Page 88 of Flare Up
“So I guess I didn’t blow the proposal?” he asked, and he was teasing, but she could see the relief on his face.
“This is so perfect.” And she meant it. Fancy, staged proposals weren’t really her style. But this was.
He smiled. “People always say you just know when the time is right and I always wondered what that meant. Is it like a physical shock? A voice in your head? And then one day we responded to a CO call and it turned out to be a false alarm, but it was the jeweler. The one who made the ring I’d finally picked out for you before.”
Wren felt a pang of sadness, but it was fleeting. They’d both reached a place where that time could be mentioned in passing without it reopening the old wounds.
“And it was still there, which blew my mind. I mean, how could the most beautiful ring I’d ever seen not have sold in all those months?” He chuckled, sounding a little embarrassed at the emotion in his voice. “And I knew. It was waiting for you, because it was your ring. And now it’s on your finger, where it’s supposed to be.”
Tears shimmered in her eyes, making the diamond sparkle even more brilliantly. “Please tell me you didn’t sell your new wheels.”
“No, although I would have in a heartbeat. I’d already started saving up again because no matter what, I was going to ask you to be my wife.” He ran his thumb over the stone. “Remember a couple months ago when all of us guys went to Maine to help a guy rebuild a hunting cabin that had taken some damage during an ice storm?”
“Yes, I remember you talking about Cobb and the other guys trying to cover you all wanting a shift off at the same time like it was the world’s most annoying puzzle. And I obviously remember you being gone for four days because I missed you.”
“It was the jeweler’s family cabin. The money I had stashed away and the work on the cabin combined paid for the ring, and I got to keep my wheels.” He nudged her. “Admit it, they’re really nice wheels.”
She nodded, but she couldn’t speak because her throat was all closed up from the swelling of emotion. That was family, she thought. The guys inside who’d all given up time off to go to another state and spend four days working to help Grant get this ring. The administration, trying to make it work. The firefighters who’d covered their shifts.
They were her family now, too, she realized. They came with the guy.
“You okay?”
She threw her arms around his neck so she could bury her face in his neck. “I love you. I love them. I swear, I’m so full of love and happiness right now, I might cry happy tears all night.”
“Hey!” Tommy’s voice boomed from the door of the bar. “Stop making out with my staff, Cutter, or you’re going to pay a pain-in-the-ass tax on every beer you buy.”
“I’m coming,” Wren called, pulling away from Grant and mopping at her face.
“As a sign of my maturity as a soon-to-be-married guy,” Grant said, “I’m not going to make the obvious joke here.”
She rolled her eyes at him and stood. Then she took his hands and pulled him to his feet. “One more kiss, future husband of mine.”
“Gladly, almost wife.” And he gave her a kiss that curled her toes.
The next hour passed in a blur of congratulations and toasts and beer. The women gushed over her ring and, on the clock or no, Wren took the time to hug every one of the guys who’d gone to Maine to help Grant work off the balance of her ring.
Olivia actually got teary eyed over it. “It’s so beautiful, Wren. You have no idea how happy I am to see it on your finger. Derek told me the story of the ring when he was explaining why Amber and I would have to work out the kids’ schedules minus one adult while he was away for a few days, and I’ve been dying for him to finally ask you so I could see it.”
“Before he found that one,” Derek said, “he actually had us guys looking at pictures of rings at a freaking Red Sox game, of all places. Trust me, we were all happy when he finally found the perfect one.”
“On to the most important question,” Ashley said. “When does the wedding planning start?”
“Oh!” Olivia grinned. “I love planning weddings.”
Jess laughed and tucked her arm around Rick’s waist. “You love planning everything.”
“Good point.”
“I’ll need you, Olivia, because it’ll have to be a big wedding.” Wren looked around her new family. “There is no way I’m picking and choosing, so I’m going to have a lot of bridesmaids.”
Amidst the laughter, Wren caught Cait’s eye. And when Cait scrunched up her shoulders, grinning, to show how excited she was, Wren knew she wouldn’t even have to ask. Cait would be her maid of honor.
Chris Eriksson pushed his way into the group surrounding them. “Fitzy just told me it’s time to bring it out and we should all head out front.”
Grant laced his fingers through hers and kissed her again. A lifetime of kissing this man was all she’d ever need, she thought as they followed the others out to the bar.
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