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Agonizingly, I waited as they stitched him up and did the blood transfusion. After that, all that was left was for him to wake up.
Nick’s hand squeezed around mine, pulling me out of my reverie, and I glanced over to find him watching me.
“You okay?” he asked.
“I should be asking you that,” I said, gesturing toward his side. “How does it feel?” The doctor told us that he would likely not encounter any problems besides some nerve damage in the future, but I was watching him closely still.
“I’m fine,” he said as he tweaked my nose. “You worry too much.”
“I guess that’s what happens when you love someone.”
At that, his eyes went soft, and he smiled at me the same way he did when I told him I loved him in the hospital, after he’d woken up. He stopped and pulled me into his arms for a quick kiss before Violet called out again.
“Daddy, come on.”
We pulled back.
“Yeah, we’re coming.” He shot me a wink, and we continued in the direction where my daughter was bouncing, followed closely by Taylor.
It was a stand featuring a lot of different art pieces woven into baskets. The owner was a smiling elderly lady whose gaze was fixed on me as she asked, “Which one would you like?”
“Um…” I mumbled uncertainly.
“That one,” Violet yelled, bouncing excitedly in her steps and pointing. “It’s just like mine!”
I saw the basket in question, which was one woven with orange threads. The image on it looked like stick figures around a brown circle that looked remarkably like Violet’s drawing, and under it was the word WILL.
“Is that…” I turned to Nick, but he wasn’t looking at me. Instead, he was staring up into the sky.
“What are you looking at?” I asked in confusion.
“Any minute now,” he responded.
“What do you—”
I was interrupted by a sudden loud zooming noise several meters above me. I stared up in time to see a helicopter with a flapping banner attached at the back that had the word YOU.
“What is that?” I asked Nick, but he just smiled at me in response.
“It’s amazing that you still haven’t caught on,” he said as he snapped his fingers. In response, there was a pattering of feet as about half a dozen people cut through the crowd and came to kneel a few feet away from us. They each flipped over cardboard papers holding every letter in the word MARRY.
Oh god. I knew what this was. It was all starting to make sense to me now.
I stared wide-eyed at Nick. “You can’t be serious.”
“Behind you,” was all he said, and I spun around to see none other than Carson standing behind me. He was holding a sign that said ME? My brother had a wry uncomfortable look on his face, but he didn’t move. He was shooting Nick daggers, though, and I wondered what Nick must have told him for him to agree to participate in all this.
Carson had been one of the first people to come to see Nick at the hospital, and I didn’t know if their friendship was all the way mended—especially since Nick essentially threatened the mayor when he’d tried to come to see me—but Carson was still my brother, so I’d asked Nick to try and get along with him.
Lately, I’d caught them whispering to each other on more than one occasion, so I thought they were on the right track.
Of course, I didn’t know he was planning this all along.
I turned back to Nick only to find him on his knees with a ring box opened. A glittering red ruby ring sat beautifully in the middle.
“It’s not quite an airport chase scene,” he said, giving me that half smile that I loved so much. “But I wanted to do something to make you understand how much you truly mean to me and give you a ring that’s one-of-a-kind, like you.”
“Of course I know how much I mean to you.” My voice was thick with happiness squeezing my chest. “You risked your life for me.”
