Page 63 of Starting Over in Cedarwood

“Yep. Sure looks like he’s out of our hair for good,” Shaun said. “And not a moment too soon.”

“Nope.” Kevin took the paper from him. “I don’t want to talk about him any longer.” He held Shaun’s hands.

Shaun’s lips parted and he said nothing.

Kevin led him out to the yard. The setting sun helped add an orange glow to the space and enhanced the twinkle lights. Kevin tapped his phone and started the projector.

“Kevin.” Shaun let go and wandered along the fence. “Is this…?” He met Kevin’s gaze. “You created our date.”

“I said I saw more out here.” He pointed to the oak tree. The lights cascaded from the lower branches of the tree. “Like fireflies.”

“It’s like magic.” Shaun held out his hand. “You made our date.”

“I did.” Kevin nodded to the sheet screen. His heart hammered as he headed into the house long enough to retrieve the cheese and fruit plate. Popcorn just didn’t pair well with wine. He returned to the yard and Shaun stood in front of the screen.

Kevin put the plate down and poured wine into two glasses. He handed one of the wineglasses to Shaun. “Like it?”

“You made a video of us.” Shaun’s voice cracked. “Did you make this in your sleep? I never saw you work on it.”

“I have spare time—sometimes.” He threaded his free arm around Shaun. “We took our broken pieces and put them together to form our perfect puzzle.”

A tear slid down Shaun’s cheek. “We did.”

Kevin fortified himself and placed his glass on the lawn. He fished in his pocket for the jewelry box, then dropped to one knee in front of Shaun. “My heart belongs to you and now we have a chance together. You’ve asked me to marry you at least three times. Now it’s my turn. I’m not afraid of how I feel and I want to have a life with you. It takes a strong man to handle me and my cat, but you managed to not only win me over, but you got Leo to like you, too. That’s huge.” He withdrew the ring. “Shaun Michael Fallows, will you marry me?” He held up the black stainless-steel ring.

Shaun sank to his knees, then embraced Kevin. “I never thought this day would come.”

Kevin held on to the ring and stroked the back of Shaun’s head. “I wanted to do it right.”

“You did.” Shaun brushed his nose along Kevin’s and another tear slid down his cheek.

“So? Will you marry me?” Kevin asked.

“Yes.” Shaun kissed him. “Yes, yes, yes.”

Kevin slid the ring onto Shaun’s finger. “You’re my fiancé now.”

“I love how that sounds and I love you.” Shaun rested his forehead against Kevin’s and sighed. “This is so much better than my blurted requests.”

Kevin shrugged. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about this and plan things.” He held Shaun’s hand. “I love you, too.” He patted Shaun’s hip. “Join me on the blanket. I’ve got wine, cheese, fruit and I want to celebrate.”

“You thought of everything.” Shaun stood, then moved to the blanket. “You’re such a romantic.”

“I’m your romantic.” After Kevin picked up his glass of wine, he settled on the blanket and offered Shaun the other glass. “To us.”

“To our future.” Shaun clinked glasses with him. “Will we be hyphenated? Or take each other’s name together? Or pick one? I’m kind of liking Shaun Keiser.”

“As long as I have your love, I don’t care how we handle our last name.” He reclined against Shaun and settled in to watch the short-form video of their life together. Things would be complicated and messy, but beautiful, too. Why? He and Shaun were a couple for life and they’d have issues, but they’d get through them. He’d found his heart because Shaun had decided to start over in Cedarwood.