“The same goes for you too, Mom,” I chimed in. “And Dad, you would have been egging Malcolm on.”
My father smirked as he raised one shoulder. “I might have, maybe.”
I raised a single brow.
“Fine,” he huffed, tossing his hands in the air. “I would have egged him on simply to see you suffer. I love you that way.”
I smiled. “I know.”
“I still can’t believe you kept this from us,” my mother said with a slow shake of her head.
“We were planning on telling you tonight, like Emme said,” I told them.
Nodding, Emmerson added, “I wanted to talk to you about our relationship. Both Mom and Addie. I wanted you to know that I haven’t ever been this happy in all my life.”
Both my mother and Paislie covered their mouths with their hands, but you could still hear them each let out a sob.
Malcolm relaxed, if only slightly, and he stopped frowning so hard and looked at his daughter, who was smiling from ear to ear.
“And the engagement? Is it…still fake?” my father asked. “I mean, you did put an awfully expensive ring on that finger.”
My heart pounded out of my chest as I turned to face Emmerson. “It’s only been a little over a month, and we sorta went backwards with all of this, but I honestly can’t see my life without Emmerson in it.”
Tears welled up in her eyes, and she threw herself into my arms. I held her tightly and tried to ignore the way my body reacted to her being pressed against me, especially since Malcolm was only standing a few feet away.
“Christ, I knew this day was coming,” Malcolm stated, managing to look happy while still giving me a look that said he could kill me if he really wanted to.
“Oh, my heart is about to explode!” my mom said as she rushed over and wrapped me and Emmerson in her arms. Paislie, my sister, and finally Amy joined in, until Emmerson started to laugh, and they all broke free.
When the woman I had loved for as long as I could remember looked up at me, I placed my hand on the side of her face and whispered, “I meant every word, Emme. Don’t forget the promise you made me.”
One of her tears slipped free, and I brushed it away with my thumb. “I won’t ever forget,” she said.
“What promise?” Hailey asked.
With a slight shake of her head, Emmerson raised her eyes to mine and smiled up at me with the most loving expression on her face that I had ever seen.
Noah cleared his throat. “So, I’m kind of confused. You’re really dating, but you’re not engaged, but you kind of just asked her to marry you, so is the fake engagement a real engagement now?”
Everyone started laughing.
“Something like that, Noah,” Paislie said, kissing her son on the cheek.
My mother clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention. “I made homemade lasagna, so let’s go dig in!”
Emmerson grabbed my hand and held me back while everyone walked into the dining room.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“You told me what was in your heart earlier, and I feel like I need to as well.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
She glanced over at everyone in the dining room and then back at me. Chewing on her lip, she looked down at her hands as she gathered her courage.
“A couple of weeks ago,” she started, “when I was in that little bedroom near yours and you asked me what I was doing there…do you remember that?”
“Yes, I remember. What about it?”
“Well, I was daydreaming.”
Laughing, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her to me, happy I could finally touch her like this and not have to hide my feelings. Of course, if Malcolm saw us, it would be a different story. “What were you daydreaming about?”
“Babies.”
I froze. “Wh-what?”
“I mean, not babies right now, but in the future. I was thinking about you and how that room would be the perfect nursery, and a part of me got sad because…well…I want to be the one filling it with babies.”
A rush of adrenaline swept through my entire body, leaving me damn near dizzy.
Emmerson dropped her head to stare at the floor. “I know, I know. We haven’t even been dating for very long, and I’ve got you going to all this wedding stuff. And now I’m talking about babies, and you probably want to run out the door.”
I placed my finger under her chin, lifting her gaze back to mine. “I don’t want to run anywhere, unless you’re right beside me.”
A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “It doesn’t freak you out that I was standing in your house, dreaming about filling it with little Landons?”
“How about little Emmersons?”
Her cheeks turned the most adorable shade of pink.
“No, sweetheart, it doesn’t freak me out. Emme, you have no idea the things I’ve dreamed about when it comes to you. I’ve been so fucking scared you were going to meet some douchebag and fall in love with him and get married. Hell, if you wanted to, I’d marry you tomorrow.”