Page 95 of #Awestruck

“Why is he just standing there?”

Music rose up from the field, and there was what looked like a high school marching band moving in formation. The Jumbotron began to flash colors, and then I saw my name.

ASHTON BAILEY.

What ... what was happening right now? I stood up, ignoring everyone and everything around me. I stared at the giant screen.

I LOVE YOU.

PLEASE BE MY WIFE.

There was a giant animated arrow pointing down, and I looked at the field. There, on the fifty-yard line, was Evan, still in his football pads, waving at me.

Hope, relief, and love exploded inside me.

“What are you waiting for?” Rory asked. “Do you not recognize a grand gesture when you see one? Get down there!”

I started climbing over my family. I had to get to him. I ran down the stairs and heard people talking all around me about what was happening.

“Aren’t they already engaged?”

“What kind of froufrou garbage is this?”

“Man, she is going to own him their entire marriage. Look how whipped he is.”

“How many proposals does one woman need?”

I only needed the one. This one. The real, actual one.

As I headed down the steps, Evan made his way over to the wall. When I got to the railing, he yelled, “Jump! I’ll catch you.”

It was a pretty big drop onto the field, but I didn’t even hesitate. I knew he wouldn’t let me get hurt. I swung my legs over the side and let myself go.

And he caught me. My breath left me for a moment when his arms connected with my body. He held on to me tightly for a moment against his smelly, sweaty, padded jersey, and I didn’t even care. Because that look was back in his bright-blue eyes. A look that said he loved me.

Evan put me down on the ground, but I stayed close to him.

“Hi,” he said flippantly. “So how’ve you been?”

It made me laugh, and I felt light and airy, like I might float away. “What are you doing?” I asked. “What is all this?”

“This was me realizing that my feelings for you haven’t changed, either. That I love you.” His hands rested on my waist, holding me close so it was easier for us to talk.

“I love you,” I told him.

He kissed me on the tip of my nose. “I know you do. And since our conversation in my car, I’ve been doing nothing but thinking about you. About us. About what it would take for me to trust you again. It helped that you apologized and owned what you did. But I also realized that a long time ago, you thought I had betrayed you. And you were able to give me another chance. To trust me again. And that was the very least I could do for the woman I love. I decided that it didn’t matter how we got here, that if you were willing to move forward, so was I. I’m sorry it took me so long to figure out. But what I do know is that I want you in my life. Forever.”

“You could have just stopped by,” I told him with a teasing grin, my heart fluttering over his words. “You didn’t have to do all this.”

“Rory convinced me otherwise.”

“Rory?” I echoed, looking up at my family in the stands.

Although I couldn’t be sure, I thought I heard her yell, “Grand gesture for the win!”

“I realized I want you to be my wife. The mother of our kids. And I went to your family to ask for their blessing.”

My family? Oh, they had held out on me.

---