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“I was. I didn’t want to mess things up.”
She stands on her tiptoes and presses a soft kiss to my lips. “You were perfect, just like you’ve always been.”
My days of perfection, if they ever existed, are long gone after last New Year’s Eve, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to try to be the kind of man who deserves someone like Kate. I knew how lucky I was the day she first said yes to going out with me back in the spring of junior year. That Ronan doesn’t exist anymore, but maybe that Kate doesn’t either.
What matters is who we are now.
“Kate, I want to do something with my life. I don’t know yet, but maybe start a foundation for people like me. I haven’t figured it all out, but I was given a second chance with life and with you. Now that you’ve said you’ll marry me, I want to be worthy of being your husband.”
She smiles, and it’s like my whole world lights up. “Ronan, you’re already worthy, but whatever you choose to do, I know you’re going to be great at it. I’ll be by your side every step of the way.”
I let out a heavy sigh and take her hand in mine. “I guess we better get inside before someone comes out to find us.”
As we walk toward the door to go inside, she asks, “Did you tell anyone in your family that you were planning to propose tonight?”
“Just Marius. He went with me to buy the ring.”
Kate looks up at me like she can’t believe what I said. “Marius?”
“Yeah, go figure. I think he’s warming up to the whole idea of love these days.”
“Now that’s a sentence I didn’t think I’d ever hear,” she says with a laugh.
The moment we step inside, the entire party cheers, “Congratulations!”
Marius stands near the door with a drink in his hand. Raising it in the air, he says, “To Ronan and Kate, may they have all the happiness they deserve.”
Once more, everyone cheers. Ava and her friend Eden rush over to hug Kate and see the ring, so I step off to the side and Marius hands me a glass of whiskey on the rocks as Kellen and Matthias walk over to where we’re standing near the window.
“Did you tell everyone what I was doing out there?”
Marius laughs and shakes his head. “No. I just told a few select people that they might want to look out the window.”
“Let me guess. Ava and Eden.”
He shrugs and hands Matthias and Kellen glasses. “Of course. I wasn’t about to go telling everyone at the party. I knew those two would handle spreading the word better than I ever could.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were doing this tonight,” Kellen complains as he lifts his glass in the air to toast me. “You beat me to the punch. Thank God this guy here will never get married, or I’d be the last one.”
The three of us look at Marius, who’s rolling his eyes at the mere thought of him getting married. “Don’t look at me. I’m not the one proposing to the love of his life tonight.”
Matthias laughs and shakes his head. “Love of your life? I’d be surprised if you had a love for the night. But tonight is all about Ronan and Kate, so congratulations, baby brother. When’s the big day?”
“No idea. I couldn’t even get the proposal right without nearly losing the ring. We’ll have to talk about when the wedding is going to happen.”
From behind us, Ava says, “Well, it has to be here. It just has to be. The grounds are big enough to handle all the guests you could want to invite, and no matter what the weather is, we can do it. Oh, please say you’ll have your wedding here!”
Kate walks over to where I’m standing and smiles. “I’m happy to have our wedding here if you are.”
The idea of us getting married where I grew up and had some of the best times of my life is fine with me. I want to believe my parents and Theo will be able to see things turned out okay for me, even with all that’s happened.
“Then here it will be!” I say before kissing her.
Matthias raises his glass and loudly says to the entire room filled with guests, “To my brother Ronan and his beautiful wife-to-be, Kate, all our love and congratulations! As soon as they tell us when the wedding is going to happen, we’ll all be back here to party once more!”
Everyone cheers again, but the only person I care about being happy tonight is the only woman I’ve ever loved. When I was as low as I could get, she made me see I had things to smile about again.
As my brothers and all the other guests get back to enjoying themselves, I pull Kate aside and whisper to her, “I love you, Kate. It’s always been you. It always will be.”
“And I love you, Ronan King. I’ve been in love with you since the first time you kissed me. Remember that night? We went for a walk after we hung out at the coffee shop? I knew that night I’d met the only boy I’d ever love.”
Smiling, I hold her to me as I remember our first date. I couldn’t believe she’d said yes to going out with me. Kate was smart and sweet and gorgeous, and I was a guy who’s biggest claim to fame was my four older brothers and playing baseball. She had no idea I’d been crazy about her for weeks before I asked her out.
And now she’s going to be my wife. There’s not a luckier man on this planet now that she said she’d marry me.
It’s been a hard road for me to get to this place, and many times I wasn’t sure I’d ever survive after the accident. I don’t know if I can say I wouldn’t change a thing that’s happened in my life, but if I had to go through it all so I could have Kate in my life, then it was worth it.