Cherished (Wanted #4)(53)
Author: Kelly Elliott

Scott looked up, and one of the servers came over.

“Yes, sir.”

“Would you mind boxing up the dessert? My girl here is full.”

I blushed as Scott looked at me. I wasn’t sure why I’d blushed. Maybe it was the look of pure passion in his eyes. He had been watching me eat the whole time, and he almost seemed nervous. Maybe telling his parents right now about us being pregnant wasn’t such a good idea. I glanced over, and the sun was slowly starting to go down. I was glad I had a long-sleeved shirt on as I started to feel chilly.

Scott stood up and reached for my hand. I smiled as I got up and placed my hand in his.

“Let’s go for a walk,” he whispered.

He leaned down and skimmed his lips against mine. I turned back and looked at the table, feeling guilty.

“Don’t worry, baby. That’s what they get paid to do. Come on, the sun is fixin’ to set soon.”

As we walked for a little bit, we talked about the baby and the plans to make the guest bedroom downstairs the nursery since I couldn’t bear the idea of the baby being upstairs and so far away from us.

“Do you want to find out if it’s a boy or a girl?” I asked.

Scott came to a stop and turned as he took both of my hands in his. “Do you?” he asked.

I giggled. “Yes! I don’t think I could stand the wait. Plus, we can decorate the room either for a boy or a girl.”

Scott grinned. “Then, it looks like we’ll be finding out.”

I looked out over the river. It was breathtakingly beautiful. The sun still had a good thirty minutes before it would set, giving us plenty of time to walk back to Scott’s truck.

“It’s beautiful,” I whispered as I watched the sunrays dance along the top of the water.

“Yeah, it is,” Scott replied back.

Then, I turned to see him getting down on one knee as he reached into his pocket. He took out a small blue velvet jewelry box, and my mouth dropped open as I instantly began crying.

“Oh, Scott…” I put my hand up to my mouth to hold back the sobs.

He let go of my other hand and opened up the ring box.

I let out a gasp. Oh…it’s the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen.

“Jessie, I think I’ve known that I wanted you to be my wife from the first moment you smiled at me. I want to have kids with you, grow old with you, fight and make up with you.”

He wiggled his eyebrows up and down, and I let out a giggle.

“I want to be able to tell you every day that I love you. I want to prove to you every day that I’ve never loved and cherished anything in my life like I do you. I love you to the moon and back, baby. I always have, and I always will.”

I couldn’t control my sobs. Damn hormones. I smiled and wiped the tears away as he took the ring out and held it up.

“This was my grandmother’s ring, and I know she would have loved you, Jessie. You would have captivated her, just like you have me.”

He took my left hand and went to put the ring on my finger, but he stopped and looked back up at me with tears building in his eyes.

Scott tried to talk, but his voice cracked. He cleared it and smiled. “I know the last few months haven’t been exactly how we would have liked, but if I had the choice of whether or not to do it over again, knowing it would put me right here in front of you, I would do it again. I’d rather die than ever lose you. You will always be mine. Forever. Jessica Ann Rhodes, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

I could hardly see him through my tears as I nodded. “Yes…oh, Scott, yes.”

He stood, and I threw myself into his arms. He picked me up, and I wrapped my legs around him. I pulled my head back and slammed my lips against his.

Then, I kept repeating, “Yes,” over and over again.

We kissed each other like crazy fools. I had dreamed of this day for so long, and I’d never imagined it would make me as happy as I was.

“Baby, I love you so much,” Scott said.

“I love you…oh god, I love you so much it hurts,” I said in between kisses.

After we kissed for what felt like forever, he slowly let me down. I felt his erection, and I wanted nothing more than to strip down and tell him to take me up against a tree. I wanted him so badly.

“I’ve been so damn nervous about asking you,” he said with a small laugh. “I’ve been carrying that ring around with me for a few months now.”

I sucked in a breath of air. “You were going to ask me before the baby?”

He gave me that crooked smile of his and nodded his head. “I was going to ask you on Christmas Eve, but…well, shit happened, and then I remembered that day we came down here. I thought it would be kind of cool to do it here.”

I smiled so big that it almost felt like my cheeks were going to cramp. “It was beyond cool. It was the most romantic thing ever, and I will never forget this moment for as long as I live.”

He put his hand on the side of my face and winked at me. “Good. That makes my heart happy.”

He pulled me into a hug, and we stood there for a few minutes.

“Scott, your parents are going to be pissed. We are really, really late.”

He laughed and threw his arm over my shoulder as we made our way back to his truck. I kept glancing down at the ring on my finger. It was breathtaking, and knowing it was his grandmother’s made my heart swell even more.

The platinum filigree ring was stunning. The princess cut diamond was huge and had to be over a carat. It sat atop two smaller princess cut diamonds flanking the main diamond. Then, it tapered down to baguettes. Scott had mentioned before that his grandmother’s platinum engagement ring was the most beautiful ring he’d ever seen and how he would never be able to find a ring as beautiful as it was.

He was right. It is breathtaking. The engraving on the band was exquisite.

“Scott, did your grandmother give you this ring before she passed away?” I asked.

Scott looked at me and smiled. “Nope,” was all he said as we walked up to where we had just spent the most amazing few hours of my life.

I was shocked to see everything had been cleaned up, and the catering company trailer was pulling away.

“Holy crap. They’re fast,” I said.

“Come on, Mom and Dad are waiting for us,” Scott said.

My heart dropped just a little. I really wanted to go home and celebrate being engaged, not go see his parents who hated me.

As we stood at the door, waiting for someone to answer it, a strong urge to break free of Scott’s grip and make a run for the woods hit me. Anything else would be better than facing his mom’s constant stares of disgust.