Page 151 of Lennox Lane

Lane shook her head immediately. “Don’t you dare make me cry ugly in front of everybody.”

“Too late,” Nova called.

Lane pointed without looking. “Silence, Sinclair.”

“Let the man cook,” Tariq sniffed.

Lane laughed through tears and Lennox held her hands tighter.

“Lane Sanders,” he said.

The terrace quieted; even the ocean seemed to lower itself to hear Lennox pop the question.

“I spent most of my life afraid of love because I thought commitment was where people went to become cruel. I watched the worst version of marriage up close, and I told myself the safest thing I could do was never give one woman enough of me to hurt her,” he went on, seeing Lane’s eyes soften. “Then you happened.”

A tear slipped down his face before he could stop it, and he didn’t wipe it away. He just continued speaking from his heart.

“You challenged every cowardly thing in me. You made me look at the difference between control and care. Between possession and devotion. Between wanting someone and actually being worthy of them. You didn’t let me hide behind my father’s failures. You made me decide what kind of man I wanted to be and then gave me room to become him without letting me off easy.”

Lane laughed softly between her tears. “That sounds like me.”

“It is you.” His thumb brushed over her hand. “You are the sharpest, softest, strongest woman I’ve ever known. You are lavender with might. You are the woman who built a home for those in need out of the hunger nobody saved you from. You are the woman who taught me that softness, with the right person, is strength, and that love that does the work is not a prison. In fact, freedom comes when both people keep choosing each other even on the hard days,” he poured into his future wife as he heard the sobs of his mother behind him, keeping his eyes on Lane. “I refuse to spend another day letting you wonder where this is going. You’re not temporary to me. You’re not almost, maybe, someday, or if fear allows it—you’re my now, my later, and my forever if you’ll have me,” he got out as he noticed Lane’s lips trembled.

“I told you I was going to make you my wife,” he said, smiling through the emotion, “And I meant it. I need you to know today that you’re going from Miss to my Mrs, not because a ring makes you worthy. You were worthy before I ever learned how to love you right, but because I want the honor of being your husband, your safe place, your soft landing, your menace, your Robot, and the man who never stops choosing you.”

He finally lowered to one knee, and Lane gasped. Tariq sobbed loudly enough to make KC elbow him as Tariq whispered, “My bad.”

Lennox pulled the ring box from his pocket and opened it, revealing the four-carat square-cut solitaire diamond ring. The ring was bold, elegant, and brilliant like Lane.

Her eyes widened. “Oh my God,” she whispered as he looked up at her.

“Lane Sanders, will you marry me?” He finally asked.

She screamed, “Yes!” After what felt like the longest five seconds ever.

The terrace erupted, and Tariq yelled, “We got a wedding, heathens!”

Mielle and Jeanette clung to each other, both sobbing openly because neither thought they'd be here to experience this moment with their children. Lennox slid the ring onto Lane’s finger proudly, saying that it was the perfect fit. He stood, pulling her into his arms again, but this time as his fiancée. She kissed him with all the force of every yes she had once been too scared to give. Lennox relished the kiss before pulling back and looking at Lane like he couldn’t decide where his gratitude belonged.

“My fiancée,” he whispered.

Lane pulled back just enough to glare at him through tears. “Say it again,” she demanded.

“My fiancée,” he repeated as he watched her smile break open so wide that it reached her bright, beautiful eyes.

“My Robot,” she cooed.

“My Lavender,” he said, feeling relief that he’d gotten a yes to forever.

“You did so good,” Lane gushed, holding up her hand to admire her ring.

Before Lennox could respond, their people closed in to congratulate them. Nova threw her arms around Lane first, almost knocking them sideways, and Cadence followed, joy written all over her.

KC hugged Lennox hard, whispering, “Proud of you, bro,” against his shoulder before letting him go so he could talk to his mother.

Mielle held Lennox’s face between her hands and told him he was a good man, and Jeanette hugged Lane carefully, but Lane pulled her mother in for a full hug, skipping the careful shit.

“I’m so happy for you, baby,” her mother spoke through tears.