He tugged me forward, and I screeched as I landed on my back in his lap.
“Then, that is all my fault because I love you too, Madeline. I’m sorry I didn’t say it weeks ago, but you honestly caught me by surprise, and…let’s face it…I wasn’t ready.” He smiled down at me. “But I am now. I don’t think I was clear when I said I was working hard to get my life back on track these last few weeks before I saw you again. I wanted to make sure that I was worthy of you loving me.”
“Oh, Griff.” I threw my arms around him. “I love you so much.”
He leaned down and kissed me. “I love you too, baby. More than you’ll ever know.”
Forty-One
Madeline
“So, you and Griffin made up, huh?” Christina asked me as we took a break from dancing at her wedding reception and stood on the sidelines.
I smiled. Oh, we made up all right. “Yes.”
“I’m so glad because you two belong together. And I’ve been waiting years for you both to realize it.”
My mouth fell open. “Why have you never told me this?”
“Because I didn’t want to influence you at all. Your relationship had to progress naturally.”
“I think marriage has gone to your head. You think you’re a romance guru now,” I joked.
“You’re funny,” she said sarcastically. “But seriously, in my head, I always pictured the two of you ending up together.”
“It looks like you might have been right.”
“I love being right.”
I laughed. “I hope your new husband knows that about you.”
She laughed, too, and put her hand on my arm. “And I’m sorry you didn’t know about Griffin yesterday. I thought you knew and didn’t want to talk about it. Even so, I should have asked you if you were okay.”
I put my hand on hers. “It’s fine. I heard there was a communication mix-up.”
“Yeah, never send a man to relay a serious message to another man.”
I laughed again. “It’s true. And it’s really okay. You were in the middle of planning a wedding, and I don’t blame you.” I shrugged. “Maybe it’s even good that I didn’t know because it didn’t give me time to obsess about it.”
“But you missed dinner last night.”
“I’m sorry about that.”
“Don’t be sorry. I just feel bad. Although it wasn’t that exciting.”
“Griffin told me Chantel complained the whole time.”
Christina gritted her teeth. “Boy, did she ever. Hope took her aside and told her if she complained one time today, she would be kicked out of the wedding party entirely.”
“Aw.” I put my hand over my heart. “Sisters are the best.”
“They really are. And some cousins are not.” She pointed to the cake table, where Chantel stood a little too close to Griffin. “I’d get over there before she offers herself up as dessert.”
“I doubt that,” I told Christina.
“I’m not joking.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll go.” But as I walked over, it felt good to know I wasn’t worried.
When I reached them, Griffin looked over his shoulder at me and grinned.
I loved that I was the one to make him smile like that.
He held his arm out, and I slid into his embrace.
“Hey, Chantel, did you ever get a chance to meet my girlfriend, Madeline?”
Chantel pursed her lips. “Not really.”
“Yeah, sorry, I had to leave before dinner last night.” I held out my hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
She shook it, but she didn’t seem happy about it. “Same to you.”
“Do you mind if I steal my boyfriend for a bit?” A slow song came on at that exact second. “I want to dance with him.”
She rolled her eyes. “Sure. Whatever.”
Taking Griffin’s hand, I led him out to the dance floor. He spun me around and then pulled me into his arms, and we began to sway to the music.
I laid my head on his chest. I knew that not everything would be perfect between us, but at that moment, I was so happy that my heart felt like it was bursting.
“Did I tell you that you look beautiful today?”
I smiled. “Yes. Several times.”
“Did I tell you that, as we were walking up the aisle, a part of me wished it were our wedding?”
I jerked my head up. “What?”
He laughed. “I know. We haven’t been together but a minute, but the thing is, we’ve known each other forever. And I know that I want to be with you till the end of time.”
My eyes widened. “Are you proposing to me?”
“Huh, I guess I kind of am.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you, too, but today is not the day.”
He frowned. “Why not?”
“Because today is Christina’s day.”
“What about Troy?”
“Troy shmoy. We all know it’s the bride’s day.”
“Okay, I’ll give you that.”
“Anyway, it’s Christina’s day, and I’m not going to get engaged on her wedding day. Besides, you don’t have a ring.”
Griffin wiggled his eyebrows. “What if I told you I did?”
I stopped breathing. There was no way he’d actually bought one.
“I’d call you a liar.”
He lifted a shoulder. “I guess you’ll never know.”
“You’re such a tease. But since we just got back together, why don’t you wait a month? If you still want to marry me, you can get down on one knee and ask.”
He kissed me long and hard. “You got yourself a deal. I’ll ask. You just wait and see.”
And one month to the day, he did.
Epilogue
Madeline
I grabbed Griffin’s hand as the plane began to land while I stared out the window. “I can’t believe when we step out of here, we’re finally going to be in Europe.” I turned my head and looked at my husband.
He leaned over and kissed me. “Happy thirty-fifth birthday, baby.”
I snagged his shirt in my fist. “You know that all I need is you, right? But Europe sure is nice.”
He smiled at me, and fifteen minutes later, we were walking down the jet bridge and into the airport.
As soon as we were out in the open, I pulled out my phone, turned it off Airplane Mode, and hoped my international phone plan worked. When I didn’t get a signal right away, I stopped walking and held up the cell.
Griffin noticed I wasn’t beside him, spun around, and came back to me. “Mads, what are you doing?”
“Just calling our moms.”
He sighed and hung his head in defeat. “Babe, we were in the air for, like, eleven hours. It hasn’t been that long since we left them. I think when you told me that all you needed for your birthday was me, you meant, me and the kids.”
Aha. A signal. I dialed my mom’s number and put the phone to my ear.