Page 98 of Careless Whisper

God, I loved her.

Reggie Sanchez didn’t need to be rescued. She didn’t need grand gestures or roses or skywriting. She just needed to be seen.

And I saw her. Fully. Finally.

I cleared my throat.

She looked up—mildly irritated until she realized it was me. “What?”

“Need a minute.”

She narrowed her eyes. “For?”

I turned and nodded toward Cindy, who stood down the hall and gave me a thumbs-up.

Then the stairwell doors opened, and, one by one,her parents stepped through. Then Jason. Then, her grandmother in a frankly outrageous hat—apparently, she came straight from the Kentucky Derby. Then Stephen Lancaster, who’d complained when I told him what I intended to do, saying hospitals were terrible places for gatherings. Apparently, he had a phobia when it came to hospitals.

Reggie blinked. “What the hell is going on?”

“Wait,” Anna called out. “Okay, now, you can go. Juanita says hello, Reggie.” She waved the phone at us, and sure enough, Juanita’s bright face filled the screen.

Crazy fucking family!

I took Reggie’s hand and dropped to one knee.

The hallway went still—nurses froze mid-step, someone gasped, and Cindy made a shushing sound from down the corridor when two nurses came in chatting.

“I don’t want to waste any more time pretending that you’re not everything,” I began, “That I didn’t know it the second I saw you again in Seattle. You’ve forgiven me more than I deserve, and you’ve made me work harder for your heart than I’ve worked for anything in my life—and that’s exactly the way it should’ve been.”

She covered her mouth with her free hand and I saw she was smiling, maybe laughing, loving this.

“I love you,” I promised. “I trust you. I admire you. And if you say yes, I’ll spend the rest of my life proving that I’m worthy of standing beside you.”

I opened the box. The ring was simple. Classic. Reggie.

“Marry me.”

Silence.

Then she whispered, “You’re such an asshole.”

I blinked. “Is that a yes?”

She started laughing—and crying at the same time—and nodded. “Of course, it’s a yes.”

I slipped the ring on her finger and then rose. She kissed me without hesitation, right in the middle of the cardiac floor, with Cindy muttering about violating sterile zones and someone snapping a photo.

Cheers broke out around us. Anna cried. Juanita screeched like she’d been waiting her whole life for this moment. Ignacio wiped his eyes and pretended it was allergies.

Faye just muttered, “About damn time.”

Jason kissed his sister’s cheek, grinning proudly.

Stephen wanted to know if we could have the engagement party at the Four Seasons now,please.

When the noise died down, and we were alone again—just the two of us—I held her hand and looked down at the ring that had brought us full circle.

Reggie leaned in and murmured, “You didn’t invite your parents?”

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