Asher stepped out of the trees and into the moonlight. The silly smile on my face was unavoidable. Just seeing him made me feel that way.
“You’ve got the camera. Good,” he said as he walked over to me and took it from me.
“I agree, but it’s dark out here. We’ll need the flash.”
“Probably,” was his only response.
He pressed a kiss to my lips and I sighed from the pleasure. Then he walked over to the trees and sat my camera down there.
“That’s a nice camera to put in the grass,” I pointed out.
He looked amused. “It won’t be there long.”
I was about to ask him what he was planning on doing with it when he stopped in front of me. “God, you’re beautiful,” he whispered. His hand caressed my left cheek as he looked into my eyes. “I thought for a moment I might not see this smile again. I wouldn’t have survived without you.” His words were spoken softly. As if he were thinking aloud. Allowing me into his thoughts. I started to speak, when he went down on one knee. I began to wonder if I was dreaming. Had I fallen asleep in the bathtub? This wasn’t even a daydream or fantasy I had ever been brave enough to enjoy because I never believed it would be mine.
He held out an ice blue velvet box and opened it. Inside was the most perfect ring in the world. I wasn’t sure what it looked like exactly because my eyes were filling with tears and blurring my vision, but Asher was holding it and he was on one knee and that made it perfect. It could be from a gumball machine for all I cared.
“I’ve loved you most of my life. Without you, my world has no laughter. No sunshine. No joy. You bring all that when you smile. I can’t do life without you. I tried. I need you, Dixie Monroe. I need you today and for the rest of our lives. Will you—”
“Yes!” I said on a sob, not waiting for him to even finish. “Yes, yes, yes!” I chanted. Then I paused. He had one year of college left. He’d be leaving soon. I wouldn’t let him give that up for me. Not because he feared losing me. He would never lose me.
“But you’ve got college.”
“So do you,” he replied. “And it’s just a year for me and we’ve got our entire lives together.”
He was right. We had forever. I wasn’t dying anytime soon. I had to live so I’d get this life with Asher I’d always wanted. “Yes! It’s still yes,” I said, wiping at the tears streaming down my face.
He stood up and pulled me into his arms before sliding the ring on my finger. It wasn’t from a gumball machine. It was a perfect teardrop shaped diamond.
A flash went off in the darkness causing me to jump. I blinked trying to regain my vision. Once I could focus again, I saw Asher smiling, his gaze toward the trees. I turned to see Brent, Bray, Dallas and Steel walking out of the woods. They all looked happy. Even Steel.
“It’s about damn time you married into this family. You’ve been trying to get in it since you could walk,” Bray said holding the camera and taking another shot.
I looked from them up to Asher. “I guess you Sutton boys don’t do anything alone.”
He shrugged. “We do some things. Just not the important things. And it doesn’t get any more important than this.”
A few more pictures were snapped as I laughed and wrapped my arms around him.
Each brother came up to me and hugged me before leaving. Each one having something to say in my ear just for me to hear. I knew Asher would ask me later what they said. And I would tell him.
When it was Steel’s turn, he whispered, “It’s okay now. I get it. We both knew it was always him.” It was bittersweet. I did care for Steel. He’d come along when I needed someone. He gave me some happiness during a dark time. I’d always love him for that.
After the last brother walked back into the woods, Asher brought my ringed finger to his mouth and kissed it. “Hard to believe this is real.”
I couldn’t agree more. “We went through a lot to get to this point but, Asher, I don’t want this to be because you thought you were going to lose me. I want you to be ready for this.” I feared that my almost death had made him move too fast on something too important to rush. I knew what I had just been through was the reason Steel was so accepting. When faced with death, you see the world differently.
“The day I kissed you outside my truck when you were fifteen, I started planning this moment. I’ve known you were my one since then, Dix. Even when I thought it was impossible. Your face . . . it was all I saw. All I’ll ever see.
And his would be the only one for me.