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Chapter Thirty-One
In the early hours of the following morning, Sawyer woke me up with a cup of coffee. "Morning, beautiful," he crooned. "Drink this, and grab a quick shower. I want to take you out for a few hours," he added in a low, murmur.
"Jeez, Sawyer, it's 3:00 a.m.," I moaned, groaned and grunted as I stretched, pointing my toes in the bed.
"Sorry, baby, but we need to go now. Come on, humor me."
For a long minute I thought of refusing and succumbing to the warmth of the comfy bed, but something inside tuned into the significance of Sawyer's need for me to do as he asked.
Tossing back the covers, I sat up still sleepy, and strong arms wrapped around me, yanking me to my feet.
Ten minutes later I was showered and drying my hair when Sawyer turned up again holding my coat.
"Ready?"
"What's so important?" I asked, placing my hairbrush on the bathroom vanity and turning to face him. Stepping closer to me, he slid his arms around my waist and looked down at me.
"I want to be out and back before lunch. I promised the kids I'd get the sleds out."
I continued to grumble my protest in a whisper as we crept downstairs and out through the kitchen at the back of the house, like a pair of thieves. We hurried to Sawyer's car as our breaths puffed out clouds in front of our faces and slid into the cold leather seats of his father's Jaguar again.
"Brrr," I complained as Sawyer started the engine. Within seconds, the snow and ice began to melt on the front and back windshields and the seats beneath us warmed our butts with the luxury feature that felt an essential must-have for those living along the Eastern Seaboard during the brittle winter months.
Being evasive, Sawyer refused to tell me where we were headed and as we neared New York City, I wondered why we were heading downtown at 5:00 in the morning. When he parked his car in the same parking lot I'd left my car on the first day I'd met him, I thought it a coincidence. But then he led me out of the exit and turned us in the direction of the wine bar. From a block away I could make out thousands of tiny LCD string lights twinkling in the distance.
As we grew closer I noted garlands of delicate fresh flowers draped from the canvas canopy outside. Stopping outside I glanced through the glass doors and inside was in semi darkness, except for a rose-colored candlelight glow.
"What's this?" I asked, my lungs burning in my chest from the cold, but my heart beating wildly with excitement because I had already anticipated what he'd planned. Sawyer's bright eyes danced with love as he stared down at me, his smiling face illuminated by the twinkling string lighting.
"Just having a do-over of the first time we met," he replied, playfully and pulled me into his chest. "Shall we?" he asked reaching out and holding the door open for me to enter.
Stepping inside, the heat in the wine bar wrapped around me like a warm blanket and my burning cheeks stung as they thawed from the icy wind that chilled them on the short walk from the parking lot.
Sawyer turned me to face the direction of the table where I'd been sitting when we'd first met.
Glancing down at the table, my heart squeezed when I saw the white table linen littered in fresh ruby red rose petals. Inside a silver champagne bucket was an opened bottle of Dom Perignon surrounded by hundreds of tiny ice chips. I smiled.
My heart melted when I turned back to look at Sawyer, bent down on one knee, and holding a very old, fancy green velvet box with the most exquisite antique princess cut emerald and diamond ring nestled in the cushion inside.
My heart clenched tightly before it almost leaped out of my chest at the thought and effort he had gone to. In just a few short hours, since I'd agreed to be his, he had put all of this together for us, and I knew his proposal was a moment I'd remember for the rest of my life.
"I couldn't spend my days with you knowing I hadn't proposed to you in some way that was at least a little memorable," he told me, a beaming smile lighting his face. My heart raced when I saw how delighted he was that he'd successfully pulled off his awesome surprise. "Bringing you back here is my way of erasing a bad memory. I wanted to give you a memory of the place where we met that left you in no doubt how I feel about you and how special I think you are."
Hearing his heartfelt words and seeing the love that shone in his eyes made my heart almost burst with emotion, and I fought back my tears. I shook my head, unable to find adequate words to tell him how much his effort meant to me and how I felt about him at that moment. I knew even if I'd had the words, they'd have been stuck behind an enormous lump in my throat.
Realizing he was still kneeling, I nodded. This was all it took for the salty tears brimming in my eyes and blurring my vision to roll down my cheeks. "Yes," I finally managed in a hoarse raspy whisper. We shared a heartbeat before he stood and scooped me into his chest. He held me so tightly to him I thought I might pass out.
"I promise I will never let you down," he said, his voice gruff with emotion before he drew his head back to look down at me. "It's only 5:45, but who cares, right? Releasing me from his arms he took the delicately designed ring from its antique box and slipped it over my finger. "You have no idea how significant this ring is, but in case you had any doubts about how my family feels about you, you should know the girls and my mom were unanimous in their decision this should be yours."
I studied the sizable gems and the intricate gold design as he poured us both a glass of champagne. Handing me one before picking the other up for himself, he clinked our glasses together. "To my beautiful, gentle woman, my bride-to-be, my everything, now and for the rest of my life. To us," he offered, the words rolling off his tongue. A long pause stretched between us and I looked at the exclusive ring again, fighting back my rejection of accepting ownership of such an obvious sign of affluence.
"It was my maternal grandmother's engagement ring," Sawyer explained. "Tradition would have it that it went to the first son's wife, but as my mom only had a sister and she was the eldest it went to her to pass down." My jaw almost hit the floor. "Mom told us the first boy to get engaged would take possession of the ring."
Staring down again at the beautiful engagement ring, I felt honored his mom had liked me so much. Then, for a moment I hadn't felt worthy of taking something with so much family history attached. However, when I thought of the alternative being Charlotte, a smile curved my lips and made accepting Sawyer's family heirloom far more acceptable.
The whole previous two months had felt surreal, just like my first kiss with Sawyer had been. He was right when he said I could know someone my whole life and never really know them; I'd learned that with Logan. I couldn't take in how my life had turned around in such a short time.
How the proposal happened came out of the blue, and I wondered where I'd found the bravery from to take such a step. I had never made such a huge decision as spontaneously as I did when I prompted Sawyer to ask me to marry him. Perhaps until then, I hadn't even known myself.
