Page 24 of Jealous Bodyguard

Steve bends down out of sight, and there’s the whirring, winding sound of cables and fabric.

“Oh look!” Mom observes. “They're raising the flags.”

She seems to want me to watch. But in all honesty, being cooped up with my parents for a week with Steve only inches from me, it’s been all I can think about to get him alone. Every time we’ve nearly hooked up, either Mom or dad has interrupted us.

So, after an afternoon on the deck watching Steve play shuffleboard with daddy instead of shuffling my boards, the last thing I feel like is some stupid flags being hoisted on a boat. Yacht. Whatever.

“Look!” Mom says again, shaking her head as the smile she's been working to keep from me starts to show.

I can see the colored flags coming up one by one as Steve winds the winch. Something to do with signaling other ships or sending messages, that’s what I thought they were for anyway.

But not today.

“Keep going, Steve! Heck, I thought you had some muscles on you. Looks like you're not even trying...”

The flags start to shoot up as soon as daddy ribs Steve. And long before I start to read the words printed on them, I feel that familiar buzz in my belly, and my ears pop.

As if I’ve lived this moment before and mom instructs me to read what I’m seeing.

“What do they say, sweetie? Can you see?”

My eyes narrow, and I read the message. But it’s not a message for me. It’s for Steve.

“Just... Ask... Her... Will... Ya!” I say aloud but it takes a moment to peg what it means.

The long, triangular flags snapping the words forcefully as they flap in the wind.

My dad’s beaming grin as he pushes a slightly stunned-looking Steve ahead of him towards me soon after shows I’m not the only one taken off guard by my dad’s antics.

My head snaps to my mom, who shrugs. “I didn’t tell him, I swear... But your daddy’s no fool, Stacey. I think anyone with eyes can see what’s going on between you and Mr. Right over there...”

Steering Steve until he’s right in front of me, blocking the sun, daddy makes his confession.

“Melinda told me a lot the day you brought Stacey home, Steve. She told me that Sean Castor is never going to be a problem again. But more than that, she quietly mentioned how you let her go so she could do what she had to... Get her son.”

The way daddy says it gives me a jolt in my belly. I never knew or even asked about anything after I came to in Steve’s arms.

Never once thought about Melinda, that’s for sure.

“It showed me who you are, Steve Slade,” Daddy continues. As if he's handing Steve the keys to the city. “A man who’d not only keep my daughter safe but make sure justice was served and every wrong re-written.”

Steve glances from my dad to me, surer than ever of himself and cocking his own brow like a man who’s not only getting what he wants but he's being praised for it.

“So, once it was clear to me how you feel about Stacey, after you risked everything to make sure she was safe, but most important of all, bringing her home. That's when I knew you were the right man for the job.”

“The job?” Steve echoes.

“Being my only son... The husband of my daughter. Father to our grandbabies... Now just ask her, will ya? The suspense is killing me!” Daddy cries, crimping his mouth that quivers as he fights back emotions I never knew he even had.

And Steve being Steve, he doesn’t waste a second on details, or even the fact he doesn’t have a ring handy.

He’s on one knee, in front of me and both my parents, popping the question that’s been on his mind since we met.

“Stacey, will you… Will you marry me? Will you be my wife?”

And my reply?

Well. What would you say?

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