EPILOGUE
Three months later….
“This is so beautiful!” I gush as we approach the Eiffel Tower.
“Best birthday gift?”
The humor in my expression is indisputable. “I don’t know about all that….Henley got me a car one year.”
His shoulders sag. “A romantic trip to Paris isn’t better than a car?”
My hand wobbles side to side and Levi playfully slaps it down.
He’s so easy sometimes.
“Wanna take a picture before we go up?”
“Uh…yeah!”
Levi wraps both his arms around my waist so my back is braced firmly against his front. He allows me to extend my hand to take several selfies in a poor attempt to capture the moment.
Due to the jellyfish incident, filming was delayed. While it was only a couples of weeks, it put everything else behind, including when he got back home to South Haven. Being the over the top boyfriend he is, he decided to whisk us away for a week alone in Paris. Unfortunately, Astin wasn’t on board with giving the new head of her graphics design department an entire week off just a month after the changes were in effect. However, she was willing to compromise by allowing me a more lax, conference call free existence. I’ve had to answer a few emails and reject a few covers from the sci-fi division, but all of those things only took a couple of hours leaving the rest of my time free for sex and site seeing. Primarily sex. On the plane. In the hotel. He felt me up in the cab ride. Keeping our mouths separate seems like an inconceivable task, and the fact his agent as well as his publicist keeps insisting we cool it down only makes it more fun.
“Why don’t we have someone else take the picture for us?” Levi suggests. “That way we can actually see the damn tower in it.”
I reluctantly nod knowing it’s a good idea.
He doesn’t allow for me to pick someone from the crowd. He just instantly waves his hand joyfully at a couple strolling by. “Parlez-vous anglais?”
“Yes,” the tall, distinguished gentleman says. “I do speak English.”
“Can you take our picture for us?”
“It would be a pleasure.”
Pleasure? To take someone’s photo? Feels a little creepy. Hm? Oh, no I’m not worried. We didn’t come completely alone. Steel is around here somewhere just waiting to sneak out of the woodwork if necessary. My boyfriend having his own personal body guard in a foreign country is a pro that keeps on proing.
Levi moves back my direction though I keep my attention planted on the pair.
Is there a reason any person should wear sunglasses at dusk? What is that woman trying to hide? A black eye?
My boyfriend starts to wrap his arm around me when he abruptly stops. “Shit, let me tie my shoe.”
I drag my attention away from the stranger and drop it down to him. “Why does that-”
The picture perfect display of him down on his knee with a small black box opened cracks my jaw.
“What about now, Kadence? Is this the best birthday gift ever?”
Fashioning any sort of response is impossible.
“Kady, I don’t wanna be on your five-year plan. I wanna be the one who helps you make it. I wanna be the one who reminds you to include traveling and taking our kids to the circus. I wanna be the one you turn to when it frustrates you, when it defies you, when it challenges you. I don’t want us to have a five-year plan or ten. I want us to have one we keep updating for a lifetime.” Levi lifts the jewelry box closer allowing me to catch a glimpse of the princess cut sapphire ring through my tears. “Marry me?”
“Yes,” the word is so breathless I’m not sure it’s even heard. “Yes! Yes!”
Levi tugs the ring out of its holder, slides it on my finger, and slips our mouths together. He parts his lips and lets my tongue praise him the way I wish my words could.
Oh my gosh!!!!!! Did you know this was coming? Now?! Today?! On my birthday!?!
“Do you really want all your engagement photos to have your tongue in his mouth?” Adrianna’s voice invades my ears.
I pull us apart to see her push her sunglasses into her hair. “Wh….”
“It’d be nice to have at least one we can send to your mother.” Lani adds, strolling towards us from the side, with Calen’s hand in hers.
“Make that all our mothers,” Maddie corrects. She takes a position beside the man who has his arm draped around Adrianna’s shoulder. “And since they’re still pissed about never getting one from us,” she motions her finger between her and her husband, “let’s make yours really count.”
My mouth moves, anxious to ask an overload of questions when Henley appears on the other side of Maddie’s husband. “Come on, Kady. Let’s get this shit done. This is like the only night I have off.”
Originally, I thought that’s why Levi picked Paris. Henley fell in love with an indie foreign film that required her to live here for a few months. The timing felt perfect considering I was moving in with Levi, Lani and Calen had just found their own place, and peace with Maddie had finally been made. I was secretly worried Adrianna would get lonely in a big empty house, but now I see I had nothing to worry about. You know, I swear that guy looks familiar.
Levi wraps his arms around my waist again. I lean into the hold, placing my now engagement ring covered hand in plain view on his chest.
All of my friends lift their cell phones and capture this monumental moment.
And it absolutely is in so many ways. Not just because he proposed or because I finally got to see the Eiffel Tower. This is the perfect example of what happens when you let go and stop trying to plan your entire life. More often than not you’re given something truly better than you could’ve ever designed.