Page 55 of In For a Penny
Parker stood at the bar with a full pint in his hand and a smile on his face. He sat the glass down in front of one of the customers. The entire bar watched as he slowly walked down the long bar and around the end. He stopped several tables away from her before speaking.
“You’d marry me?” he asked. It took everything she had not to roll her eyes. How could this man be so clueless about how she felt? She told him every day she didn’t want a doctor or a rich, pretty boy. She wanted the hardworking, sexy bartender in front of her.
“Parker. How can you even ask that? I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone. Of course, I want to spend my life with you. But not because you blurt out something in the middle of a heated discussion.”
They never argued, she had told him, they simply had heated discussions on occasion.
“You have to want to ask me. On your knees with a ring after much soul-searching.”
“I have a ring,” he said, looking around for someone.
“Don’t do anything until we get back,” Liam shouted. She noticed out of her periphery Liam and Ronan jumping up from a table and running toward the office. They returned shortly, with Liam carrying a velvet box. Parker took another step before sinking to his knees.
“I’ve had it for a month trying to get up the nerve to ask you. This isn’t exactly what I had in mind though. I just don’t want to wait for even a second longer,” he said. Ronan and Liam crashed onto their knees on either side of him. Liam held the box with the ring up.
Astrid heard a joint intake of breath from the silent crowd. Even Joseph and his helper stuck their heads out of the kitchen to watch.
She could feel the tears starting to sting the back of her eyes as she looked at him. He had managed to wrestle the ring away from his brother. She loved him, she loved his family, she loved this bar. He didn’t have to ask, she had given him her heart months ago.
“Astrid, I think I fell in love with you that Halloween you flounced in wearing that cheerleader outfit. I know I fell in love with you when you set us in our place for daring to question your choices for breakfast. But when you saved this bar…” He blinked away the tears shining in his eyes.
“I knew from that moment I had to keep you. I can’t imagine a day going by without you in it. Please. In front of all of these people just hoping to have a quick beer before they go home, will you marry me?”
There was a moment when the entire room seemed to hold their breath while they waited for her answer.
“Parker,” she said with a sniffle. Damn tears. “My answer has always been yes. Of course, I’ll marry you.”
The room exploded in loud cheering. He slid the ring on her finger before pulling her into a kiss. He kissed her hard and long right in the middle of the crowd. She didn’t care. She had a lifetime of kissing Parker Donnelly ahead of her.
He turned her loose and they were surrounded by people. She was hugged by half the bar, including her friends, Parker’s brothers and finally, Finn. Parker waited patiently for only so long while he was congratulated before he pushed through the crowd back behind the bar.
“Hey,” he shouted at Astrid with a twinkle in his eye. “Get back to work soon-to-be Mrs. Donnelly. We have a bar to run.”
Epilogue
Where in thehell had they gone? Parker distinctly remembered telling everyone to wait for him right here while he parked the car.
Dealing with his family was like herding cats. Even after six years of marriage, he still couldn’t always keep up with his wife. Marrying Astrid had been the best thing he had ever done. Waking up every morning and seeing her head on the pillow next to his made his heart skip a beat every time.
“Dude, what are you doing over here? We have seats in the stands,” he heard behind him. Rolling his eyes, he turned around to find Ronan. He had the same lazy grin he had been using since he was a child.
“What the hell? Did you not hear me tell everyone to wait for me?” Parker grumbled.
“Yeah, but since when has Dad ever waited for anything? Besides, Astrid can last about two minutes before running off to the bathroom.” Parker couldn’t argue either point with his younger brother.
His dad had been on the move from the moment they brought him home. He decided to move into one of the senior living complexes the second he turned fifty-five. He claimed he was tired of all the chaos above the bar. Parker knew he just wanted to give him and Astrid their privacy.
“Daddy!” squealed a curly-headed toddler when they reached the stands. Parker scooped him up into his arms. This was who all that newfound privacy created.
“Where is your mommy?” Parker asked, looking around. Spotting a slightly disheveled Astrid, he smiled.
“Brendan, are you supposed to run from Mommy?” she asked, ruffling his hair. “I saw you, so I wasn’t too worried,” she added in a whisper in Parker’s ear.
He was still in shock that they had managed to get pregnant with their first child, not to mention the one Astrid was currently cooking. It required going off birth control, an operation, lots of ultrasounds, and fertility drugs and he still wound up having to jack off in a cup at a lab.
But every time he heard Brendan yell “Daddy” at him when he walked into their apartment, he knew it had all been worth it. Although all he had really had to do was stroke off in a cup and fetch pints of Chunky Monkey ice cream in the middle of the night. Astrid did all the hard work.
After deciding two children was the perfect number for them, Astrid agreed to the surgery that would end her endometriosis pain forever. She warned him when they first got together having kids wouldn’t ever be less than extremely well planned. There would never be an argument involving “I thought you said you were on the shot” much like Max and Karlie had seven months before their first was born.
