“Do I have food on my face?” I went to wipe it but he grabbed my hand. “No, you look beautiful.”
“Even though I’m getting chunky in the face,” I joked with a grin.
A toothless grin formed on his face. “Even with a chunky face.” He leaned in and pecked my lips.
“Who would have thought you were this passionate in the beginning? I love this version of you.”
“Yeah? And what else do you love?”
His question stunned me. I blinked a couple times before squinting. “What do you mean?”
His thumb brushed over the top of my hand. “I think we both know what I mean.”
I pulled my bottom lip into my mouth. Yosiah had never brought up my slip up confession of love. In fact, both of us acted as if it never happened.
“Does it matter?” I went to pull my hand away but his grip tightened.
“Humor me.”
I stared into his eyes. I wasn’t sure why something that should be so natural to say to my husband had my heart rate skyrocketing. My skin prickled and heat flooded my veins.
“You,” I said, quietly at first.
“Say what now?”
I huffed a deep breath out. “You. I love you, Yosiah.”
This was the first time I’d said those words out loud to my partner, not including the time on the phone. They felt foreign coming out of my mouth.
One corner of Yosiah’s mouth lifted. He pushed up, cuffed the side of my face, and pressed his lips into mine. Slowly, he claimed my mouth. His kiss tasted as sweet as candy. I grabbed his tan shirt, not caring if I caused wrinkles, and leaned further into him.
“I have one more gift for you,” he said, pulling away from me.
Desire danced in the pit of my stomach and my breathing grew heavier than before.
“You’re just a bag of surprises tonight, huh?”
He smiled and lowered himself to his knees. I watched him dig into his pocket and pull something out.
Confusion filled me when he grabbed my left hand and pulled my wedding ring off. Although we were legally separated, I still wore my ring.
“What are you?—”
He cut me off and said, “Just trust me.”
Just when I was about to argue, he opened his hand, revealing a ring box, causing me to snap my mouth closed. My eyes ballooned when he opened the box, revealing a beautiful diamond ring. A princess cut white diamond in the center with smaller round stones along each side of the band.
My hand trembled as he removed the ring from the box and slid it on my left ring finger. I rotated my hand, eyeing the new beauty on my hand. I noticed the diamonds along the sides that stopped halfway down and the back of the ring was bare.
“I’m not one to give long speeches or get all emotional, but Xylina, I want you to know that these past few months of getting to know you have been some of the happiest months of my life. I know things with us have been rocky and it took us some time to get it right, but wedidget it right. I know you don’t always show the vulnerable side of yourself to people, but I’m glad I’m one person you feel comfortable enough to show. Soon we’ll beholding our baby girl in our arms and that’s the best blessing anyone could give me.
“I know you still hold on to guilt about how we came about and the shit your dad did, but you need to let that go. We’re in a good place. We’re happy.Being withyoumakesmehappy. I know we did that whole separation thing in order to give me a choice and I’m ready to finally make it. No contracts. No blackmail. Just me asking the woman I fell in love with to marry me and stay by my side for the rest of our lives.”
I wanted to speak but I was too choked up. My hand wouldn’t stop shaking. Tears fell from my eyes.
“What do you say, Xylina? Will you marry me…again?”
Sniffling, I nodded and slid a shaky smile onto my face. “Yes, yes of course.” I grabbed both of his cheeks and leaned down, crashing my lips into his.