Page 95

I snort out a laugh. “You make it sound so graceful. More like I tripped and fell and almost died.”
“I never would’ve let anything happen to you,” he says with a smile. “My point is, one year ago today, I wasn’t looking for love, but the moment you stumbled into my life, I knew you were the one. You were crying, and all I thought was that I wanted to make your tears go away.”
I suck in a harsh breath, remembering that day. It sucked. But Nate made it better. The way he’s made every day better since then.
“During our time together, we created the most precious gift” — he nods down at Finn, who’s wiggling his legs and grinning in contentment — “proving that our love was meant to be more than just a fling in London. It was meant to last forever, and that’s exactly what I want…forever with you.”
He pops the top of the box open, and nestled insideis the most beautiful engagement ring. It’s a simple platinum band with a single princess cut diamond atop. Perfection.
“Paige Abrams, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife and spending forever with me?”
“Yes!” I whisper as I blink back the tears blurring my vision. “Yes, I want forever with you.”
I reach my hand out, and Nate slides the ring onto my second-to-last finger. Then, we both stand, and with our beautiful little miracle between us, we kiss.
“I’m glad you said yes,” Nate says once we break apart, “because I have another surprise for you.”
It’s then I notice Joanne standing near us with a camera in her hand.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, rushing over to give her a hug.
“Did you think Nate would propose without getting any pictures for your scrapbook?” she says, her eyes puffy from crying. “Congratulations.” She pulls me into her warm, motherly embrace that I’ve grown used to and look forward to. “I can’t wait for you to officially be my daughter.”
I choke up, noticing she left off the in-law. Because she’s too close to her son’s daughters for that. She’s like a mom to all of us, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I can’t wait either,” I tell her.
“Well, you aren’t going to have to wait long,” Nate says, threading his fingers through mine.
We take the elevator back down to the bottom,and when we step out, I find all our family and friends standing there, waiting for us.
“She said yes,” Nate announces, lifting my hand up to show them my ring.
Everyone cheers and then come over to congratulate us. I give my dad and Debbie a hug first, and then move on to Ana and Julian, and then Kira and Ryder, while Nate gets hugs from his brothers and their wives.
“I can’t believe you guys all came and didn’t come up for the proposal,” I say once I’ve hugged everyone.
“I wanted it to be just us,” Nate says. “The same way it was the first time you took me up there. Well,” he adds with a smile, “plus this little guy.” He rubs the top of our son’s head. “And my mom since she was playing photographer.”
“I love that, but that was seriously a long flight just for everyone to come here and congratulate us,” I say with a laugh.
“We took our plane,” Ana says with a shrug.
“And the engagement isn’t the reason they’re here,” Nate says with a smirk.
“What did you do?” I ask, recognizing that smirk. It’s the one he gives when he’s up to something.
“I planned our wedding.”
“What?” I shriek.
“We’re getting married on Saturday at the top of Tower Bridge. And everything is done. Yourdream weddingPinterest board came in handy,” Nate says with a laugh. “And with the help of these ladies” — he nods toward Ana and Kira — “we handled everything, including having your dream dress made.”
“The one that looks like my mom’s?” I ask, fresh tears pricking my eyes.
Nate and I talked about getting married before Finn was born, but I told him that I wanted to wait because my dream was to get married in a dress similar to my mom’s and it wouldn’t look the same if I was nine months pregnant.
Nate brought it up after Finn was born, but we were so busy with him running Bradford Hotels and us being new parents and then add the holidays to the mix that I felt too overwhelmed to even think about getting married, let alone plan a wedding.
“Yep,” Ana says. “We had it custom-designed by Alexander McQueen.”
Some women might be upset that they didn’t have a hand in planning their own wedding, but I’m beyond excited. I might want a dream wedding, but the thought of planning it gives me anxiety.
“I can’t believe you did all this,” I say to Nate, giving him a kiss. “Thank you. I can’t wait to marry you.”
“Good,” Nate murmurs against my lips. “Because I’ve been waiting way too damn long for you to be mine in every way.”