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Slowly, she shook her head.
“Ella,nothingabout you is what I expected.” He laughed. “Trust me. But we have one truth. And you know what that is.”
Nodding, she was already mouthing, “Yes.”
“I’m supposed to be by your side, watching you fight like all hell when you believe in something, and—”
“And when you refuse to leave me when you think I might blow up.” She half laughed, half cried. “Don’t you ever do that again.”
“Ella, marry me.”
She sank down, sitting on his knee, and cupped his face. “You did all of this for me?”
“Everything is for you.”
“Yes.” Her hug might have been the tightest one he thought she could manage, then she stepped it up a notch.
Lesson learned—never assume anything from his soon-to-be wife. “You get a ring for putting up with me.” His low laughter rumbled as he took her hand, sliding the ring onto her finger.
Her sweet intake of breath was all the approval he would ever need as she took in the ring. A loose sculpted braid of four gold strands that mimicked vines arched around a classic solitaire. It combined parts of both of them—her free-flowing style and his traditional manner.
“All right. Want to eat? Surely, something is edible in one of these containers.” He winked and pulled her onto the blanket.
“I kind of want to take a picture. This is really beautiful.”
As she should. This was an important day for both of them. “Do it. Nothing exists unless it’s Eco-Ella posted.”
“That’s not what I meant!” She laughed. “Wait. Are you talking about the picnic or the proposal?”
What the hell? Why not.He shrugged, tickled. “Your call.”
Excitement brightened her face with the permission to post either the picnic or the proposal. “Thank you!”
She took one photo—no video—of her bandaged left hand in front of her vegan picnic, then quickly typed before handing her phone to Bishop for him to read.
The picture was totally badass, not that he was one to give himself too much credit on the setup. Though it was a killer job. Then he read her status.
I said yes.
“Okay?” She bounced with eagerness as though maybe trying to appreciate that he was a social media avoidant.
Bishop gave his approval. “Works for me.”
Ella pressed publish and watched for a moment before looking up. “It’s live.”
“Watch out, Tara.” They both laughed, and he could picture Tara throwing her hands in a thanksgiving prayer. Right after she threatened to kill him for lack of a heads-up. “Think you should call her?”
“She owes me for something. This is turnabout but nicer.”
“All right.”
“One more thing.” She held her finger on the screen and powered off her phone.
Bishop’s eyes went wide. “What are you doing, babe?”
“I turned my phone off.” Ella tossed the phone over her shoulder and dropped next to him on the blanket. “All done for the day.”
“I can see that.” He howled with laughter. “That’s all I had to do to get you to turn off your phone? Just propose?”
“Oh, shut up.” She play-punched his bicep then kissed him quiet.
He couldn’t stop laughing. “I’m never going to be able to top this.”
She kissed him harder. “Take off your gun. Literally, nobody in the world can find us until one of us decides to surface.”
And with that, all the vegan food was a distant memory.