by Ellis, Aven
“While you and your dad are fishing, I’m teaching your mom and Holly the art of pastry,” I say. Then I smile at him. “And we’ll make some Paleo treats for you, of course.”
“I’m going to take CiCi fishing when she comes,” Nate says. “She’s going to learn to bait a hook, don’t cha know.”
I crack up, and so does Nate.
“Oh, Nate, can you even imagine that?”
“I can’t even imagine CiCi in a life vest,” Nate says. “Let alone touching bait. But then again, she loves me now, so maybe I can get her to do it.”
We both laugh, but Nate’s words are true. Once CiCi got it through her head that Nate loved me and was committed to me, she came around. And now she adores Nate as much as she does Ryan.
“Claire and Bella will love it here,” I say, staring up at the majestic trees, once again amazed at how huge they are. “Claire will want to be in the water the whole time.”
“I got her a pink fishing pole,” Nate says. “Ryan and I are going to teach her how to fish.”
Happiness fills me. Nate is going to be such a great father someday.
“Then after we go back to Dallas, Harrison and Kylie are coming back here with us,” I say, thinking of how busy we’re going to be this summer. But good busy.
“Do you think her morning sickness will be better by then?” Nate asks.
“I hope so,” I say. Kylie is nine weeks along, and so far it’s been a rough pregnancy with bouts of nausea. “But Minnesota will feel much better than stupid hot Dallas, as you like to say.”
“I stand by that theory, as you like to say,” Nate gives right back.
I’m about to respond when Marabou romps up to me, his ears flapping, his favorite ball in his mouth. He drops it in front of my feet, tail swishing, desperate for me to throw it.
I bend down and rub his head. “You’re such a good boy,” I say to him, showering him with affection. “Are you happy to be at the lodge for the summer?”
I glance up at Nate, but he’s turned away from me, fiddling with the campfire fork.
Marabou barks, so I pick up his ball and throw it across the yard. He happily springs across the lush grass, eager to have someone to play with.
“We might need to get him a friend,” I say. “What do you think, Nate?”
Nate doesn’t respond. I notice he’s got his back to me, and I can hear him take a deep breath.
“Nate?” I ask, puzzled. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Nate says quickly. “Just getting your roasting fork ready.”
Then he clears his throat and turns around. And I’m surprised to see a very serious expression on his handsome face.
“This is for you, Bae,” he says softly.
Nate hands me my long fork for roasting marshmallows, but the second he holds it out, I see something sparkling at the end of the fork prong.
A diamond engagement ring.
“Oh my God,” I gasp, staring at the ring Nate is holding out to me.
My heart is pounding as the magnitude of what is about to happen hits me.
Then, before I can say anything, Nate removes the ring from the end of the fork and drops down on one knee before me, taking one of my hands in his.
“Bae,” Nate says, his voice thick as he gazes up at me, “you know how much this place means to me. Minnesota is where I grew up. Where my family lives. Minnesota has my heart and my soul, and it will always be special to me. Just as you are.
“Kenley, you are the woman who has my heart and soul,” Nate says, continuing. “I love you. I want to build a life with you, have a family with you, and share the ups and downs of this journey with you at my side. Forever.”
Nate becomes blurry in my eyes. Tears of joy fall down my face as Nate holds up the ring to me.
“So I’m asking the woman who has my heart, in the place that means the most to me, this: Will you marry me?”
I’m so overwhelmed with love that I’m fighting to speak over the lump in my throat. It’s the perfect proposal, with words straight from Nate’s heart under a starry north woods’ sky.
And as I gaze into his eyes, I find the word I’m longing to say.
“Yes,” I say happily. “Yes, I’ll marry you!”
Nate stands up, and I see his eyes are filled with tears. Then I jump up into his arms, and we both begin laughing.
“I love you, Nate,” I say joyfully. “And a thousand times over, I’ll marry you.”
Nate laughs and swings me around. Then he sets me down on the deck. He takes my left hand, and I stare down at the gorgeous platinum and round diamond cut ring he’s holding. I notice the round diamond is surrounded by platinum petals, resembling a flower, set in a pave diamond band.
“It’s a lotus design,” Nate explains. “To represent a new beginning.”
I swallow hard. Nate put tremendous thought into this ring, to symbolize what we have together. How we emerged from the dirt of our pasts to bloom once we found each other, like the new tattoo sleeve he has on his other arm.
“It’s so beautiful,” I say, “and I love what it represents: Us. Our story.”
Nate holds the ring to the edge of my finger, and I hold my breath, dying for him to slip it on. But then he stops.
“No.”
“No?”
“I believe a certain pistol of a woman told me I had to eat a piece of milk chocolate with curry sometime in my life for her.”
I watch as he goes to the tray filled with s’mores supplies and sets the ring down. He retrieves a gourmet chocolate bar, and I grin in delight as I see it is indeed a milk chocolate curry bar.
“If you ever had any doubt about how much I love you, or how committed I am to you, Kenley, this should erase any fear you might have forever,” Nate says as he unwraps the candy. “I will eat this before I put that ring on your finger.”
I know I’m beaming as I watch him. Nate snaps off a piece and studies me, his espresso-colored eyes dancing.
“Don’t make me go through the whole tasting process,” Nate says. “I need to do this quick and dirty, okay?”
I burst out laughing. “I’ll give you that.”
Nate takes a breath of air, as if he’s about to do something awful.
“Hurry up, I want to wear your ring, Nate Johansson,” I tease.
“All right. One, two, three,” he says, popping it into his mouth.
I watch as Nate tastes it. And then I lose it when I see the look of disgust pass over his face. He swallows and shakes his head as if trying to shake the taste from his mouth.
“Shit, that was the most disgusting thing ever,” Nate declares, heading back over to the tray and picking up the ring.
Now I’m dying with laughter.
“So was it worth it?” I manage to ask, cocking an eyebrow at him.
Nate slides the ring on my finger.
“Yes,” he says softly. “It was.”
And as his lips find mine, my heart is so full of love for this man and what we have it feels as though it will burst.
I’m going to marry my warrior, I think happily, cupping his face in my hands as I kiss him. I’m going to spend the rest of my life with a man who truly loves me, the woman I am on the inside.
And that is just the icing on one very beautiful cake.
Also by Aven Ellis and Soul Mate Publishing:
CONNECTIVITY
Overachiever Mary-Kate Grant (who is indeed named after an Olsen Twin) has followed every rule to the letter to pursue her dream of working in TV programming. Ripping a page from the “hard work pays off” playbook, she takes an assistant level job at a Chicago sports network to break into the industry.
MK has no time or desire for a relationship right now—she is totally focused on
her career and being independent, unlike the other women in her family.
But MK’s plans are run through the shredder when she finds herself working for William Cumberland, a British media mogul who made his fortune with Connectivity, a social media site. William blows into Chicago just like the winds off Lake Michigan and purchases the group of networks MK works for—and makes her his personal assistant in the process.
Suddenly MK finds her career plans in jeopardy. William makes her question everything she has ever thought and has the uncanny ability to see right through her. And for the first time in her life, MK finds herself not only questioning what she wants for her career but for her personal life as well.
Available now on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/npzdr6c
WAITING FOR PRICE HARRY
Twenty-four-year-old Kylie Reed has always been a rule follower. Organized and cautious to a fault, her dreams for life are often filed away for future use—when she has a house, when she meets her future husband, when she has been at her visual display job at a chic Dallas boutique longer. Kylie always has a reason for living her life in the future, not in the present, and fears not living her life to the fullest and reaching her dream of becoming a fashion designer.
The only exception to rules, of course, would be running away with Prince Harry. But living in Dallas and not knowing Prince Harry make this a non-option.
Or does it?
Because when Kylie accidentally falls into the lap of a gorgeous ginger guy—yes, even more gorgeous than the real Prince Harry—all bets are off. Kylie’s life takes some unexpected twists and turns thanks to this encounter. Could this stranger be the one to show Kylie how to live in the present?
Available now on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/paapxo8
CHRONICLES OF A LINCOLN PARK FASHIONISTA
Recent college graduate Avery Andrews is ready to begin a new life in the big city. She’s landed an apartment in Chicago’s famed Lincoln Park neighborhood–and has her eye on the cute commodity trader just a floor above.
If Premier Airlines knew about her fear of flying, they never would have hired her to be their marketing assistant—but it’s not like Avery wants a lifelong career. Right now she simply wants a job to pay her bills . . . and fund a few little shopping excursions, too.
Her new lifestyle comes with a price tag, as Avery is not only faced with paying a ridiculous rent but finds she’s perceived as one of the vacant, husband-hunting fashionistas who live in the area. Avery resents this stereotype. So she doesn’t want a lifelong career, and she loves fashions she can’t afford, but that doesn’t mean she is empty-headed and spoiled, does it?
When an opportunity to participate in a documentary at work arises, Avery finds a two-fold solution to her problems. She’ll earn extra money for it, and the documentary will show her as a serious career woman, enabling her to shed that husband-hunting fashionista label for good.
When the camera is on, Avery attempts to be a motivated professional woman. But when she is challenged by Deacon Ryan, the videographer assigned to cover her story, Avery finds herself wanting things she was never supposed to want—like a lasting career—and Deacon. And Avery might just gain more from the experience than a perfect career image and extra cash to put in her Tory Burch wallet . . .
Available now on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/mv87r8v
SURVIVING THE RACHEL
Bree Logan is ready to start her post-college life, but when she’s dumped by The One, unable to land a professional job, and has to move back in with her parents, she doesn’t think things can get worse until she ends up with her hair chopped into The Rachel, the infamous haircut made famous by the show Friends. Which is not good since it’s no longer 1994. But sometimes you have to go through challenges to get what you really need, and for Bree, could that include a different career and a romance with Jack Chelten, the boy-next-door?
Available now on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/msl75k7