ginger and both of X’s parents were waiting outside when we got back. Axel stood back while I had a total girl freak out moment with his mom. Ginger cried, which was very out of character for her. X’s dad stood back, just like X did. Except X was smug, and his father was standing tall and proud.
After crying with X’s mom and Ginger, I went over to X’s dad and thanked him from the bottom of my heart. He’s been the underlying strength holding us all together. He gave me wise advice even when I was incapable of understanding it. He helped me before he even knew me for the sole purpose of helping his wonderful son. He was a man of honor. Despite his dad also being a man of few words, I could see he was touched by how things had played out in Axel and my life. He thanked me for saving his son, and I nodded because for the first time I was able to see how we helped each other.
We all headed inside and ate chicken pot pie, drank wine, ate cake, and laughed. I think I laughed more that day than I ever had. After celebrating for a while, I took a step back and leaned against the wall to watch everyone. Ginger was talking with X’s mom. X and his dad were downing some form of alcohol. Everyone was happy, and I realized for the first time I had a family, one that truly cared about me and would never dream of hurting me. I trusted them. I finally understood what the expression “family-by-choice”meant because this was my family. I felt a tear slip down the side of my face and then a presence next to me. X was quiet for a few seconds as we watched everyone celebrate.
“Isn’t watching people in silence usually my thing?” X whispered.
I looked at him, unable to say anything because I was so choked up. He came over and kissed my head.
“Family?” he murmured in my ear.
“Mm-hmm,” I said, wiping the tears from my face.
“You can cry, you know?” he said as we both looked at the celebration in front of us. I felt the tears sliding down my face faster now, and I started to hyperventilate.
“Do I always have to cry when you bring me down here?” I said with half a laugh.
X smiled and walked over to the table in front of us. He grabbed a glass of wine and threw it on the floor with a loud bang, causing me to jump and my tears to immediately cease. Glass shattered everywhere, and every other person in the room went quiet and turned to face him.
“What the hell, Axel!” Ginger yelled.
X smirked and picked up a wine glass. “I want to make a toast to my future wife and family.”
All of us shook our heads, smiled, and clicked glasses. I knew happiness like this might not last forever, but it was moments like this that make the dark moments worth living.
~And now these three remain faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. - 1 Corinthians 13:13
Acknowledgements
I first want to thank my sister. Lillie you are my best friend in this entire world. You are the one person who understands me fully and I know doesn’t judge me. It’s actually pretty incredible given my craziness. You have been there for me in literally the darkest of times and stayed right in the trenches of it. You have no idea how much I love you and how grateful I am to you.
To my mom. Thank you for listening to me talk endlessly. Our talks mean so much to me. You are one of my closest friends in the world, and I am so insanely grateful for our relationship. Thank you for always standing by me, and continuing to believe in me. This means the world to me.
To my dad. Thank you for always being there for me, and being my strength when shit hits the fan. I know we’ve had a rough couple year but I love you so much.
To my Coco, Shauna, Ben and Greyson. I love you guys so much. Thank you for always supporting me. You guys are literally the cutest family ever and I love being with all of you. Thanks for accepting me so easily. Love you!
To Nicco. Dude, I love you so much. You are the funniest human being I know. You constantly make me laugh, and I love your company so much. I always have fun with you, even if you’ve made me have so many boy hobbies and I know way to much about topics I shouldn’t. You turned into such a good person, and that, more than anything else, is what I am so proud of you for.
To my co-workers at my last job. Y’all know who yo
u are. You guy kept me writing when I was just figuring out I could do this and I actually loved it. For that I am super grateful.
To everyone who has stood by me these past five years and fought to help me get my feet back on the ground. To everyone who has been kind to me.
Lastly, thank you so insanely much for reading this book. You have no idea how grateful I am. I hope you fell in love with X and Aly like I did. Stay tuned for Logan and Sam’s book! I have a feeling you will love them too. I love you guys so much.
Be sure to leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. It helps so much! I would be so crazy grateful if you did. You can find me on Facebook, Goodreads and my website. I would love to hear from you!
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Love you guys! Thank you for reading.
