Page 10 of Her Grumpy Doctor
The kids liked when Raelynn read them a good night story, and since they were older, we picked longer books, both kids having a say in choosing what books. After a little debate between a couple of series, we started with theHarry Potterset.
After the children were in bed, the rest of the night was for the two of us. We spent some nights talking and learning more about each other, while other nights, we watched movies and ate dessert. Every night, we managed to find time to explore and love each other, even if only for a little bit of time before falling asleep.
Raelynn confessed to me that while she loved her job and clients, she always longed to help people more with pain management and working their limbs and joints with massages but also with physical therapy. I told her she should go back to school if that was what she dreamed of doing. Being a massage therapist won’t go away; it’s a skill she’ll always have. But learning physical therapy could help so many in need and keep her massage skills intact. I encouraged her to find out more information. I’d love to cheer her on to reach her dreams.
When we were apart during the day, I often thought about ways to propose to her, wanting to make her my wife sooner rather than later. I wanted to plan a surprise and involve the children in it, making it special for my special lady.
They said love fell into your lap when you weren’t looking for it, and that couldn’t be truer with Raelynn. Now it was time to make her my wife and fill her with babies, growing our family in the best possible way.
After a week of internal debate, lots of brainstorming, and shopping for a ring, I had the proposal planned and the ring secured. My lunch breaks at work weren’t spent eating lunch, and I knew my receptionist Patty and my nurse Jane kept wondering where I disappeared to.
They’d both told me they had never seen me so happy before, and they loved Raelynn, doting on her every time she stopped by the office.
So they fully supported my plan when I discussed it with them and explained where all my lunch breaks were going.
When the day finally rolled around, the kids and I were ready. It was a warm Saturday in the late summer, and we’d spent the day outside, exploring some of the mountainside with the kids. Lately, they’d been asking for a puppy, and I was thinking I could surprise them with one come Christmas. Hopefully by then Raelynn would be pregnant, too. Of course I needed to talk to her about it first—both the puppyandthe baby.
After dinner, the kids and I set up a game of Pictionary while Raelynn cleaned up. The plan was to play several rounds, and then when it came around to my turn again, I’d pop the question while Marley drew a picture of the ring and Matt held up a sign we made with the questionWill you marry me?in big letters.
Nervous energy swirled in my stomach, but the smile on my kids’ faces, along with the laughter and warm energy radiating off Raelynn, made it all worth it—every anxious second.
The rounds passed by quickly. When it was my turn and time to enact the plan, I sent the kids our signal, which consisted of a snap of my fingers while drawing my card.
Marley hopped up from the couch, Matt following. “I’ll draw for you!”
“I’ll help!” Matt said.
I waited for a moment. Marley drew a diamond ring while Matt grabbed the sign and got into position, facing away from us. When Marley had finished, I stood and dropped to one knee, fishing the ring box out of my pocket. I held it out in front of me while Marley spun around along with Matt, who held the sign up proudly.
Raelynn’s hands flew to her mouth, and her eyes filled with tears as she got to her feet. “Oh my gosh, you guys!”
“Well? What do you say? Will you marry Daddy?” Marley jumped up and down while Matt waved the sign back and forth.
“Of course, yes, yes, a thousand times yes!” Raelynn said as tears fell down her cheeks. I scrambled to my feet and slid thering on her left finger, the diamond shining bright. I kissed her through her tears while the children cheered around us.
“I love you so much, Rae. You make me and my children so happy.” I kissed her over and over, and the kids ran around us in circles.
“Daddy, c’mon! Let’s have cake now!”
I laughed against Raelynn’s mouth before breaking our kiss. “That was supposed to be another surprise, buddy!”
Raelynn chuckled. “It’s okay. No one can keep cake a surprise! It’s too delicious!”
The children scampered off to the kitchen, and as Raelynn turned to follow, I grabbed her hand and pulled her back to me, hugging her close. I buried my face in her hair before taking her mouth again in a passionate, heated kiss. “I can’t wait to make you mywife.”
“Okay,husband. I see you. But I really want cake. Let’s go.” She kissed me and pulled me to the kitchen, where the kids eagerly waited.
And when I married Raelynn four months later, amid the picturesque snowy mountains, I’d never felt such sheer happiness as I did with her.
My beautiful, curvy, smart, funny, gorgeous, kind-hearted Raelynn.
THE END