Chapter Thirty-Four
Nora
Three months later
The streets outside the theatre were lined with screaming film fans as our driver slowly headed to the drop-off point on the red carpet. I’d been to red carpet movie premiere events in the past as my job often scored me tickets, but I’d never actually been one of the famous people who strutted down the carpet runner, smiling and waving at adoring fans. I still didn’t have fame or screaming fans, because Jacob was the famous one in our relationship, but hell, simply being on the red carpet was close enough.
Besides, I got to walk down the carpet on Jacob’s arm, which was the best thing of all. Everyone knew we were together now, and they loved it—they loved the fact that a simple consultant had managed to tame Hollywood’s biggest bad boy, rather than a supermodel. I often had girls approach me in public to tell me they found me ‘inspiring’ and asking me how I did it. I couldn’t exactly say ‘he took me on the worst date ever, then I made him pretend to be my fake boyfriend, and the rest is history’ so I always just smiled and said I’d ‘been myself’ around him and the rest had followed. That wasn’t exactly a lie, anyway. I had been myself, and Jacob had fallen for me because of it.
On top of that, I hadn’t tamed him—he’d always been the wonderful, tender man that he was around me. He just needed to meet his match for that side of him to emerge, and I happened to be that amazingly fortunate woman.
I was so damn lucky. But so was he, considering that spectacularly awful first date he took me on…
“I’m starting to get nervous,” Mom said from her seat in the limousine. She and Dad were attending the premiere of Fourth Down with us, as promised, and Jacob had ensured they would get to walk the red carpet with us. Mom had been thrilled at first, but now she was obviously freaking out about being seen in front of so many people and cameras.
“Don’t worry, Mom, you look great,” I said, reaching over and squeezing her hand.
Dad put a comforting arm around her shoulder. “Nora’s right. Those red carpet fashion reporters could pick up a thing or two from you, darling.”
“It’s not exactly my outfit that I’m nervous about,” she murmured softly in his ear with a devious smile, obviously not intending for me to hear.
I frowned slightly, wondering what that was about, but the thought was quickly banished from my brain when the car pulled to a stop outside the theatre where Fourth Down was publicly showing for the first time. Early critics of the film had said it was Jacob’s best performance yet, and the movie itself was tipped to win a plethora of awards, so there were a lot of people here. Faintly visible through the tinted car windows were hundreds of flashing lights from paparazzi cameras, and I could hear all the squealing girls lining the red carpet, desperate to catch a glimpse of Jacob.
“Ready?” Jacob asked, stroking my leg.
I didn’t need to hesitate. Of course I was ready.
We’d been together for a year now, and while things had been off to a rocky start between us, we’d made it through together. Jacob was incredible— he’d helped me get over a lying ex, a crazed stalker, and my parents’ big reveal last year. I’d come through it all unscathed with his undying support and devotion.
James hadn’t bothered me or spread rumors about me for a long time, and he’d even emailed me with an extensive apology after the whole Chris debacle last year. He felt responsible for instigating the whole thing by telling lies about me to friends and colleagues in the first place, and honestly, he was partially responsible. I wasn’t going to dwell on it, though. He was a bad person who’d done many bad things, but at least he’d eventually come round and understood his place in what went down, and he’d probably learned a valuable lesson—don’t make up bullshit about your ex.
Chris had continued to leave us alone as well. He’d reached out to Jacob a few months ago to tell him he was in therapy, but that was it. He wasn’t going to bother us again, and the little tape Jacob and I made was never going to see the light of day. We were definitely going to be a lot more careful in the future with our bedroom antics, though—no more stupidly filming each other on cell phones.
As for my parents, my relationship with them couldn’t be better now. It took a long time for the reality of what they’d done to sink in, but all in all, I was okay with it now. I’d accepted and understood the reasons behind the choice they made to keep me from my biological father, and I’d forgiven them for it entirely. I was sure they’d made the right choice, and I hoped that if I was ever faced with such a difficult dilemma in the future, I’d be able to see which choice was the best. The world wasn’t always black and white, and there wasn’t always an objective ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. Sometimes both choices were wrong in some way, and all we could do was try and figure out which one was less wrong than the other, as hard as it was.
“Nora?” Jacob said with a grin, tapping me on the shoulder. He looked so handsome in his tux, and just seeing him smile at me still made me blush after this long.
“Sorry, I was just thinking. But yeah, I’m ready,” I said with a smile.
I’d always be ready when it came to him.
We stepped out of the limousine, and I smiled widely as the crowd began to scream even louder at the sight of Jacob. I was so proud of him. His career was going amazingly, and no doubt it would only get bigger in years to come, given the terrific offers being thrown at him left, right and center by film studios all over the country.
“Jacob, are you happy with your performance in the movie?”
“Jacob, will you marry me?”
“Jacob, have you heard the rumors about you being nominated for a Golden Globe for Fourth Down?”
Those were just a smattering of the questions being shouted at us as we slowly made our way down the red carpet. Jacob didn’t answer all of them; only the ones asked by proper journalists, otherwise there simply wouldn’t be enough time to get through all of them.
When we reached the midpoint of the long crimson runner, Jacob stopped and put his palm up. People were still shrieking and squealing, but they began to calm down when they realized that things had come to a halt—Jacob was standing still and refusing to answer any questions until things were quiet.
“What’s going on?” I asked, but he didn’t reply.
My parents were standing behind us with wicked smiles on their faces. I narrowed my eyes at them; they were obviously in on something with my boyfriend, and I wanted to know what on earth it was.
Finally things were quiet on the red carpet, and Jacob smiled. “Thanks, everyone,” he called out. “I just need a couple of minutes. You’ve all been asking me a lot of questions, but I have my own question to ask right now. A very important question.”
With that, he sank to one knee, and my pulse began to race like mad.
Oh. My. God.
Cameras began to flash all around us again, and the stunning diamond ring in Jacob’s outstretched hand caught the light, making brilliant diamond fire shine all around us.
“Nora, I love you more than anything. I know I was probably the wrong guy for you when we first met, but I’ve tried to be the right one for as long as you’ve let me. I want to keep doing that forever. Marry me?” he asked.
My eyes were wide with surprise, and my hands were shaking. I hadn’t seen this coming in a million years, and I wondered if it had occurred to Jacob what a risk this was, having all these people watching him ask a question that I could say no to. Then again, he had to know that I’d say yes. I’d always say yes to him.
And I was saying yes now.
“Of course I’ll marry you!” I said, tears of joy springing to my eyes. “Yes, yes, yes!”
Jacob’s mouth was on mine immediately after I responded, kissing me furiously, and I melted into his embrace. All around us, people cheered and whooped as the cameras flashed.
As I kissed my brand new fiancé, I recalled something Angie told me a long time ago. She told me that sometimes we had to be with the wrong person for a while in order to realize what we really wanted and needed out of a relationship, and she was right. I’d kissed my fair share of frogs in order to find my prince, and funnily enough, I hadn’t even realized he was my prince at first. I’d thought Jacob was all wrong for me when we first encountered each other, but as it turned out, the only thing that was wrong was me. Thank god I’d given him a second chance all those months ago, or we might not be here today.
We’d met under the strangest circumstances, and back then he was like a puzzle piece I didn’t quite know how to fit into my life. But now, standing here on the red carpet with this gorgeous man on my arm—and this gorgeous ring on my finger—I knew I was complete.
Jacob was undoubtedly my Mr. Right.
THE END
Titles by Caitlin Daire