Promising You (The Jade Series #4) (37 page)

“But how did you. . . When did you . . .”
 

“What do you think of the view?” He puts his arm around my waist as we face the ocean.

“It’s incredible.” I scan the beach, which is a never-ending stretch of sand with small houses on one side and the roaring ocean on the other. “Is this a private beach?”

“Yeah. It’s just for the people who live here.”

“Then we should get out of here. We’ll get in trouble.”

“We won’t get in trouble. We live here, Jade.” He points behind me to some two-story condos. “We live in that white one and Sean and Harper are in the blue one next to it.”

I turn to get a better look. “Seriously? This is our beach? We’re really going to live here?”
 

“Yes. This is where we live now.” He turns me back toward him and takes my sunglasses off and sets them on the blanket. I notice his are off, too. “But before I take you to our place, I have to do something.”

“Okay, what?” I kiss him quick, but I want to kiss him a lot more so I hope he hurries up with all this talking.

“I’m kind of old-fashioned. You know that, right?”
 

“Old fashioned how? What do you mean?”

“Like I’m into traditions and stuff like that.”

“Yeah, I guess you are.”

“So I was thinking that if I’m going to live with a girl, she should be more than just a girlfriend. Living together is kind of a big step.”

“What are you getting at here?”

He smiles at my impatience, but now I feel bad for rushing him. I can tell by his tone that whatever he’s trying to say is important. I’m just really anxious to get to the kissing part.

“I’m sorry. Go ahead.” I give him my full attention, gazing at his gorgeous blue eyes.

He takes my hand. “When I made that list for you last Christmas with all the things I love about you, I was serious when I said I could fill a whole stack of notebooks.” He pauses, but his eyes remain on mine. “And I find it amazing that even now, you continue to add to that list. I keep finding more things to love about you. I don’t even know how that’s possible but it’s true.”
 

I glance down at the blanket. I never know what to say when he says these nice things to me.
 

Garret nudges my chin up and our eyes meet. “I love you more than anything in this world, Jade. And when I promised you forever, I meant it.”
 

He lets go of my hand and reaches into his pocket and takes out a small blue box. As in Tiffany blue.
 

My heart starts beating really fast, but then I relax, thinking it’s probably a pair of earrings like last time. Or a necklace. Or maybe a bracelet.
 

Then again, it could be something else.
 

Garret gets down on one knee and my heart beats even faster. It’s definitely not earrings.
 

He holds the box out in front of me and slowly opens it. “Jade, will you marry me?”

30

The box holds a very large and very sparkly diamond ring.
 

I look at Garret, studying his face to make sure he’s not joking.
Say something, Jade!
I’m yelling at myself in my head because no words are coming out and Garret is starting to look concerned.
 

“Yes! I’ll marry you!” I hug him and he bursts up and hugs me even tighter back.
 

“What the hell took you so long? I didn’t think you were ever going to answer.”

“Sorry. I just had to make sure you weren’t kidding.”

He laughs. “The ring didn’t make that clear?”

“I guess not. Can I see it?”

“You can do more than see it. You can wear it.” He takes it out of the box and slips it on my finger. It fits perfectly. And it’s so beautiful.
 

“Is this the ring I saw in New York?”

“It is. Do you still like it?’

“I love it.” As I see it on my finger, I’m flooded with emotions. All good ones. Happiness. Love. Excitement.

“Jade, you’re crying.” Garret sweeps his thumb along my cheek.

“No, I’m not.” I feel my face and he’s right. I
am
crying. “What the hell? I make fun of people who cry when they’re happy.”

He leans over to whisper. “I won’t tell anyone.”

I wipe away the rest of the tears and kiss him. “I love you, Garret. I love you so much.” I must be smiling a lot because my cheeks are starting to ache. I gaze down at the ring again, watching as it sparkles in the sun. “I can’t believe you proposed! I did not expect this. At all.”

“I told you I could top my surprise appearance at the airport.”

“When did you get the ring?”

“Right after you picked it out.”

“I didn’t pick it out. I just said I liked it.”

“You
really
liked it. I could tell.”

I hold it up again. “Okay, I admit it. I really liked it. And now that I see it again, I love it. It’s perfect. I can’t believe my perfect ring just happened to be sitting in the window of the jewelry store that night.”

“Yeah. Crazy, huh?” He’s trying not to laugh.

“What is it, Garret? What are you not telling me?”

“I have a confession to make. I picked those three rings out beforehand and had the sales lady place them in the window. Then I had our driver drop us off in front of the store so I could quiz you on which one you liked.” He points to my ring. “That was my favorite one, too.”

“How did you get the jewelry store to do that for you?”

He smiles. “Let’s just say I know the right people.”
 

I smile back, then glance at the ring again. “So you bought this ring months ago even though I kept telling you I didn’t want to get married?”

“That didn’t mean I couldn’t propose. And I needed the ring in case you said yes.”

“You really wanted to marry me, didn’t you?”

“Jade, I told you that like a million times.”

“I didn’t believe you.”

He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, because guys just say that to girls all the time.”
 

“Maybe they do. How would I know?”

“Believe me. They don’t.”

“So what’s in the basket?” I ask him.

He opens it and takes out two bottles. “Real champagne and fake champagne. I wasn’t sure what you’d want.”

“This is definitely worthy of real champagne.”
 

I reach in the basket and take out the glasses as he opens the champagne.
 

After he pours it, he takes his glass and holds it up. “To forever.”
 

Forever. I smile even more as we clink our glasses because the thought of having Garret by my side forever fills my heart with a happiness I can’t even put into words.

“I have one more thing to tell you.” He takes my glass and his and sets them aside. “Let’s sit down.”

We both take a seat on the blanket, facing each other.

“This sounds bad. Can it wait until later? Because I’m really happy right now.”

“It’s not bad.” He reaches over and holds my hand, which now has a sparkly diamond ring on it. “Well, I guess some people might think it’s bad, but it doesn’t have to be.”

“You’re making me nervous. Just say it.”

“Before I do, tell me again that you’ll marry me.”
 

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

“You’re being really strange, but yes, I’ll marry you.”

“And not like in 50 years, right? Like sooner than that?”

“When do you want to do this?”

“I don’t know. Next year. Two years. Three years. Whenever you’re ready.”

“I’d marry you this summer if you wanted me to.”

“Are you serious? Because I would totally do that.”

“Then let’s not wait. We can get married on the beach. I don’t need a fancy wedding. I just want this. Us.”
 

“I do, too, but we’re only 19.”

“We both turn 20 in a few months. And I don’t care about our age. I love you and that’s not going to change, so why wait?”

“I agree. But you know that some people aren’t going to be happy about this. Like Frank. He may be okay with us getting engaged, but he’ll want us to wait until we’re older to get married.”

“He’ll have to get over it. I’m done letting other people make decisions for us. They’ve been trying to do it since we met, but they’re not going to do it anymore. We’re together now and I’m not letting anyone come between us.”

Garret’s smiling at me. “You did it again, Jade.”

“Did what?”

“You added to my list again. You gave me another reason why I love you. I’m going to have to stock up on notebooks.”

“I don’t get it. What’s the reason?”

“You’ll find out when I give you the updated list.”

“When’s that going to be?”

“I don’t know. Maybe our 10-year anniversary.”

“I have to wait that long to find out?”

“Yeah. Why? You aren’t planning to stick around for that long?”

I lean over and kiss him. “I’m not going anywhere. I told you. You’re stuck with me.”

“Yeah, that’s right.” Once again, he pretends this is a bad thing. “So how long am I stuck with you for?”

I kiddingly shove his shoulder, laughing. “I thought you wanted me to stick around.”

He kisses me, then stays close to my lips and says, “You didn’t answer my question.”

“Forever. You’re stuck with me forever.” I smile as I say it.

“Good answer. Just had to make sure we’re in agreement on that.” He kisses me again, then slowly pulls away, smiling. “So back to this wedding of ours. You really want to get married on the beach?”

“It’s exactly what I want.” I peer out at the ocean. “Look at this. It’s beautiful. It’s the perfect place to get married. Plus it’s a lot cheaper than a traditional wedding. And yes, I know you’d pay for a big, fancy wedding but that’s just not me.”

“Jade, I should probably tell you my news now.”
 

“Yeah. Go ahead.

“Well, since this plan for me isn’t happening now, the organization had to find a different way to punish my dad for what he did to Royce.”

“Yeah.” I feel my heart racing and not in a good way. “So what is it?”

He hesitates, then says, “The punishment is that he has to disown me from the family.”

“What does that mean? You can’t see them anymore?”

“I can still see them. It’s more of a financial disownment. I can’t have access to their money.” He gets a really serious look on his face. “I’m broke, Jade. My trust fund was taken away. My credit cards. Bank accounts. All of it.”

I try really hard to be serious like he is right now, but I can’t. I just start laughing and I can’t stop. I can’t even sit up anymore. I have to lie down on the blanket.

“What the hell, Jade? This isn’t funny. Did you hear me? I’m broke. Well, they let me keep my college money, but it can only be used for tuition. Nothing else. And I can keep the car. So at least we’ll have two cars. And the condo is already paid for through the end of August, so it could be worse.”

I’m still laughing. Garret lies next to me. “Are you drunk? From half a glass of champagne?”

“No. It’s just funny.”
 

“Your fiancé being broke is funny?”

“Hey, I like that. My fiancé. That’s a strange word, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Garret tilts his head. “You sure you’re not drunk?”

I turn on my side so we’re face to face. “Garret, I don’t care if you’re broke. I never cared that you had money. You know that.”

“But we’re getting married now and my money was supposed to be your money and now it’s gone. I didn’t want you to ever have to worry about money again. And I’m going to do all I can to make sure you don’t. I’ll get a job, or two jobs, or three. Whatever it takes.”

“And what kind of job are you planning to get?” I ask, scooting closer to him. “You’ve never even had a job, have you?”

“I’ve had internships, but they didn’t pay. I don’t know what I’ll do. I guess I could work construction or something.”

“Somehow I can’t see you working construction. Have you ever built anything?”

“No, but I can learn.” He considers it, then says, “Fine, then I’ll go be a waiter somewhere. It doesn’t matter. I’ll find something that’ll pay the bills.”

He’s so determined and it’s so damn sweet that it makes me want to hug him and kiss him and never stop, but first I need to tell him my news. “Garret, you don’t need to worry about money.”

“Why not?” He looks so confused.

I smile at him. “Because I have 50 million dollars. Well, 45 million. I gave five to Frank.”

Now Garret’s laughing. “Yeah, I wish.”

“I’m not joking. I have 45 million dollars. Arlin set up a trust fund for me before he died.”
 

“Wait. Are you serious?”

“Totally serious. Grace and I had lunch last Friday and she told me about it. I told her it was too much, but then she went on about how many millions it takes to make a billion. Basically she insisted it wasn’t too much and told me it’s mine to use however I want. Oh, and she’s making me keep that credit card she gave me and told me I’m supposed to use it until I get out of college. I tried to give it back but I guess all the grandkids get one and she wants it to be fair.”

Garret is listening to my every word but his expression hasn’t changed so I don’t know what he’s thinking. I think he’s speechless. It seems to be a common reaction to the mention of 50 million dollars.
 

“So anyway, I guess I’m the rich one now.” I kiss him to wake him from his daze. “If you want anything, just let me know and I’ll buy it for you. And don’t complain about me buying you stuff or I’ll make you strip for me.” I nudge him. “Garret? Are you alive over there?”

A smile slowly forms across his face as he pulls me on top of him. “I think I’ll be stripping a lot. It’s payback time. You know I’ll be giving you a hard time. You buy me a pack a gum I’ll be saying, ‘Jade, no, it’s too much.’”

“Hey, I never said that for a pack of gum.”

“I’m pretty sure you did.”

“Whatever. Go ahead and say it. I’m still buying you stuff.”

“So I’m broke and you’re rich. I get why you were laughing now.”

My smile fades as I remember why he’s broke. “Garret, how do you feel about being disowned by your family? I wasn’t laughing about
that
, by the way. It’s not funny.”