Climbing into the carriage, I let my head fall back and the warm spring air dance over my skin. Trent climbs into the driver’s seat and softly moves the reins, the horses moving slowly down the street.
Part of me wants to ask where we’re going, but another part doesn’t want to ruin the surprise.
We move through Youngstone and Mrs. Pennyworth stares up at us from outside the bakery, a warm smile spreads across her face. The other residents smile too.
People have been so wonderful now that Trent and I have gone public, surprising me with how much support they’ve offered. It would be different if I was with another older man, but everybody knows how loyal, honorable, and downright good Trent Tanner is.
We leave Main Street and head out toward the residential streets in the fancier part of town, not the low-income housing where mom and I live.
“I used to come out here when I was a kid,” I say, drinking in the sight of the three and four and even five bedroom homes.
The lawns are all pristine and the house at the end of the row has a big beautiful gate and a fountain out front. The gate is shiny metal and it glistens in the morning sun, the water shining even brighter as it spurts in the fountain.
“The mayor lives here, doesn’t he?” I murmur, as my eyes move over the gorgeous grandeur of the colonial-style house, with its red façade and its big family-sized porch. “Wait… he’s selling?”
My eyes move over the For Sale sign.
“Not anymore,” Trent says.
“He changed his mind…”
I trail off when the realization thunders into me.
“You bought it?”
He jumps deftly down from the carriage, landing with his characteristic grace. It still surprises me how a man of his towering stature can move so fluidly, but it shouldn’t. He danced around those ass-hats in the lettermen jackets like a professional fighter.
He offers me his hand, his jaw suddenly tight, his eyes brimming with intensity.
I squeeze onto him and step down from the carriage, my heart pounding frantically in my chest, whispering this is it, this is the moment.
Don’t get ahead of yourself, I try to warn myself.
“I bought it for us,” he says, his hands on my hips, his eyes pinning me in place.
It feels so good being captive by his gaze.
“It’s ours,” he goes on, his voice a shivering growl. “The sale went through this morning. And I was so goddamn relieved, Snapshot. Because I’ve been waiting until now, while we’re standing outside our family home, to tell you I love you.”
I gasp and tears prick my eyes, joy dancing around my body.
“I love you,” he growls, sighing heavily as though he’s glad he finally gets to speak those sacred words. “I love you more than a man like me should be able to love. I thought I was cold. I thought I was closed-off. I thought I was a thousand things and all of them were damn wrong. Nothing compares with the love I feel for you, Tessa. Nothing can compare.”
“I love you too,” I gasp, grabbing onto the solid mass of his arms, feeling the protective strength of his muscles. “I didn’t want to be the first to say it. I was so freaking nervous. I love you so, so much, Trent.”
“Good,” he says, taking a step back. “Because it’d make this pretty awkward otherwise.”
“Make what awkward…”
My sentence cuts off with an emotional choking noise when he falls fluidly to one knee.
He smiles up at me, really smiles, in the way he has a few times since Angie gave us her blessing. It’s a smile I’m still getting used to seeing and which floods me with so much light I feel like I might burst.
He takes my hand in his, moving his thumb over my ring finger, sensation dancing, and teasing and making me want to let out a song of bursting joy.
“I love you, Tessa Jacobs. I want – I need – to spend the rest of my life with you. I need to be the father of your children. I need to own you, and I need you to own me for the rest of our lives. We belong together.”
“Oh, Trent,” I say, voice cracking.
“Will you marry me?” he says, reaching into his suit jacket and taking out a ring box.
He opens it with a fluid flick of this thumb, displaying a sizable diamond set within an elegant silver band, winking in the morning sunlight.
I stare as my chest feels like it’s going to burst.
I’ve imagined this moment so many times, Trent Tanner offering me a ring and a wonderful life to go along with it, but this is so much better than I ever could’ve imagined.
“Yes,” I whimper, and then make my voice loud and ecstatic and love-filled. “Yes, yes, yes.”