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She looks at me and rolls her eyes which makes me crack a smirk. But I’m grateful Hollis is forcing her to go out and have fun. Mainly because I can tell that Dakota wants to join the girls out there but she feels like she can’t. But also, because I want this to be perfect.
Jax smiles at Hollis before looking at me and he can probably tell I’m a nervous wreck. I wasn’t this nervous the first time, but that’s probably because I knew it wasn’t as real as it feels when I look at Dakota.
I take this moment to spontaneously whisper into Emsley’s ear. I want to make sure she knows what’s about to happen and that I have her approval. I also want her to do something for me.
She smiles that really big goofy grin of hers when I’m done telling her and she practically jumps out of her chair to run next to Dakota’s side. Dakota smiles down at her, and Emsley says, “I bet you five bucks I’m gonna catch this thing.” Dakota laughs at her little sister and says, “You’re on.”
“Hey, I wanna go over there too,” Aria whines and I convince her to hang back with Jax and her baby sister and she doesn’t argue much after that.
All of the girls gather into a big huddle while Sterling stands with her back to them a good ten feet ahead.
I see her turn around to give me the okay, so I stand from my seat, careful not to draw Dakota’s attention, and make my way to the back of the group of girls.
The DJ starts to play Single Ladies by Beyonce and almost on cue, the group of girls in front of me silently and stealthily back away from Emsley and Dakota who are oblivious and now the only two standing behind Sterling.
I said I would do it when the time was right. In this exact moment, I know it's one hundred percent right. I know this is what I want. And despite us not talking about it further, I know my firefly. I know this is what she wants too.
“Three!” Sterling shouts as she pretends to throw her bouquet over her head and then lowers it again.
I pull out the ring.
“Two!” Now everyone else joins her in the countdown. Emsley grabs Dakota’s hand.
I get down on my knee.
“One!” Sterling tosses the bouquet gently over her head. It flies in the sky, almost in slow motion.
I watch it as it comes down toward Dakota but—just as I predicted because I know her so well—she steps aside slightly to allow Emsley the advantage of catching the bouquet, in which she reaches her hands up into the sky while standing on the tips of her toes and catches it like Travis Kelce at a football game.
Dakota claps and cheers for Emsley, but then she realizes it’s silent. She’s the only one cheering, the music has stopped, and Em hands the bouquet to her sister.
“I think this belongs to you, sissy,” she says.
I can’t see her face from here as Emsley walks away, leaving her side while Dakota’s back is still to me. But I see Sterling nod her head and that’s when Dakota turns around and sees me.
The look on her face is all the confirmation I need to conclude that this is in fact, exactly what she’s wants.
I was taking a big risk doing this without hearing it from her. A risk I was willing to take because I know that whether she says yes or no, my heart will never belong to another woman for as long as I live.
It’s Dakota.
Dakota and the girls.
She walks over to me, hand over her mouth in shock as tears stream down her cheeks.
I stand up to meet her, holding out the ring as she eats up the space between us.
“Nolan,” she whispers, and my heart does that thing it always does when she says my name like that. I realize that everyone in the room is starring at us but it feels like it’s just me and her.
I look down at the ring, then back up to her.
“How did you know?” she asks in a whisper, and I smirk.
“It was in your eyes,” I respond, and she wipes the tears from her face.
“The ring?”
“It was my mom's. I started to carry it around with me shortly after I met you. Just in case the time ever came. I wanted to do it soo-”
