Page 173 of If Ever

A delicate ring is nestled between his thumb and forefinger. I gasp.

He presents it, watching me expectantly as people push past.

"You have a ring!"

"I do." He smiles, all signs of his earlier frustration gone.

I stare at the delicate vines etched around the antique band and the sparkling solitaire. My mind flits to a million thoughts at once, but instead of saying something normal, I blurt, "Where did you get that?"

He chuckles.

I glance around nervously. "Because people don't walk around with expensive looking rings in their pocket."

"My grandmother." His eyes don't leave my face as his hand is outstretched before me, offering me the world.

People push by, annoyed at the traffic jam we've created. Others stop to watch. I lower the grocery bags to the pavement. "Does she know you have it?" I ask in a shaky voice.

He grins. "Yes, she wanted me to give it to my future wife."

Wife? For real? I cover my mouth. His eyes twinkle with humor.

"I asked her for it when I went home."

My jaw drops. He's known that long?

"I've been carrying this ring in my pocket for two weeks. I've been trying to think of the perfect time and place to ask you to be my wife. Proposing on the sidewalk in front of a grungy Laundromat in a cold rain wasn’t part of the plan.” A bus roars by and a cab lays on his horn as if to drive home his point. “But the fact is, it doesn't matter where we are, only that we're together."

He gazes at me with tender devotion. "Chelsea, marry me. Spend your life with me. We will overcome any obstacles that come our way, and I will love you until my last breath."

There's such hope on his handsome face. His blue eyes gleam despite the sleet. My mind battles itself. I was poised to move on in order to end my fears of being left behind, unloved, but here he is offering me more than I could dare dream for.

"Are you sure?"

I hear laughter and glance up. There is a growing crowd watching him on bended knee. A couple have their phones aimed at us recording this moment.

Tom smiles. "I've never been more certain of anything in my life."

"But I'm broken. I'm no good for you," I utter in an emotional whisper.

"No, you're not. You're just scared and together we'll fix that."

"Promise? Because I hate being this way."

"I promise," he says, so sincerely, and then there's a devilish twinkle in his eye. "And I also promise you passion. The sexy smexy kind." He grins.

I giggle, and at that moment my fears are pushed away by the swell of love in my heart. "Yes, yes, yes," I say reaching for him.

He rises and pulls me into his arms, kissing my lips and face. He holds me away, takes my left hand, and slips off my glove. Our eyes meet.

My hands are shaking, overwhelmed that I get to spend the rest of my life with this man.

He gently slides the ring onto my finger and I feel part of something special and important. "It's breathtaking."

He raises my hand to his lips and kisses it. "You have made me the happiest man in the universe."

"I love you so much." More than anyone in the world and he's brave enough to take me on.

I step into his arms and there's applause. I peek at Tom and smile.