Page 116 of This Feeling

When I asked Larry and Patty for permission to marry Harper, Larry asked if I’d bought a ring yet. I told him I hadn’t, and that I figured I’d let Harper pick it out. He smiled and asked me to wait a moment while he left the room, returning with a blue jewelry box. It was his grandmother’s engagement ring. When Harper was little, she used to tell her great-grandmother that when she got married someday, she wanted to wear that ring. She’d left it to Harper, and her parents had been holding on to it…waiting.

Opening the box again, I held it out to her now.

Harper sucked in a surprised breath as she stared down at the ring. It was a vintage Old European cut diamond flanked by two sapphires, in turn framed by eighteen Old European cut diamonds, all set in a platinum band.

Harper’s eyes filled with tears again as she lifted her gaze from the ring to me. “That’s my great-grandmother’s ring. How did you…?”

“When I asked your father and mother for permission to marry you, your father told me that your great-grandmother had left the ring for you. They’ve been holding on to it, waiting for this moment.” I reached up and wiped a tear from her cheek. “If you want something different, we can go look at rings.”

She shook her head as she stared at the ring. “No, this is perfect. This is…it’s… It’s perfect.”

Taking the ring out of the box, I lifted Harper’s left hand to slip it on. It fit her like a glove.

“It’s a perfect fit, too.”

Harper held her hand out and admired the ring. “I was so little when I knew my great-grandmother, but I remember taking the ring off and trying to put it on my own finger. She told me someday the man of my dreams would put it on my hand, and I remember telling her I couldn’t wait until that happened.”

Cupping her face in my hands, I leaned down to look into her eyes. “I love you, Harper Browning. You own my heart, body, and soul, and I will be yours forever.”

“Oh, Declan. I love you, too. So much!”

I captured her mouth with mine, and we kissed for what felt like forever. We were in the garden that would soon be ours, where we would get married, make love under the stars, conceive our first child, have endless birthday parties, and renew our vows on our fortieth wedding anniversary. It was the beginning of our beautiful journey. And I knew I’d never forget this feeling of utter happiness for as long as I lived, as I kissed the one and only woman I’d ever dreamed of being mine.

Harper

I stepped back and looked at my paint job. “What do you think?”

Declan walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, placing his hands on my very pregnant belly. “I like it. But I think you need to stop painting, Harp. You’re about to give birth to our son.”

“I had to find the perfect shade of yellow, and this is it. It matches the crib set we got from your mother.”

He nodded. “It matches it beautifully. Now let’s clean up this mess, or we’ll be late for trivia night.”

I turned in his arms and sighed. “I don’t feel much like going to trivia night.”

Daisy jumped up and sat on the chair that was in the corner by the window. She turned a few times and laid down.

“What?” he asked, his expression one of pure surprise. “You love trivia night.”

“Yes, I do, and I think this would’ve been our night. But I’m exhausted, and I really just want to stay home and put my feet up. Maybe even talk my handsome husband into massaging them for me.”

“I bet with the right motivation, he’ll be willing to do just that.”

I grinned. “What kind of motivation?”

Declan looked up as if he was genuinely trying to think of something. “We haven’t christened the sunroom yet.”

I laughed. “As much as making love to you in the sunroom sounds awesome, I don’t think I can. I feel like a beached whale.”

“You look like a beautiful goddess.”

Rolling my eyes, I stretched up and kissed him. “You’re sweet for saying that, but I don’tfeellike a goddess. I have heartburn, my feet are aching, and I really, really want Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Cherry Garcia.”

Declan nodded as he picked up the pan with the yellow paint and roller. “You’re in luck. I have just the thing for your heartburn, I can take care of those aching feet, and I have three tubs of Chocolate Cherry Garcia ready and waiting.”

“Three tubs?” I asked with glee.

“Three tubs, baby.”

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