He stopped at the end of the path where there was a bed of red roses in the shape of a heart.
I could feel the tears immediately start running down my face. He took me by the hand and helped me step inside the heart with him.
"As time progressed, we grew in friendship, you welcomed Emmie into your heart, and then we fell in love. I didn't think I could fall in love again. You showed me that I was wrong. I created this heart that we're standing in as a symbol to demonstrate that you will forever have a place inside my heart. With that being said, there's one more symbol that I want to show you."
Cole put his arm around me and pointed up to the sky as the fireworks began. An array of colors started falling from the sky. Then just as big as ever the words formed in bold red letters ‘Payton Will You Marry Me?’ As the colors continued to burst forth, Cole got down on one knee.
"Payton, will you give me the honor of becoming my wife?" He presented me with a sparkling diamond ring.
I felt a big lump in my throat that made it difficult to speak. Somehow I still managed to belt out the word yes loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Yes! Oh my gosh, yes!"
He placed the ring on my finger and planted a kiss that gave me butterflies. We held each other for what seemed like forever while the fireworks continued to light up the sky.
The family cheered and whistled like a bunch of hooligans in the background. Cole signaled for them to join us.
"She said yes!!"
The cameras flashed, and the videos continued to record.
"She said yes!!" He repeated.
I hugged mom and dad and continued right on down the line exchanging tears along with hugs and kisses.
"I can't believe y'all knew about this and didn't say a word."
"Mr. Ethan almost blew the secret," Emmie said.
"He sure did, but we cleaned it up just in time." Rebecca agreed.
I don't know how I managed to go through the whole day without suspecting anything, but Cole pulled it off. There was no way I would be able to sleep tonight, but I didn't care. Tonight was absolutely the best night of my life.
Epilogue: Payton
January 1st had come and gone so quickly I hardly could believe it. Cole and I decided on a July wedding, but with six months left, we still hadn't made up our minds about a venue. Today I was meeting Rebecca and Abby for lunch so they could help me wrap my head around a few wedding plans.
"I need your help. I thought surely I'd be done with all the wedding planning by now, and the rest of the planning would be a cakewalk. Instead, I'm really starting to stress out."
"What on earth do you have to stress out about? You are marrying the most easy-going guy in the world. Cole doesn't care where you guys get married. And it's not like this is your first rodeo. You've done this before. You got this,” Abby said.
"Then why is it starting to feel so complicated? We can't seem to settle on a venue to save our lives. We visited at least eight places and even considered traveling as far as Naples. No matter where we visited, there was either something wrong with the dates, the venue itself, or the food."
Abby and I dug right into our food when it was served. I noticed Rebecca hadn't touched hers and seemed rather distant.
"Well, maybe it's time for you guys to brainstorm and start thinking out of the box. For example, does it have to be a traditional venue type of wedding?" Abby said.
"If not at a venue, then where? Hold that thought for a minute. Rebecca, are you okay? You don't seem like yourself at all."
"I'm fine. I'm probably just exhausted from work. That plus flying back and forth to Savannah twice a month is probably starting to catch up with me."
"I'm not going to say I told you so. However, I knew taking on that house was biting off more than you could chew,” I said.
"So basically you're not going to say 'I told you so'… you're just going to find another way to say 'I told you so.' Rebecca snapped back at me, so I decided to back down.
"Look, all I'm trying to say is that's a big undertaking. Have you considered hiring some extra help?"
"That's a good idea," Abby said.
"Believe it or not, the renovations are coming along very nicely. I'm forever grateful for Cole making a few calls and suggesting the company that I'm working with. The contractors are doing a phenomenal job, they've tried to help me cut cost without taking away from the quality, and overall I'm really pleased."
"That's wonderful." I kept listening as I ate.
"Sooo, how are things with Ethan?" Abby and I both wanted the scoop. As of late, Rebecca had become increasingly tight-lipped about their relationship.
"Things are good. I don't want to blow it out of proportion and make it sound like more than what it is, but so far, so good."
"Come on, Rebecca. Spill the darn tea already. Whenever we're together, you barely talk about Ethan. We've seen him maybe two or three times in the past six months,” Abby said.
"Yeah, and I know for a fact that whenever I stop by your place, you're never home. What's up with that?"
We sat and waited for a response.
"If you must know, everything is good, just as I told you. We've been dating exclusively for a couple of months now, but I didn't want to make a big deal about it, that's all,” she said.
I couldn't believe she'd been holding back.
"Um, hello! You didn't think that was worth mentioning? Do you know how happy mom would be to hear that her dream has finally coming to fruition?"
"That's
