Page 123 of Making It Up

“Mia Hansen, will you marry me?”

It’s simple, not flowery, and perfectly David Bennett.

I nod. “Yes. Of course.”

He pulls me up from the couch, wrapping me in his arms, burying his face in my hair. “I love you so much,” he says against my ear.

“I love you, too. I’m so happy right now.”

“I intend to keep you that way for a very long time.”

I have no doubt that he will.

Everyone swarms around us, hugging us, offering congratulations, declaring they knew it was going to happen like this. Our moms are both crying and hugging one another. My sister is crying harder than anyone.

But it’s my dad that I can’t stop watching. He stands off to the side, watching everything with an expression of pride and love.

There’s no mistaking what he’s feeling.

We had a long talk after he found out that David and I were dating. After he went to David and told him how happy he was.

I never doubted that he wanted me to be happy. I just didn’t know what he would do if I ever did something that he wasn’t expecting or that he might disapprove of.

It turns out he did exactly what he’d always said he would do—love me unconditionally.

I eventually make it to his side.

“You were holding the ring for David?”

“Well, I’m easily the most trustworthy of this bunch,” he tells me with a little grin.

I grin up at him. “Does this mean that David asked you for permission to propose?”

He slips an arm around my shoulders and hugs me up against his side. “You and David don’t need my permission for anything.”

“But he told you he was going to propose?” I’m not surprised.

David and my dad talk several times a day, every single day. I can’t even count how many times I’ve told David something about my dad and he’s said, “oh, I know,” or I’ve filled my parents in on some something David’s been up to, and my dad’s corrected me on a detail or two in my story because he’s already heard about it from David.

“He didn’t have to tell me. It’s been pretty obvious for a long time that you were headed this direction,” my dad says. “But I found out for sure about a month ago. Do you remember the day that David rescued that baby deer?”

“Of course.” That day had been scary as hell. Someone had called in that they’d seen a baby deer in the river struggling. It had fallen through the ice. David and a couple of other Game and Parks officers had responded as had my dad and the sheriff from the next county.

Of course, David was the one who decided to belly crawl out onto the ice and pull the deer out.

I was so grateful I found out about all of it after the fact when both David and the deer were safe and sound.

“When he was getting ready to go out on ice, he pulled the ring out of his pocket. He’d been carrying it around with him constantly. He handed it to me for safekeeping.”

“And you just hung onto it after that?” I guess.

My dad chuckles. “Pretty much. Told him he could have it back when he was down on one knee.”

That story is so in character for both of them.

I hug him tightly. “I’m really happy, Dad.”

“That’s very obvious, daughter.”