“Yeah, she totally stole our thunder,” Susannah agreed. It was just after nine and they were in bed after finally getting some time alone to celebrate.
After Mallory’s exclamation, they had opened a bottle of champagne to toast the good news. It took almost an hour – and scrambling to add enough side dishes to include her and Jake for dinner – before Mallory noticed the ring on Susannah’s finger.
“Oh my goodness! Is this…? Does this mean…?”
More champagne was poured and another round of congratulations spoken before they got back to the topic of a New Year’s Eve wedding.
And another hour before they finally left.
“You sure you’re up for putting a wedding together on such short notice?” Colton asked, breaking into her reverie.
She shrugged and snuggled up beside him. “It was kind of my suggestion,” she admitted. “When Mallory mentioned to me a couple of weeks ago how she wished they had gotten married already and that she hadn’t procrastinated for so long, I suggested the holidays since everyone is going to be in town – including Jake’s parents.”
“I know they both said tonight how they didn’t want anything big…”
“I have to admit, I’m a little envious of them.”
He smiled and placed a soft kiss on the top of her head. “Really?”
“Yup. They’re not going to agonize for months or years over details that, in the grand scheme of things, really don’t matter. They just want to be married in a simple ceremony, surrounded by family and friends. And I think that sounds perfect.”
“You do, huh?”
She nodded.
“So for us…”
Tilting her head back, she grinned up at him. “I want exactly the same thing. Small. Intimate. And here. This is where we first met and this is where we spend so much of our time. Working on this house brought us together so it seems only fitting that we should get married here.”
He chuckled softly.
“What? What’s so funny?”
“A few days ago you were so against getting married that you were damn near having a fit and now you’re making plans for us and…I like it.”
“Just like?”
He kissed her again. “Actually, I love it. And yeah, getting married here at the inn would be the perfect spot for us. You just tell me when and I’m there.”
“If Mallory hadn’t claimed New Year’s, I would have suggested it.” She sighed. “It would have been perfect. I guess now we’ll have to wait a little while so we don’t…you know…”
“Steal their thunder?” he finished with a hint of amusement.
“Yeah, something like that.” She sighed again. “This is what I get for not being smart enough to accept your proposal the first time. I’m so sorry.”
“Susannah, you have nothing to apologize for. No one could have predicted things turning out like this. And besides, we can still plan and maybe even move in together before we actually get married. That is, if that’s something you’d consider.”
“I would. I definitely would. It just would have been nice to…”
“I know,” he said quietly, his hand gently rubbing up and down her back. “It’s not the way I would have preferred it, but…I think we’ve already established that this is where we want to be. And, if it’s that much of a deterrent to us, maybe we just go down to the courthouse and get married and have a ceremony with friends and family later.”
She perked up a little. “That could totally work! We could go to the courthouse and then take the time to plan out the perfect time to celebrate. Ooh…maybe Valentine’s Day!” She paused. “Or is that too clichéd?”
“Even if it were, it wouldn’t matter to me. Any day that you say you want to marry me, I’m there.” He yawned loudly. “But we don’t have to decide that tonight, do we?”
“Well…”
“Because it was a long work day and then all the celebrating and the champagne and making love and…”
Placing a kiss on his chest, she laughed softly. “You’re tired. I know. Me too.” Colton reached over and turned out the bedside light. “I love you.”
“Love you too, beautiful. Thank you for wanting to be my wife.”
“Thank you for wanting to ask me again.”
And before she knew it, they were both asleep.
“Okay, guys! Let’s break for lunch and we’ll tackle standing this temporary wall up when we get back,” Colton said to his crew the next day. They all agreed and turned to leave. His phone vibrated in his pocket and he saw he had a couple of texts from Jake asking him to come to the office. There were no reasons listed, just a request for him to come in and that Jake was providing lunch.
With a shrug, he walked out to his truck and began to make his way across town.
It had been a good day so far – the job was back on track, the inventory issue had been straightened out, and if the weather cooperated, they’d be at the perfect stopping point by the time the holidays hit. Maybe that’s what Jake wanted to talk to him about. Or maybe he wanted to talk about whatever job Colton would be taking on next. Whatever it was, he wasn’t worried. He and Jake had worked together for years and they had never had an issue where a job was concerned and he doubted that would start to happen now.
Although, they were going to be family soon. Was that going to make things weird? Awkward? He hoped not. Lord knew he wasn’t ever going to ask for special treatment. The only thing he was going to ask for was time off when he and Susannah got married so he could take her on a honeymoon. They hadn’t talked about where they wanted to go, but if it were up to him, he’d take her someplace tropical where they could spend the day lying in the sun. He remembered her talking about how she’d never taken a real vacation before. Anytime she had time off from work, she had come to Magnolia Sound to visit her grandfather and family. Well…now he could take her someplace and let her experience doing something for herself.
Just the thought of it made him smile.
He pulled up to the Coleman Construction office and parked. Inside, he went straight to Jake’s office and found his door open. He knocked, just to be polite. “Hey, Jake.”
Looking up, Jake smiled at him. “Hey, Colt. Come on in.”
So he did.
“I grabbed us a couple of sandwiches from the deli along with some chips and drinks. Why don’t you have a seat?” There was a small conference table in the corner of the room that Jake motioned to and once they were both seated, he spoke. “I wanted to apologize for yesterday.”
His sandwich was halfway to his mouth when he froze. “Um…what?”
“Yeah, when Mallory and I barged in on you and Susannah. We should have called first. To be fair, we had no idea you had just…you know…proposed. And then we went and announced our date without even asking about yours.”
Colton was about to speak when there was a knock on the door. Turning, he saw Sam walking in. “Sorry I’m late. Old Mrs. Mills was a little chatty and I couldn’t get a word in edgewise!” he said with a laugh. He sat down at the table and thanked Jake for the food before grinning at Colton. “Hey, Colt! I hear congratulations are in order!”