Page 69 of The Vegas Rerun
“I …” I say, trying to speak. I fail miserably, just stuttering out the word I. I try again, and this time, I am able to ask the question I bit back the first time. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
His brows pull together, like he can’t believe I’d have to ask.
“Molly,” he says, his voice full of emotion. He rises to his feet slowly, leaving the box open on my coffee table. “If you say no, I’ll understand, but only if you say no because you don’t want to marry me, not because you’re afraid that I don’t want to marry you. I know what this is. I know what we could be. I’ve known it since the moment you smiled at me in that bar in Vegas.”
I let out a shaky breath, stepping forward. He meets me halfway.
“But I need to ask,” I whisper. “If Autumn didn’t exist, would you still want to marry me?”
He doesn’t flinch.
“Yes,” he says without hesitation. “When I left here, I walked for a while to clear my head, and I got the tattoo done. I didn’t go and get an engagement ring. I bought that the morning after we got locked in the office together.”
“Really?” I say, and he nods his head, and I melt inside. He does want me. Not just Autumn. He bought the ring before he even knew about her. I can’t believe I’m this lucky, that this amazing man wants me like I want him.
“But I probably wouldn’t have found the guts to ask you yet,” he admits.
“Why not?” I ask.
“Well, I figured it was a big ask, seeing as you wouldn’t even agree to go on a date with me,” he says, and we both laugh.
I shake my head, and another rush of tears come. I let them run down my face, tickling my skin.
“I’m an idiot,” I say.
“You’re not an idiot,” he replies.
He cups my face in his hands, gently brushing the tears away with his thumb.
“I love you, Molly,” he says. “And I want to build a life with you. With Autumn. If you’ll have me.”
I look up at him, like really look.
This man, who walked out on me just an hour ago because he knew I would never believe he wanted me unless he came up with the right words and in that moment, he didn’t have them. This man, who came back with a ring and a tattoo because he loves me and wanted to prove it to me. This man, who is not promising perfection, but presence. The three of us together as a family.
My heart swells until I think it might burst.
“Yes,” I whisper.
His eyes widen.
“Yes?” he breathes.
“Yes,” I say again, laughing through the tears. “Yes, I love you too. And yes, I’ll marry you.”
He pulls me into his arms, lifting me off the ground like I weigh nothing, spinning me around once before setting me gently back down and kissing me breathless. It’s everything I remember and more; familiar yet charged with something deeper now. A sense of finality, like we are the end game.
When we pull apart, I rest my forehead against his.
“I do want to marry you,” I say. “But I don’t want to rush into anything. If it was just us, I would happily marry you tomorrow, but we have to think about Autumn. I want her to have plenty of time to get to know you and to adjust to having you in her life. I want us to have time to figure things out as a family.”
He nods without hesitation.
“Don’t worry. I get it. And we can take as long as you need. We’ll have a long engagement and there will be no pressure from me. As long as we’re together, I’m happy,” Joshua says.
He picks up the ring from the box and slips it gently onto my finger. It fits perfectly. Like it was always meant to be there.
“I still can’t believe you got the tattoo again,” I say, tracing the star on his arm with my fingertip.
