Page 135 of Rules Of Engagement: St. Louis
Reaching into my jacket pocket, I pulled out the small blue box that had been my constant companion for weeks. The entire ballroom gasped as I opened it, revealing the solitaire diamond that had made me think of her hands the moment I’d seen it.
“I’ve been carrying this around since the day you left,” I said, and the roughness in my voice spoke to the emotional state I was in. “I’ve been carrying it and hoping and praying that someday you’d be ready to hear what I wanted to ask you.”
Naomi’s eyes widened as she stared at the ring, her hand flying to her mouth.
“I never want to spend another day without you,” I continued. “I want you as my wife, Naomi. I know your fears, and I know your heart. You don’t have to answer me now, you don’t have to answer me later, but?—”
“Yes.”
The word was barely a whisper, so soft I wasn’t sure I’d heard it correctly.
I froze, the ring box suspended between us. “What did you say?”
She leaned toward the microphone, her voice ringing clear through the ballroom, through the television cameras broadcasting this moment to the world.
“I said YES.”
An explosion of applause thundered through the space, mixed with cheers, whistles, and what sounded like cries from onlookers. Camera shutters clicked rapidly as I stood there in stunned disbelief.
“Yes?” I repeated, hardly able to process what I was hearing.
“Yes, Christian. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
I reached for her face with my free hand, cupping her cheek as I pulled her toward me. Our lips crashed together in a kiss that was so desperate and hungry that I could’ve inhaled her.
I lifted her off her feet, spinning us both around while the crowd cheered even louder.
When we broke apart, both of us were crying. I set her down and pulled the ring from the box.
“Are you sure?” I asked, holding the ring at the tip of her finger. “Are you absolutely sure?”
“I’m sure,” she said, through her tears.
I slid the ring onto her finger, and it was perfect. Like it had been waiting for her all along.
“I love you,” she said, looking up into my face.
“I love you, too,” I pulled her close again. “God, Naomi, I love you so much.”
The crowd was still cheering, still taking pictures, still celebrating this moment that had just changed everything. But all I could see was Naomi, her smile, her tears, the ring sparkling on her finger, the pure joy radiating from every inch of her.
“I can’t believe you did that,” I said, resting my forehead against hers. “I can’t believe you interrupted my awards ceremony to tell me you love me.”
“I had to,” she said. “I couldn’t wait another day.”
I held Naomi in my arms, both of us laughing and crying and completely lost in each other.
Christian
I stoodin the doorway of our bedroom, watching Naomi arrange her jewelry box on the dresser we’d chosen together last month.
“That’s the third time you’ve moved that box,” I said, leaning against the doorframe.
“I’m trying to find the perfect spot.” She adjusted it another inch to the left, then stepped back to admire her work. “There. What do you think?”
“I think it looks perfect wherever you put it.”
She turned to smile at me, and I was struck again by how right this felt. How natural it was to have her things mixed with mine.
