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We shared another kiss there at the top of the lighthouse, and it wasn’t long before the tourists started up the stairs. We waited for the last of them to arrive before quietly leaving so that we could get to our hotel.
As we left the lighthouse, we decided to stop at the gift shop. Just for the fun of it. Gabe had been showing me that sometimes, I didn’t have to be all business on a trip like this – especially since he was usually enjoying himself no matter what we did because he liked to see me take beautiful photos.
After the urge to look had been satisfied, we returned to our rented car.
“I should call my family when we return to the hotel,” I said. “They’ll be so excited for us. They’ve… they’ve been wondering if we were going to get married after I told them I was dating someone.”
“Are they always so quick to jump to conclusions?”
“Only when it comes to love.”
Chapter nineteen
Gabe
We returned to our hotel, and the first thing Grace did was call her family. She walked up to her room, while I went to the lobby to look through some of the other tourism brochures that were available. I’d told everyone I was planning to propose when I bought the ring. Now, they would all get to meet Grace. I was more excited for them to meet her than I was to call home and have the conversation over the phone.
Grace returned on my second brochure.
“That didn’t take long,” I remarked as I set the brochure down. “I thought everyone would have questions for you.”
“They did, but not a ton. Mainly just wanted to know if I thought this was the right thing for me, and if I loved you. I wouldn’t have said yes if I didn’t think that this was the right thing to do.” She smiled as she walked over to me. “You’ve made me the happiest woman alive. I hope you know that.”
“I do,” I said as I took her hand. “I must confess, I was nervous that I wasn’t going to do it before all the tourists made it up to the top of the lighthouse. I lost track of time up there.”
She hugged him, resting her head on my shoulder.
“Why don’t we head up to your room for now, and keep talking up there?” I looked down at her. “And maybe order some pizza. We were gone for longer than I thought we’d be.”
“That’s a fair thing to do,” she said, just as her stomach growled. “I think we’d both be better off for getting food.”
We walked up to her room without another thought. She opened the door for us, and in we went. She sat down on the bed, while I took the chair by the small table that had been set up for working. The whole hotel seemed to be geared towards business travelers rather than photographers or tourists. Probably why it was on the list of approved hotels she could get reimbursed for.
“Let’s see here… let’s order somewhere local if they deliver,” Grace said. “I love to try as many local places as possible.
“I have no objections to that,” I said. “And I can’t wait to introduce you to my family. You’re going to love them. They all have their quirks, but you learned how to work with mine.”
“When would we be going to meet them? They’re in Texas, right? What city?” Grace asked, looking up from her phone temporarily.
“We’d be going to the Houston area. We could see them if you decide to cover any interesting tourism attractions there, though I doubt there are many.” I frowned. “Or we could take some vacation time and go down that way. We could try and time it when all my brothers are in town so you can meet them all at once!”
“Well, just let me know when, and I’ll book a hotel to stay in,” she said. “Oh! Here we are. Delivery options from a place called Mango’s Pizzas. They’re highly rated, too. I say we order from there.”
“That works… and what do you mean, get a hotel?” I furrowed my brows.
“Your family has four kids, Gabe,” she said with a bit of a look in my direction. “If everyone is in town, your parents’ house is going to be super full. I’m sure your mom and dad are excited to spend time with their own kids, and I don’t want to impose so I’ll just book a hotel so that you all have space to hang out, and I can join in during the days or whatever. It’s no big deal.”
This is when I realized that I’d probably have to say something more about how big the house was. I’d already figured out in my mind which extra bedroom would be right for her. There was one down the hall from my room that only had one exterior window that I think she’d like.
“Oh.” I pursed my lips.
She finished ordering the pizzas – since she knew both of our regular preferences by heart now – and looked up at me.
“The pizza should be here in about thirty minutes. What do you mean by ‘oh’ though?” She furrowed her brows. “You clearly know something that I don’t know, Gabe. What’s going on?”
I took a deep breath. This was not exactly how I had planned to tell her about the wealth my family had, but it would have to do for now. There was no other way to say it. Especially now that I had piqued her interest.
“Grace, my family has a huge estate. And I mean huge. There’s plenty of room for you to stay there when we go to introduce you to my family,” I said.
