Page 35 of Merry Little Mishap

“It is. Elena… I love you. I’ve loved you since the moment I met you. I knew it then, I know it now, here, in this home we built, in the life we live. And I know it’s quick, and I know it may not be traditional… but I want it for the rest of my life. My forever begins with you, and it ends with you… and nothing could ever make me believe otherwise. What we have… it was always meant to be.” He picked up the ring, propping himself on one knee as I sat before him, crying.

“Do you mean that?” I looked into his eyes, surrounded by what others would assume was just a scattering of old, stale, novelty cookies—they were anything but. They were pieces of us, of our story, and for as many traditions as I once had, new ones were forming, and that meant everything to me. Nick wasn’t just my former neighbor, my current boyfriend, or the man of my dreams… he was my home, and if being loved for who I was and what I did was the pillar of what family meant, then I certainly had that with Nick.

“I do mean it… I was just waiting for your family to get here… to get your father’s permission. I wanted to surprise you in front of everyone, I wanted?—”

“Yes.” My lip quivered, answering him already. It wasn’t about a ring; it wasn’t about marriage. It was about love; it was about being accepted with no conditions. That was Nick. “I will…”

Nick didn’t even have to ask, slipping the ring on my finger, pulling me in for the longest kiss we’d ever shared. I laughed, I cried, but most of all I felt relieved as a knock came from the front door.

“You ready, naughty-list girl?” Nick smiled, thumbing away a tear. I looked at the door, knowing that regardless of the ring I was just given, that I was going to be proud of my truth—a truth I would admit to with no shame or regard for reactions. This wasourlife,ourhome, and I knew whatever was to come by opening that door, that Nick Stafford—the man of my dreams—would always be by my side.

I loved him.

I always would.

And now, we would face everything together.

“I’m ready.” I kissed him. “I’ll always be ready.”

The End.

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