Page 64 of Blueberry Cake
“How are you feeling?”
Archie stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. “A bit sick if I’m honest, but good.”
“Are you still going to let her open the rest of her gifts first?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you remember the way Oliver taught you to kneel?”
“Yes.” He’d practised it religiously every second he could. Apparently doing it a certain way would look better for the pictures.
“I’ll gather everyone on the porch. Oliver said the lighting is better there.”
“Thank you.”
Archie gave him a wink and after collecting his thoughts and gathering his last nerve, Boyd followed him. Everyone feathered out on the porch with Queenie standing in front of the table that held her presents.
“Don’t hide in the back,” she scolded, reaching out for him. “Come here.”
“And here I thought this day was about you,” he teased.
He helped her unwrap the presents, it all being more a blur than anything. Before he knew it, he took her hand, the words he’d recited over and over suddenly feeling unworthy.
“Queenie, I have thought about your birthday present for quite some time. Nothing I could think of even came close to what you deserve.”
Her cheeks tinged pink and her eyes beamed up at him, her hand squeezing his tightly.
“There will never be anything I can buy to show you how much I care, adore, and love you.”
He fell to his knee, and Queenie’s jaw dropped. He pulled the ring from his pocket with a quivering hand.
“Luckily, there are two amazing women in our lives that helped me gift you something to prove that my heart belongs to you. Two rings combined in one to not only show you that my heart belongs to you, but to represent our two lives joining, never to be separated.”
Tears now crawled down her cheeks as her hand shook in his.
“Queenie, will you marry me?”
The noise Queenie emitted almost broke the sound barrier. “Yes!”
He barely got the ring onto Queenie’s finger before she bent down to give him a bruising kiss. Cupping her face, he rose to his full height, feeling like he could breathe for the first time in weeks.
There were cheers and laughter as he picked her up and swirled her around. “God, I love you.”
“I love you too.”
When he put Queenie back on her feet, they were immediately swarmed with congratulations. Boyd happily stood by his fiancée’s side, allowing her to show off her new ring.
Queenie
With the sun setting and her feet sinking into the sand, she leaned into Boyd’s chest, admiring the way her ring sparkled in the fading light.
“The stone in the middle is from your mother’s ring,” Boyd explained. “The others are from my grandmother’s.”
“I didn’t even know you went to talk to them.”
“That’s the funny thing about surprises.” He chuckled and kissed her cheek. “You weren’t supposed to know. I’ve known I wanted to propose for a while, but didn’t feel like I deserved it before everyone knew the truth.”
“That’s why you insisted on coming clean.”
