Page 127 of Loved

I laughed and kissed each of her knuckles. I needed to get the rest of this out. I needed her to know how important she was to me. And how excited I was for our future. "I'm yours, Penny. I've always been yours. I love you with all that I am. And I don't want to go another day without knowing that you're mine. Not just for today and tomorrow and the next. I want you by my side forever and always. Penny Taylor, you are the love of my life."

I let go of her hand and pulled the ring box out of my pocket. "You asked me if I was a believer in fate. I amnow. I don't know how I ended up as a professor in Delaware. But I know why I did. Because you were here. And my life would always be meaningless if I had never met you. Because without you, I'm not whole. Penny." I grabbed her hand again. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes!" She threw her arms around me.

I laughed and pulled her down into my arms.

"James, I love you so much." She put her hands on both sides of my face and kissed me.

I’d wanted to pull her into a kiss the morning we first met in this coffee shop. But everything we had been through, all the ups and downs, had led us to this moment. And this moment was perfect. I wouldn't have wanted to change a thing even if I could. I’d take all those moments of pain any day if they led me here.

"Don't you want to see your ring?" I asked.

"How did you do all this?" She turned and looked at the candles and rose petals. "How did you know no one would be here this morning?"

"It's closed today."

"I've been here on Sundays before."

"It's closed today because I bought it and I closed it." I smiled at her.

"You bought it?"

"I don't want anything to ever change about this place.” The owners would stay on to keep the place running smoothly. But they couldn’t make any changes without my permission. “I want to be able to come back here when we're old and gray and talk about how this is where we first met." I put my hand on the side of her face. "This place changed my life."

"So last night...you weren't out drinking?"

"No. I didn't even have one drink."

"But Melissa said..."

"What I told her to say. I knew you'd be totally consumed thinking that I was out getting wasted and never suspect that I was planning to propose. I told her to say she thought I was drunk if you started to get suspicious. Which I guess you did."

"You're such a jerk." But even as she said it she was smiling.

"I am sorry that I worried you. That wasn't my intention. I just really wanted to surprise you."

"You did surprise me. But wait, Rob was definitely drunk when I talked to him last night, though."

"No. Rob is great at pretending to be drunk. I had to make it seem like the story Melissa fed you was true. And Rob was definitely up to the challenge."

Penny laughed. "So you went to New York last night and got me into a new school. And bought a coffee shop. You've been busy." She couldn't stop smiling.

"And I went and talked to your parents."

"You did?"

"I wanted your father's blessing."

"Did you get it?"

I smiled at her. "Yes, I did.” Rob, Ian, and I had somehow forced it out of him. “Although I still would have proposed without it."

"I love you so much."

"I also bought you a ring. Don't you want to see it?" I was still holding the box in my hand. She had launched herself at me before I’d gotten a chance to show it to her.

"Yes."

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