“It’s okay if you need to think about it,” he prodded gently, “but if you’re going to keep wearing it, I think that means you’re saying yes.”
I opened my mouth and let the single word fall off my lips. “Yes.”
“Can you clarify?” JC’s voice was high and hopeful. “Yes, that’s what wearing it means? Or yes, you’ll marry me?”
“Yes.” I lifted my gaze from the gem to his equally bright eyes. “To both.”
“I’m. This is. Are you?” He was flabbergasted and nervous and it was adorable and all I could do was grin like an idiot. “I don’t even know what to say,” he managed finally. “Are you really telling me yes?”
“I’m really telling you yes.”
Then he was kissing me, his hand pressed against my cheek, my hand (with its sparkly new addition) pressed against his. It was a short, salty-from-tears, passionate kiss, and when he pulled away, he was smiling as goofily as I was. “We’re getting married,” he said.
“I know.” My whole body was shaking. “Oh my God. Am I insane?”
“Absolutely and I approve. We can be crazy together.”
I shot my hand up in the air and squealed. “I can’t believe you bought me a ring! I can’t believe I’m engaged!”
“I can’t believe you said yes! I hoped you’d say yes, but honestly I thought it would take a little more time and a whole lot more convincing.”
“Maybe you need to be more optimistic,” I teased.
“Yes. That’s my problem. Obviously.” He swept his hand down my face, looking at me as though I were as precious as the stone on my finger, beaming as though I’d made his entire world.
After a beat, he laughed, and I didn’t have to ask what was funny because I was as bursting with emotion as he was. He finished his laugh with a happy sigh. “Now we’re definitely going to need a new place.”
“What’s so wrong with my apartment?”
“It’s only one bedroom. Where will we put the baby?”
I sat up. “Okay, now you’re scaring me.”
“Fine, fine.” He tugged me back down. “We can wait until the wedding night to start talking about children.”
“Oh my God, stop.” I covered his mouth with my palm, but now the thought was front and center in my head, screaming you’re an idiot to have said yes before talking about this!
A possible wrench in my bliss, but there was still time to iron it out.
I removed my hand from JC’s mouth. “Uh, we should probably discuss that. In case it changes things. Are kids on your must-have list?” I held my breath.
“The must-have list has one thing on it, Gwen—you.”
“So that means no to kids?”
“It means I want kids, but I want you more.” His eyes narrowed slightly. “Do you not want kids?”
I almost lied. It felt so good to make him happy, and I didn’t want to take that away so soon.
Fortunately, I had enough sense to know that this was something I had to be upfront about. “Honestly, I’ve never wanted kids.” I waited for an indication that this was a deal breaker, but he didn’t give one, so I went on. “I had such a shitty experience with the whole parent/child thing, and I don’t believe that I learned the skills necessary to be a mother. But I can imagine you as a dad. You’d be a really sexy dad.”
He pulled me to him, enveloping me in his arms. “You’d be an incredible mother, Gwen,” he said at my ear. He leaned back to look at my face. “But I’m being completely truthful when I tell you that I don’t need kids to be happy. I need you. If I get you, then I have everything.”
The tears had stopped, but now another one rolled down my face. “Well, you do get me. I’m yours.” I’d always been his. Why I ever thought it was something I could fight, I didn’t know.
“Boom. I have everything.”
“And maybe kids would be okay.” I shivered at the thought. “I promise I’ll think about it.” Later. Much, much later.
“We could practice making them at least?”
He was already climbing on top of me, but I answered anyway. “We should practice right now.”
Talking ceased as his mouth met mine, his tongue sliding in to smother any words that lingered there. His kiss had a language of its own, and whatever I didn’t know about him was made up for in what I knew about this silent speech. With his lips, he told me everything he’d said before with words. Meaning was gained in the translation, and now I could truly understand the things he wished he had with me. Now I could feel the entirety of his love.