Page 124 of Fifth Avenue Flirt

Ben and I sit at one end of the table, and I glance at our friends and family gathered around. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt so lucky. So happy. So completely loved.

I turn to Ben. “You know I’m going to say yes when you ask me to marry you.” It’s become the thing I say to him every night before we go to bed, but repeating it now feels right. I want him to know how completely into him I am, and always will be.

“Good,” he says, instead of saying, “Marry me,” which is how he always responds to me telling him that. Then he pushes back his chair and stands.

My heart begins to race in my chest, like galloping hooves on grass.

“Some of you around this table I’ve known a lifetime. And all of you will be in our lives for the rest of them. Avril and I haven’t been a couple very long, but we’ll be together forever. I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life. I can’t comprehend anything better, anything more fulfilling, more satisfying, than a life with Avril. So, I want to start that forever as soon as possible.”

He gets down on one knee and pulls out a red velvet ring box and opens it. “Will you marry me?”

We had an unconventional start, but there’s nothing but pure, traditional love between us.

“I thought about all the ways I could ask you. I could write it in the sky. I could light it up on the Empire State Building. But really, all I care about is you and me and everyone who loves us being bonded together forever.”

He always knows exactly the right thing to say. The exact right way to say it. And of course, an understated, traditional proposal in front of our family and friends is the only way I’d want to get engaged.

“Eternity with you sounds like the best way to spend the rest of time. Yes, Ben East, I’ll marry you every day of the week. Never stop asking me.”

“Only if you promise never to stop saying yes.”

“That’s the easiest promise I’ll ever make,” I say.

People clap and cheer around us, but I’m just focused on my husband-to-be.

“You didn’t even look at the ring,” he whispers as he stands and holds my head in his hands.

“I didn’t need to see the ring. I didn’t even need to be asked the question in order to spend the rest of my days with you.”

He presses his lips to mine, and it feels like the rest of the room drifts off and it’s just Ben and me, the Empire State Building in the background, and the promise of a fluffy white cat in our future.