by Tegan Maher
She placed her hand on her stomach, and the mood swing at the shop and violent chunk-heaving she’d done in the diner parking lot all clicked into place.
“We’re havin’ a baby!” she said, confirming what my brain had just deduced.
My heart expanded about three sizes and I rushed forward. “Oh, my god, Anna Mae! You two! Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?”
She looked back up at Matt, and they got that mushy look all over again, staring into each other’s eyes. “We don’t want to know,” she said.
I swiped at my cheeks and started to tell her congratulations, but I couldn’t speak around the lump in my throat. Instead, I just pulled them into a hug and squeezed them tight. They were both such wonderful people that had overcome so much. They deserved this.
“Bobbie Sue’s gonna be pissed she missed the announcement,” I said, and Anna Mae waved me off with a flick of her delicate hand. “She’s the one who told me to buy the test and confirm it, already. Apparently, she figured it out after you told her about the meltdown I had, then I got sick at her place last evening when we went in for dinner.”
“Phew,” I said. “You had me scared for a minute.”
I went into the kitchen and poured Anna Mae a glass of tea, then came back in to finish the eggs. Hunter came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me. I twisted around so I was facing him, then swallowed a couple times to get past my nerves. It was now or never, and I pulled in a deep breath, then released it and looked up into those green eyes that I loved and knew so well.
He gave me an Eskimo kiss and grinned at me.
“Listen,” I said, doing my best not to drop my gaze. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you.”
“There is, huh?” he said, laughter dancing across his features.
“Yeah, there is. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a key, then leaned back in the circle of his arms a little so I could hand it to him. He took one arm off my waist and took it.
I’d rehearsed this in my mind all day but could only remember bits and pieces of what I’d planned to say. “I mean, I know you already have a key, but this one’s kinda symbolic. I was wondering if maybe, you know, you might wanna move in with me for good.”
He laughed and touched his forehead to mine. “I’ll do you one better than that.”
He stepped backwards and pulled a battered black-velvet box from his pocket, then dropped to one knee in front of me. “Noelle Flynn, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
I could barely see the ring through the tears, but I did manage to get the one most important word I’d ever said in my life out around the lump in my throat. “Yes! Yes, yes, yes!”
He slipped the ring on my finger, then pulled me in for a kiss.
“I don’t care where we live, whether it’s here, or at my place, or in a refrigerator under the bridge,” he said. “As long as I’m with you, that’ll be my home.”
I swiped a tear off my cheek and grinned at him, then kissed him again.
The moment hung, suspended in time, perfect and beautiful.
The man of my dreams, a family who loved me, and a heart full of joy. Those were my real gifts.
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Thank you so much for reading this installment in my Keyhole Lake series. If you haven’t read Shelby’s new story yet, I’m including the first few pages of it below. If you’d be kind enough to leave a review for Mudflaps and Murder so that others may decide if it may be for them, I’d greatly appreciate it! If you’d like to make sure you don’t miss Book 12 in the Witches of Keyhole Lake series, Murder without Mercy, you can preorder it here!
Happy Reading!
Tegan
