“I love you—more than I ever thought I could. You brought me back from the dark. You made me whole again. I promise I’ll spend the rest of my life loving you. Here, Nashville, Thailand, Tokyo—wherever you want. As long as you’re my by side.”
“Then put your money where your mouth is, Melia.”
Pouty lips form a round O. “Pardon me?”
“Marry me.”
“Knox…” She’s breathless.
I fucking love it. And maybe I’m pushing too far too soon, but I can’t help it. I want us to be a real family. Right freaking now.
“I don’t have a ring. I don’t have fancy words or a speech prepared. Nothing about our relationship has been traditional. Why start now? I love you, Amelia. I love our son. I want us to be a family as soon as possible.”
She eyes me skeptically. “Is this so he’ll have your last name?”
“So you’ll both have my last name. I don’t know how many times I’ll have to say it, but I’ll shout it from the rooftops for the rest of our lives if I have to. I should’ve told you how I felt last summer. Not left like a coward. I loved you then. I love you now. That will never change.”
“You weren’t the only one who was a coward. I’m pretty sure I fell in love with you after two dates. It scared the hell out of me. And we kept reinforcing ‘just for the summer,’ and when you told me not to fall in love with you, I think it was already too late. I’d already fallen head first.”
I nod, knowing the same was true for me. “And, now, we’re a family. We’re doing this together, Amelia. You and me. I never thought I’d find this kind of love so early in life. But I know it’s once in a lifetime and I’m so damn blessed because it means I have that much more time to make memories with you.”
“I want that, too,” she whispers. “Yes, Knox. I’ll marry you. I’ll take your name. But this doesn’t change anything for Branson.”
A harsh lump forms in my throat, rendering me unable to respond. Hell, I don’t even know how to respond. I’m fucking thrilled she just agreed to be my wife, but…
Amelia laughs, lifting onto her toes and pressing a swift kiss to my lips. “It doesn’t change anything because he already has your last name, silly. It’s on the birth certificate. I’ve been wondering if you were ever going to ask.”
Her words grind that lump into dust and blows it away.
“I wanted to” I tell her. “The first night we came home from the hospital, I was going to demand it. But when I walked into your room and saw him sleeping and you exhausted after what you’d been through, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.”
“Knox,” she whispers.
“In that moment, I realized it didn’t matter what his name was. What mattered was that I had a son who needed me above all else. Did I want him to be a Wellington? Of fucking course. Would I love him any less if he wasn’t? No fucking way.”
“You’re gonna have to learn to stop dropping so many F-bombs. If his first word is fuck, cock, or shit, my grams is gonna kill you. Hell, I might kill you myself.”
I grin down at her. “I’ll rein it in, babe.”
Her coy smile tells me she knows it’s an uphill battle. “I’ll still love you regardless.”
“Promise?”
“Always,” she whispers. Her eyes rise to meet mine, round and full of wonder. “We’re getting married.”
My heart does a joyous somersault just hearing her saw the words. “Yeah, Melia. We’re fuckin’ gettin’ married.”
She swats my arm. “Hey!”
“I’ll work on it.”
“So…what are you thinking? A long engagement?”
“Fu—” I catch myself, and the appreciation mixed with amusement in her eyes has me making a mental note to actually try like I said I would. “Heck no. I want to marry you as soon as possible. We don’t have to run away to Vegas or anything, but the sooner the better. I don’t want to risk you getting away again.”
“If you recall, you’re the one who got away,” she says, her tone wry.
“I’m an ass. If you’re going to spend the rest of your life with me, you may as well get used to it. Plus, I’m also the one who came back.”
“I can’t argue with that. I’ll marry you anytime, anywhere.”
A brilliant idea formulates in my mind. “One month.”
“Knox, I can’t plan a wedding for a month from now!” she squeals in protest.
“You don’t have to lift a finger other than finding your dress. Leave the rest up to me.”
Her eyes narrow. “You’re going to plan a wedding?”
“Hell yeah I am,” I say, not even trying to censor myself. “You have enough on your hands with the baby. Trust me, you won’t regret it.”
“If you say so…”
“Babe, have I ever steered you wrong?” I tease.
She tilts her head to the side and studies me. “Do you really want me to answer that?”
I open my mouth to respond, but she rises on her toes and laces her arms around my neck.
“It was a rhetorical question. Now, shut up and kiss the future Mrs. Wellington.”
Well, I can’t deny my future wife, now can I?
IF I’D THOUGHT MY SUMMER romance was a whirlwind, that had nothing on the month leading up to our wedding. I barely had a chance to breathe, to step back and take it all in.
Like he promised, Knox took care of everything. The only thing I asked for was that it be a small wedding, with just family and close friends.
Now that we’re on the way to Nashville for our wedding weekend, the nerves creep in.
“How exactly have we managed to stay in our isolated bubble for three months without your mom or my grams barging in?”
Knox parks in his parents’ driveway and glances over at me from the driver’s seat. “I don’t know about your grams, but I told Mom if she came to Crystal Cove before she was invited, I’d never come back to Wellington.”
“She didn’t call your bluff?”
His smirk brings that dimple to the surface. It’s the same dimple our son has. The dimple I absolutely adore. “Have you met my mom yet?”
My nose twitches. I’m a bundle of nerves at the prospect of meeting his parents, so I’m counting on Clay to be an ally. And I’m not opposed to using my sweet baby boy to soften them up if I have to. One look at Branson and they’ll melt, just like I did.
“Well, as much as I appreciate your strategy,” I tell him, “Grams understood that we needed time to sort through things. She’s been dying to meet Branson, but in her words, ‘Babies eat, sleep, and dirty up diapers.’”
“Can’t argue with her on that one. Nashville and Knoxville aren’t that far apart. She’ll be seeing lots of him in the future.” His eyes dart over at me. “Are you sure you’re ready to leave Crystal Cove and settle here? Once we find a place?”
After our engagement, Knox and I had a conversation about the future. He is grounded, has roots in Nashville. Yet he offered to give it up all up so I could pursue my dreams.