Page 151 of Your Last First Kiss

Izzy is holding a sign that saysyeswhile Remy holds one that saysno. “What are they doing?”

Then Miller moves in between them, holding a sign that saysor.

Lowering the binoculars, I turn to ask Dillon what the heck they’re doing out there, but everything freezes the second I turn.

Dillon is down on one knee with Kai and Gage on their knees to his right. On his left, Landon and Lia are in similar positions, and each of them holds a peony, my favorite flower.

Then Dillon holds something out in his palm, and tears wet my face.

“Penny.” Hope and awe give his words a gravelly texture. “You hold this family together with love and sheer stubborn will. You’ve given me more than I could have ever hoped or dreamed for. Now I want to make it legal. I want to make you mine—all of you mine. Forever.”

Dillon leans forward to make eye contact with each of the kids. Landon smiles and gives a thumbs up, then helps Lia do the same. He turns to the right, and as Kai lifts his hand to give a thumbs up, Gage starts shaking his flower in excitement. He sends flower petals flying through the air.

“We’re getting married, Mom,” Gage yells, then jumps into the air, and Dillon’s shoulders shake with mirth. “We’re going to get handsome clothes on, and we get rings, and presents, and…”

“Gage?” Dillon says through bouts of laughter. “I think you’re getting things mixed up.”

“No. No, I’m not. We’re getting married, Dewey. All of us. That means we’re a family. Benny Bird told me so. Do we get new names too? Benny told me his name used to be Freeman. Now it’s Bird ’cause he got a new dad. What’s ours gonna be?”

At some point, I’ve drifted closer to them all until I’m standing directly in front of Dillon. I’ve never felt so freely happy in all my life.

Dillon smiles up at me, then shrugs and pops open the box he’s holding. “Looks like we’re getting married.” He grins. “If you say yes, that is.”

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Gage screeches. “We say yes!”

Kai finally gets a hand on Gage and somewhat contains him while I sink to my knees to face Dillon.

“What do you say, Penny? Will you marry me?”

I can barely see him through the tears I can’t control. But I’ve been nodding for a while now, so I say the only thing I can. “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you.”

He leans forward and wraps me in a hug that has me tumbling into him.

Gage explodes and runs in circles around us.

Kai and Landon stand back with smiles on their faces as they hold Lia’s hands.

We look like a family.

Dillon stands and helps me up in the process, then reaches out and takes my hand. When he slips the enormous princess-cut diamond onto my finger, it’s like the final tethers tying me to my old life are finally set free.

“I love you, Penny,” Dillon whispers.

“I love you too. So much I’m afraid I’ll wake up someday and this will all be a dream.”

“No dream, sweetheart. This is the most awake I’ve ever been. Before you, I was sleepwalking through life. You’ve opened my eyes to what I was missing.”

Gage barrels into Dillon’s legs right then, and he has to take a step back to keep his balance.

“Hey, buddy,” he groans.

“She said yes. We said yes. That means we’re married,” Gage yells. His volume rises with each word like the excitement is working through his little body.

“So, what’s our name gonna be?”

Dillon glances around at all the children’s faces before settling on Kai. “Well,” he says, never taking his eyes off Kai. “We had the conversation a few weeks ago about me adopting you guys. And I want that more than you’ll ever know. But names are a tricky thing. At least, they always have been for me.”

His words break, and emotion wells in his eyes.