He pulled the ring out of the box and slid it on her finger as his family cheered. John stood with Samantha in his arms. A few of his other friends raised a beer toward him.
Kent took Lana in his arms outside and danced with her. For the rest of the day he refused to let her leave his side. As the day passed he took her for a walk down the street for them to have some alone time.
“You’re not embarrassed about my past?” she asked when they were far enough away.
“I admire you, Lana. What you’ve told me mustn’t have been easy to overcome.”
“It wasn’t.”
He took her hand and led her down toward a tree. Pressing her against the tree he stroked her face. “What was the hardest?” he asked.
“Of living like I did?”
Kent nodded. He needed to show to her he could handle the truth.
“The worst part was waking up in the morning and seeing one of the guys from my year. I would be getting ready for school, and they’d be pulling up their pants. I’d pretend not to see them, and all day I’d see them smirking in my direction. I felt dirty. Their looks made me think I’d slept with them or something. My mom never cared about what happened.”
Kent saw it was still hard for her to talk about. “I want you to know you can talk to me about anything. Your past is part of who you are. I don’t want you to be embarrassed about it.”
She nodded. “I know, but I don’t want to remember any of it. The Christmas I spent with you made me realise how messed up my past was. My Christmas was spent doing catch up on school work. I was always behind because of her rages and the men she brought home.”
Lana shook her head. Kent wrapped his arms around her. “Nothing like that is going to happen. You’ll always have me.”
“How did this happen?” She pointed between them.
“Because you were in love with me from the first moment you saw me,” he said.
She laughed, and so did he.
“Also, I couldn’t get you out of my mind. At first I wanted to fuck you, and then I wanted to get to know you. I slowly fell in with you.”
“You’re a charmer.”
“I’m your charmer, Lana.”
Kent turned her so her back was against the tree. She gasped as he covered her mouth with his own. Pressing his free hand to her stomach he caressed her. “My woman. My child. I’m never letting you get away from me,” he said.
“I look forward to you keeping me in one place.”