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Pointing into the distance, James commented on how their heads were following the sun. My eyes followed his gaze and when I looked back to talk to him, he had knelt on one knee in front of me. A buzz of adrenaline lit up my body and I began to shake.
Holding up an ancient, green velvet box with a beautiful delicate rose gold emerald and diamond antique ring inside. It was simply stunning and the fact he’d chosen the same stones as those that Billie had for her ring wasn’t lost on me either. Those brothers were so in sync with one another.
“Tricia Mattison, I have been waiting patiently for the opportunity to ask you a very important question. Until now, the time has never felt right … actually the time may still not be right, but to put it frankly, I am tired of waiting my turn. I’ve been a very patient man where you are concerned, but with catastrophes and revelations stalking you at every turn, I fear there may never be that precise moment, if I don’t jump in and claim what is mine.”
“James,” I said softly, and he shook his head like he didn’t want me to speak.
“Since then we’ve shared a few life-changing moments. Billie and Sawyer’s wedding, the birth of the twins, Erin coming back, and the death of your mom. Each of those have brought out some heavy emotions, but I’m hoping this one is different than those, and I pray I will never cause you any pain.”
“I…”
“Shh, I’m not done,” he replied, nervously with a chuckle. “Several times I have almost proposed, but something else has gotten in the way and stolen that moment from me. Each time I told myself you deserved a perfect day before I asked you. Today you used that word to describe the time we’ve spent together … which I have tried to create. I wanted a simple perfect day for my simply perfect woman, and here we are. So, Tricia, what do you say? Would you do me the honor of being my wife … will you marry me?”
Tears blinded me, but they never stopped me from staring down at the beautiful man I wanted to feel worthy of. James was the man who forgave my past, had ignored any obstacles I had put in his way, and despite all my baggage had told me he wanted me anyway.
“Yes,” I choked out, my throat stinging from the strain of trying to keep it open when it had desperately wanted to close. Fresh tears burned back there which made me swallow repeatedly.
“Yes?” he repeated like I hadn’t sounded convincing, but when I saw how the setting sun made his eyes glint with happiness I knew that I had.
I nodded. “It … I … damn, James, I thought you’d never ask,” I blurted, chuckling.
Rising back to his feet, he picked me up and spun me around before placing me back on my feet. Smiling shyly, he chuckled. “Damn, that was hard,” he muttered, but grabbed my hair from behind, tilted my head to how he wanted me, and gave me another one of his bone-melting kisses.
Desire flooded my body and I moaned loud enough to stop him kissing me.
“Jesus, baby, you can’t do that unless you want me to lie you down right here,” he murmured, his hand sliding into my hair. He held my gaze firmly to his and I felt his breath on my lips. “I’ll make sure you never regret it,” he promised, shaking his head gently, and I knew in that moment he meant what he’d said. Slipping the ring on my finger, he pulled me toward him, and kissed me again. “I feel like I’ve waited a lifetime to make you my wife, so no matter what else is happening in your near future, Tricia, our wedding is going ahead.”
“Agreed, I love you, James, and I can’t wait to change my name. Being Mrs. Wild instead of Ms. Mattison will help free me from some of the horrors I’ve lived through in that name.”
Chapter Twenty-One
We had barely been home a day when my cell rang. I smiled when I answered and blurted out that James had proposed.
“Oh. My. Gosh, we’re going to be sisters,” Billie gushed down the line when I told her and smiled at how happy she was with my news. I held out my hand and stared again at the beautiful ring on my finger. James had taste. Erin’s response had sounded just as excited as Billie’s, when we told her. She hardly knew James, but I could tell she already adored him.
“Yeah, and there I was thinking he’d never ask,” I muttered, ashamed of that fact.
“So, he’s not Sawyer,” I heard her say, and imagined her shrugging her shoulders because they were married in a matter of months after being together.
“They’re more alike than they know,” I argued.
“I hear you, girlfriend, but it’s funny how neither of them can see it.”
“I want to confront my dad before I start making wedding arrangements,” I told her, changing the subject abruptly and back to the issue I’d been discussing, before I caved and told her James had proposed.
“That’s probably for the best and you have your mom’s will reading. Are you going to do it then?”
“Yeah, I spoke to Marnie, who is livid about the whole thing. I know I shouldn’t feel compassion toward my dad because of that visit. But he’s just buried my mom. Marnie is far harder than me. She reminded me I’d had a child and they’d taken me to sit in her company and neither one of them had told me that the child was mine. I’m going to confront my dad after the will reading next week. Once that’s done, James wants me to arrange the wedding … I think he thinks it’ll be a good diversion for me.”
“What do you want for your wedding?”
“Not a big white wedding, that’s for sure. Very intimate, family, I think … maybe a couple of others. I don’t want to invite people I only see once or twice a year.”
“Friends?”
“Maybe Rhea. Will you be my maid of honor and Brynn can be a flower girl? We’ll get her one of those fancy-assed princess dresses and some ballet shoes.
“Oh, Tricia, you have to ask her to do that. She will be over the moon. It would mean much more to her coming from you than me. What about Remy? Can he carry the rings or something?”
