Page 62 of Don't Leave Me

“You should be nervous because I want something from you tonight.”

“Uh-oh. Are we talking a kinky sex night? Because I could be down with that.”

“No, that’s not where I was going, but let’s put a pin in that for later. I want something bigger than that. A few things, actually.”

She shifted in her chair, and, for a second, I could tell I had made her nervous. Which shouldn’t have been surprising. These past few months had been easy and uncomplicated between us. We’d blended together easily, and become a family as if we’d always been one. Which, in some ways, I realized we had been.

Plus, we were mother and father to Danny, and it felt like he couldn’t remember there was ever a time when I hadn’t been there for him.

So in some ways, we were both waiting for the other shoe to drop. For the thing to come that was going to rip us apart. Drive us away from each other. Break both our fucking hearts.

Ash and I didn’t do easy and uncomplicated. Until now.

“I want my name on Danny’s birth certificate. I want it to be legal, I’m his father.”

“Okay. You’ve never said…but yes, we can do that for sure.”

I pushed out of my seat and walked over to her side of the table. I got down on one knee and pulled out the box I’d tucked into my jacket before leaving the house. I’d already asked George’s permission. He’d readily given it to me.

“And I want you to say yes. To being my wife. To giving me you, every day, for the rest of your life and mine.”

She gasped, then immediately pushed her left hand in my face. “Yes. Yes, I’ll be your wife. Again.”

“No more secrets for us, Ash,” I said, as I slid the ring on her finger. “We’re out in the open now. We’ll be Mr. and Mrs. Campbell.”

She stood, and I stood, too. I heard the people in the restaurant clapping around us, but I didn’t pay them any attention. I pulled her up against me and she whispered, “The Campbell family.”

The Campbell family, I thought, as I bent to kiss her.

It had a nice ring to it.