“The truth?”
Mick stood silent a moment. Inhaling sharply, he pulled a tiny box from his pocket. “That even though you make me weak and vulnerable and it scares the hell out of me, I love you and I want to spend the rest of my days loving you.”
Tears streamed from Lacey’s eyes unchecked.
He opened the box, and the diamond shimmered in the evening sun. “I bought this two weeks before our argument. I carried it around in my pocket waiting to get the nerve to ask you. But instead, I found an excuse to push you away. I should have trusted you more. I should have seen the position you were in and offered to help you rather than turn away from you.”
He pulled the ring from the box. “I don’t expect you to answer now. I don’t even want you to. I have to prove to you how much I love and respect you again. I need to earn your trust. You deserve that. Take all the time you want. Ten years could go by and I’ll still be waiting for your answer.”
“Mick, I don’t need ten years to know I love you. I never stopped, and I never will.”
He kissed her gently, almost reverently, as though he had been imagining this kiss for a lifetime. “Just wear this and think about it. It’s yours Lacey, no matter what your answer is. There’s no other woman who could wear it.”
He slipped the ring on her finger.
It was a perfect fit.
A baby cried inside the house, and Lacey smiled, picturing Maeve, Bess, and Abigail crouched beneath the open window listening to every word. “It’s time you came inside, Mick. There’s someone you should meet.”
Hand in hand, they walked through the door, greeted by their friends and the gentle coo of Abigail.
And the house sighed with contentment.