Page 81 of Final Goodbye
“Yeah, baby, you know how good I am at handling the syrup,” I teased. She stood up on her tip toes and reached up to my cheek, pressing her plush pink lips to the scruff on my cheek.
Two plates filled with sweet sugary French Toast for dinner and a bottle of wine—pinot grigio of course—tucked under my arm, we made our way down to the deck Myles helped me decorate.
Paige gave us our space with no idea what we were actually doing. I told her I wanted to talk to him privately about the trial next week. And I did throw that topic in there just a bit because I didn’t want karma to bite me in the ass if I lied to my soon to be wife.
The closer we got down the path, it would be blatantly obvious what I had up my sleeve. Just over the hill, the string lights were twinkling. The small table between the chairs had a bucket already filled with ice for the bottle of wine I knew I’d bebringing down here, two glasses sitting right beside it. Red rose petals were scattered across the deck with more long-stemmed roses in clear vases. White electric candles flickered warmly against the fast-approaching sunset.
I only had seconds to take in the scene I set for her before she turned around, dropping the blankets she carried as her already tear-filled eyes connected with mine.
My mouth parted, ready to speak, but she cut in before I could say anything.
“YES!” she blurted out.
I chuckled at her excitement. I already knew she was going to say yes, but now I really had nothing to worry about if there was any lingering doubt. “I haven’t even asked you anything yet, baby.” Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “Come on, let me put our dinner down so I can ask you to be my wife properly.”
She trailed behind me like a puppy, unsure of what to do when we both stood in the middle of the deep red rose petals. I placed our plates of French toast on the table and took a knee, looking up to my girl.
Her bottom lip quivered as her eyes continued to fill with tears. I took her left hand in mine as I slipped the velvet box out of my back pocket. Tears formed in my eyes, threatening to spill over before I even said anything.
“Paige Wilson, you’re standing here in my hoodie you wore the first time we spent an evening down here. That night I wanted nothing more than to kiss you. I would have been extremely lucky to have that honor at the time. I already knew I was going to fall for you in that moment. You were always going to be mine, I just had to figure out how I was going to make that happen. But tonight, I want so much more than that. I want you to be my forever. I want you to be my wife. I want all of your love, forever and ever. I want to call you Paige Cooper from thisday forward. Be my wife, baby girl. Marry me and make me the luckiest fucking man on this earth.”
The second I was done with my speech; I opened the box revealing the diamond ring I’d prepare to slip on to her left hand. I let her take a moment to look at it in all of its shimmering glory. Her hands flew up to her mouth, covering it in disbelief at the diamond sparkling right back at her.
“Declan Cooper, is that what I think it is?” Tears rolled down her face as she lowered herself to her knees, unable to hold herself up.
“I visited your father’s grave site and had a conversation with him. Man to man.” I cleared my throat, trying to hold back my emotion. “I couldn’t ask him for your hand in marriage so instead I told him I would always make sure to take care of you. That you would be my number one priority for the rest of our lives.”
Her hands still covered her mouth as she sniffled. “After that, I asked your mom for her permission. I asked her if it would be okay to propose with the ring your father once gave her. That way you could have a piece of him, always.” I couldn’t hold my emotion back any longer when a tear betrayed me and slipped down my cheek.
“If you want a different ring, I can make that happen, but I wanted to make this as special as I possibly could.” We were both kneeling down, our glossy eyes looking into one another’s.
“Declan, you are so thoughtful. You are so kind and always put others before yourself. I can’t believe you’re choosingme.” Paige tipped her head back and looked up at the sky, trying her best to hold back her tears while she answered my question, “It would be an absolute privilege to do life with you. As your wife. So again, YES!”
I pulled the delicate gold band with a bright round diamond out of the box. The ring that was once her mother’s slippedright on to her ring finger. A perfect fit. The emotion ran right through us both. Tears streamed down our faces as we sealed the moment with a kiss.
“I love you, Mrs. Cooper.” She giggled through her tears at the use of her new last name.
“I love you too, Mr. Cooper.”
All those weeks ago when we sat down with our families for Thanksgiving dinner, and I gave my thanks to Anthony Wilson my world forever changed.
Paige’s final goodbye to her father was the promise of a new beginning to a new life for the both of us. And I planned to spend the rest of my life showing my gratitude to the memory of the man she loved first.
Soft soundsof music played as me and Declan swayed side to side. He wore a dark navy-blue suit that looked incredibly sexy against his tanned skin and made his ice blue eyes pop. I lifted my finger to a loose strand of his shaggy blond hair, moving it out of the way as he leaned down to whisper in my ear, “I can’t believe I’m married to my hot childhood babysitter.”
I gave his shoulder a playful shove, “I told you to forget that time in our lives. It sounds creepy!” A chuckle escaped both of our mouths.
We wanted a simple wedding, just our closest friends and family here to witness this special time in our lives. It felt right to host our wedding down here at Cherry Creek. There had been so many intimate moments between us here that it was an obvious choice.
With my dad being absent for the wedding, I asked Chase to walk me down the aisle. My now little brother was officially an adult and living his life having fun in college. Even with him away at school, he still came home often. It had allowed our relationship to grow over the last year in ways it never didwhen I was living in Phoenix. Instead of my brother feeling like an acquaintance and a distant relative, we’ve been able to dive deeper into who we actually are as humans. Our connection actually feels stronger than it ever had before and I loved the time we’d all been able to spend together.
After some time had passed and each of us healed in our own ways, you’d find endless nights over the summer of the five of us kicking back by the creek drinking and getting lost in conversation. Declan, Myles, Sophie and Chase were the close group of people I was in search of all these years. The family I’d forever be grateful for.
I looked around the dance floor at all the couples dancing around us. All of our loved ones together in one space. Mom and Chase shared a dance since they were both here alone. Declan’s mom and dad, Laura and Mark, moved around on the dance floor like they were seasoned vets being married for over twenty years.
Sophie and Myles were both here as well, our maid of honor and best man. But at the moment, I didn’t spot them on the dance floor, they were nowhere to be found.
Myles was a completely different person than he was when I first came back to Alpine Peak. Now he was sober and doing right by himself and the people close to him.
