“Human is how I’d describe it. How’s the weather out there? Did that cold front actually come through and cool things down?”
“Yep. I think it’s down to around just below eighty now,” he said like that was anywhere close to the definition of cool.
“Eighty? Are you sure you don’t want to eat in here? I just got cleaned up. Ten minutes out there and I’ll be as melted as the cheese on the pizza, Alex.”
He said nothing, but the resolute look in his eyes said he had his heart set on a nighttime picnic out at that old wooden picnic table in my backyard. If he wanted it that badly, how could I say no to such a simple desire?
Even though it would mean I’d probably be a sweaty mess in just a few minutes.
Love was all about compromise, so out I’d go into the warm night and eat pizza at that rickety old table.
“Do you have plates and silverware out there already?” I yelled out through the screen door.
“I’ve got it all taken care of. All that’s missing is you,” he yelled in to me.
How could I decline an offer like that?
Alex waited for me in the backyard, and as I made my way to the table, I saw he’d brought out my mother’s silver candlesticks and had found the candles from the other night to illuminate our meal. Chuckling, I sat down and swung my legs over the bench.
“A candlelight dinner of pizza and root beer? You really pulled out all the stops tonight,” I joked.
He handed me a paper plate with a slice of pizza on it and placed a glass of root beer on the table in front of me. Lifting his glass in the air, he said, “To another case solved.”
I raised mine in front of me and tapped it against his. “You did a great job interrogating her, Alex. Derek and I watched in awe. You’re a great cop, so I’m glad after everything that happened with Stephen that this case turned out like it did.”
As I took my first sip of root beer and the sweet taste hit my tongue, he stood up and lifted his leg over the bench to walk around the table. I took a bite of pizza, relishing the delicious mix of green peppers, spicy sausage, warm cheese, and tangy sauce on the lightest crust I’d ever enjoyed.
Lost in the sensory delights of my dinner, I didn’t notice Alex moving next to me until he was kneeling down on the ground looking up at me. Had he fallen?
Suddenly, he got up on one knee. “Poppy, I love you. You brought me back into the land of the living after I’d convinced myself that I’d be alone for the rest of my life. You showed me I needed to follow the path I believed in before Helena’s death. I’m only a police officer again because of you. I can’t imagine my life without you.”
He lifted his hand and held out a small black velvet box. Tilting the lid back, he revealed a diamond ring sitting in the middle of it. “Elizabeth McGuire, will you marry me?”
Even though I was surrounded by fresh air, my lungs felt like I couldn’t get enough into them to breathe. The facets of the diamond glistened in the candlelight, and all I could think of was how foolish I’d been in the past few weeks. I’d been worried that he didn’t want to take our relationship to the next level and move in together, and here he had been planning this.
“Oh my…” I couldn’t get the words out. Clearing my throat, I tried again to tell him how happy he’d made me.
“Of course I’ll marry you, Alex. I love you.”
I swung my legs over the bench, dropped to my knees, and wrapped my arms around him. “I love you so much! I had no idea you were planning to do this tonight.”
He took my left hand in his and slipped the beautiful oval-shaped diamond on my ring finger. Smiling, he said, “Now it’s official.”
I stared at the symbol of our love and commitment to each other and kissed him on the lips. He looked down at me with those brown eyes that hid so much of what he felt, but at that moment, I knew exactly the emotions he was experiencing because I was feeling them too.
“I can’t wait to show everyone! I think they’re going to be surprised.”
A sheepish look came over his face, and he quietly said, “Your father and Derek already know, so you won’t be able to surprise them.”
“You told the two of them before asking me?” I asked with surprise.
“Well, I had to ask your father for his blessing, so that’s why he knew before you. And Derek is the closest friend I have in town next to you, so I wanted to tell him.”
Leave it to Alex to be so sweet even as he was telling me I was the third person to find out he wanted to marry me. Cradling his face, I kissed him on the lips and smiled.
“You are such an old-fashioned guy. You actually asked my father for his blessing? That’s so wonderful!”
“I wanted to do it the right way. You deserve that. This time, you’re going to get all the way to the church because your fiancé knows how to do things right.”
He hugged me to him, and as we sat there in the cool grass in my backyard, I couldn’t have been happier.
Poppy Montero.
I liked the sound of that.
Poppy and Alex return in The Finest Hour:
A Poppy McGuire Mystery (Poppy McGuire Mysteries Book #7)
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About The Author
Anina Collins has always loved a good mystery. From Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective Sherlock Holmes to Dan Brown’s intrepid Professor Robert Langdon, she’s spent some of her favorite reading times with mystery novels. When she’s not writing her favorite mystery couple, she can be found watching entirely too much Supernatural and dreaming about the beach.
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Books by Anina Collins:
The Poppy McGuire Series
The Eleventh Hour (Poppy McGuire Mysteries #1)
After Hours (Poppy McGuire Mysteries #2)
Top of the Hour (Poppy McGuire Mysteries #3)
The Darkest Hour (Poppy McGuire Mysteries #4)
Happy Hour (Poppy McGuire Mysteries #5)
The Witching Hour (Poppy McGuire Mysteries #6)
The Finest Hour (Poppy McGuire Mysteries #7)
Project Artemis Series
In The Darkness
After The Storm
Behind The Scenes
The Witching Hour Page 23
