Not His Bride Anymore novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: Her Proposal
"Thank you for coming," I said into the microphone, and my voice shook, and I let it.
Two hundred people looked back at me.
My mother, by the wall.
Savannah, in her chair, with a hand on her stomach.
A row of librarians, a neighbor with a camera, and a roomful of toddlers who had finally sat down on the parquet in a heap.
"Seven years ago I let a man tell me what I was worth in three-year pieces," I said. "He had help."
A low, warm laugh went through the room.
"At eighteen I made a bet I never meant to lose. I lost it anyway, and then I got to cancel it. That was the best thing that ever happened to me."
I looked down at Elliot.
He stood at the edge of the floor with his hands loose at his sides.
He stood braced, waiting.
"Elliot Wray," I said. "Come here, please."
He came.
He walked out across the empty floor under every chandelier, and he stopped in front of me.
I put the microphone back on its stand.
Then I reached into my bag and took out the velvet box.
The room made a sound.
"I should say this first," I said, so only he could hear. "You can say no. Right now, in front of everybody. I mean it. It won't change a single thing between us tomorrow."
"Ainsley."
"Say it if you need to."
"I've waited five years to be asked," Elliot said, very low. "I've also waited five years not to be."
"I know."
"Ask."
I opened the box.
I held it up between us.
"This was cut for you," I said. "I paid for it from my own pay. Nobody picked you for me. Nobody picked me for you. I'm choosing you, and I'm choosing it out loud."
I took the ring out, and I turned it so the light caught the inside.
"Elliot Wray," I said. "Will you marry me?"
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