Rekindle (27 page)

“Absolutely.” She kisses my cheek and I’m out the door.

I pull into our driveway and slam on the brakes as soon as I see it. There are lanterns hanging from wrought-iron poles lining the path leading up to the treehouse, and the treehouse itself is lit up with twinkling lights, just like it was the night of our first date. I park my car and slowly get out of the driver’s seat. My mouth is gaping open as I make my way down the path.

Halfway down, my eyes land on Rhett. He’s standing at the bottom of the treehouse ladder, dressed to the nines in a suit, a heart-stopping smile on his face. I’ve never seen anything more stunning in my entire life.

“Jesus Christ, you make my heart stop,” Rhett says as I approach him.

“What in the world is all of this?” I question him, my eyes still taking in everything around me.

“I wanted tonight to be special.”

“Mission accomplished,” I tell him with a small smile.

He grabs my hands and pulls me closer to him. His hands slide up my arms and shoulders, wrapping around my neck. His thumbs slide under my chin, bringing my face up to his. He kisses me thoroughly. My mouth opens without protest, and I’m instantly filled with the taste of Rhett. Nothing has ever tasted sweeter. He doesn’t stop kissing me until my knees start to go weak. He pulls back a fraction and locks his eyes with mine. He starts to say something but stops himself, shaking his head.

“What?” I question him.

“Seventeen hours, Emma Grace. Seventeen unspeakable hours is how long I lived not knowing if I was going to be able to see your bright eyes or taste your sweet lips.”

“Rhett—” I try to interrupt him, but he cuts me off by shaking his head.

“Those hours, they were, without a doubt, the worst of my life. I played everything over in my head. Our whole lives—how I should have done this differently, or what would have happened if I would have done that. Over and over again, I’ve thought about it. I’ve thought about every single detail. You know what I came up with?”

I shake my head. I’m not exactly sure where he’s going with this, and I’m almost afraid to speak.

“The only regret that I had was that I never got to see you walking down an aisle in a white dress, telling the world that you were mine.”

Tears instantly spring to my eyes as he drops to one knee in front of me, grasping my left hand. My right hand flies to my mouth to cover the sob that’s trying to tear through my throat.

“Emma Grace Michaels, you are my reason for breathing. I cannot fathom a day without you in my life. You astound me every day, and even though I don’t know how it’s possible, I love you more each morning I wake up and see your beautiful face. I would be honored if you would be my wife. Will you marry me?”

I’m crying in earnest now, my shoulders shaking and tears falling down my cheeks. He opens a black velvet box that contains the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen. When I look back to his eyes, he’s looking straight at me, a smile on his face, but his eyes are worried. How could he possibly think that I wouldn’t say yes?

“I can’t think of a better way to spend my life. Yes, I’ll marry you.” I smile at him through my tears and see relief sweep across his face before he gives me the most blinding smile I’ve ever seen and stands to scoop me in his arms. His lips land on mine, and I kiss him with all of the love that I feel.

Rhett has been on cloud nine since last night. I can’t say that I haven’t been right there with him. We spent the day getting ready for everyone to come over. We decided that we would wait until now to tell them.

Rhett admitted that he asked Pops for his blessing, but Pops had no idea when Rhett was proposing. The only person he enlisted in his plan was Cam, because he was counting on her to keep me distracted for the afternoon.

Everyone got here a few hours ago, and we’ve been in the back yard grilling, playing games and eating everything in sight. The sun is starting to set, and everyone is laid back, relaxing. Laughter fills the air and I look around, completely in love with my life.

Rhett walks up behind me and slides his arms around my waist, leaning his head on my shoulder. “Good night so far, future wife?” he whispers in my ear.

“Second best night of my life, future husband.” I tilt my head to the left and give him a smile. He kisses my lips quickly and pulls away, squeezing my waist to let me know he’s ready.

“Hey, everybody. Listen up,” Rhett calls.

The chatter stops and everyone turns to look at us.

“We have an announcement to make,” he continues.

“Holy fuck! I’m gonna be an uncle!” Micah shouts. Rhett shoots him a glare and I burst into laughter.

“Not quite,” I say.

At the same time, Rhett says, “Not yet.”

My eyes go wide and I swing my head to look at him.

“What?” he asks innocently. I just shake my head and smile.

“So, last night, I asked Emma to marry me. Thank God she took pity on me and said yes.” Rhett smiles down at me and kisses my lips as everyone erupts into cheers and congratulations.

We spend the next hour accepting congratulations from everyone and talking about wedding plans that we haven’t even started making.

Linda makes her way over to me and pulls me into a hug. “You did good, Emma. That boy loves you something fierce.”

“I know. I love him just as much.”

“I know you do, sweetheart. I’m so happy for the both of you. Your momma would be so proud.”

My eyes well up with tears again as she releases me and pats my arm. I nod my head to her as Rhett wraps me up in a hug. I get myself together, hugging him back tightly.

“Told you I was gonna marry you one day,” he whispers in my ear.

My head whips back and my eyes fly to his.

“Yeah, I guess you did, didn’t you?” I beam a smile up at him and lean up to kiss his lips.

No way would I have known it then, but Rhett was right all along.  

Epilogue

15 Years Ago…

Emma Grace

Megan Masters is a pain in my butt. I really don’t like her at all. I can still feel the tears in my eyes and the heat in my cheeks from the embarrassment that she cast down on me at the end of school today. Linda asked me several times what happened, but I couldn’t tell her. I was too scared to talk, afraid I might start crying, and I’ve cried enough in front of Linda. Plus, she would get mad if she knew someone made fun of the haircut that she took me to get. I wasn’t a huge fan of it either—cut so short above my shoulders and with bangs straight across my forehead, I look ridiculous. I lie across the red beanbag in the treehouse and think about the day. I finally let myself cry. I figure if no one is here to see it, then it didn't really happen. Right?

As soon as the tears start falling, I hear racket outside. It sounds like someone ran into something. I can’t decide if I should get up to see what it is.

“M&M! Are you up there?” Dang it! Rhett sounds like he’s still too far off to be right below the treehouse, but the huffing and puffing tells me he’s running. I quickly wipe the tears off of my cheeks and sniffle my nose one more good time, wiping it with the sleeve of my shirt. Rhett is definitely not supposed to see me cry anymore.

“M&M?” I hear the stairs creak and he sounds like he’s right outside.

“Umm, hey, Rhett. I’m in here. C’mon in.” I make my voice sound as normal as possible.

Rhett crawls through the door and looks to the left, exactly where he knew I’d be. He smiles his super-bright smile at me, and I can’t help but grin back at him, even in my sucky mood. Rhett makes me smile all the time. His smiles are the best.

“Hi,” I greet him shyly.

“Hey,” he says back quietly before scooting next to me on the beanbag. I move over to allow him more room, and he shifts and rolls until he’s lying right next to me, his left arm against my right arm.

We sit in silence for a while, but it doesn’t make me nervous or uncomfortable. With Rhett, I could sit for a long, long time and not say anything. I hear it when he turns his head and I can feel him staring at me. I don’t turn my head to look at him. I’m too afraid he’ll know I’ve been crying, so I lay flat on my back and stare at the ceiling, trying to act as cool as possible.

“What she said was wrong, M&M. I think your hair is really pretty.” I let out a snort and roll my eyes. I roll my head to the side to face him, disbelief clear in my eyes.

“You don’t have to lie to make me feel better, Rhett. I don’t like my hair either. It’s okay. I’m not mad about that.”

“Well, I am! She shouldn’t have said those things. And your hair does look pretty, even if it isn’t long anymore.”

“It’s okay, Rhett. I’m not mad at her for picking on my hair. She was right; it looks ridiculous.” I look away so that I’m not looking in his eyes anymore. I’m still embarrassed. “She was right about everything.”

Rhett jolts up and spins to look down on me. “She was not, Emma Grace. That was all lies, and she had no right talking to you like that. I wish I would’ve been there.” He’s so mad. I can see it all over his face. Rhett wasn’t standing outside when Megan Masters started her show. In fact, he didn’t show up until I was getting into Linda’s car and Megan and her friends were cackling in laughter. I’m guessing that someone filled him in on what she said to me.

“Rhett, she was right. It’s obvious that I don’t have a mom anymore.”

“SHE SAID THAT!” he yells. I flinch backwards. I guess whoever told him what happened left out that part.

“Well, no. I mean, yeah, kinda.” I’m stumbling over my words. I don’t want to bring it up if he doesn’t know about it. Dang me and my big fat mouth!

“What did she say, M&M?”

“Nothing. She was just making fun of my hair, saying I looked like a boy instead of a girl. She said it didn’t matter anyways since I wasn’t that pretty to begin with.” I complete my answer with a shrug, not wanting to tell him anything else.

“I know all of that, M&M. What did she say about your mom?”

I let out a long breath, not wanting to do this. “She said it’s obvious I don’t have a real mom because my real mom would never let me get a bad haircut or dress in ugly clothes. She said it was a good thing my momma isn’t here to see how ugly I am.” I turn my head away from him quickly, because I can feel myself about to cry again. I am so tired of crying.

I can feel Rhett walking around the treehouse, back and forth. I know he’s mad, but he doesn’t need to be. She was right. I don’t have a real mom anymore, and I never will. It’s just something I have to deal with.

It doesn’t take long before Rhett is lying down next to me again. When I feel his hand reach for mine, I turn my palm over, and he links his fingers with mine and squeezes my hand. This is the first time Rhett has ever held my hand like this. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be Rhett’s girlfriend. Would we hold hands like this all of the time? Would he ever kiss me?

I would never, ever tell Rhett that I’ve thought about being his girlfriend, because I don’t want to lose my best friend. He’s really cute, and lots of the girls at school want to be Rhett’s girlfriend, but Rhett has told them all no, including Megan Masters. I think that’s why she doesn’t like me anymore…not that she ever really did.

“I wish your momma was here, Emma, ‘cause she would be so proud of you. You are really smart and really, really pretty. Megan Masters is wrong about that. She may be right about your mom not being here anymore, but that’s the only thing she’s right about.” He rolls his head to look at me, and I reluctantly turn my head to look at him too, his hand still tight in mine.

“Emma Grace Michaels, you are the prettiest girl I know. You are my best friend. An’ one day, I’m gonna marry you.” His eyes never leave mine, but I can feel mine go wide with shock.

I let out a short, loud laugh and shake my head. “Okay, Rhett. Whatever you say.”

“I’m serious, M&M. One day we’re going to grow up, and I am gonna ask you to marry me.”

I look back at him and smile.

“And one day, I might say yes.”

He smiles at me and nods his head before looking back to the ceiling. I keep my eyes on the side of his face for a little while, just looking at him. Eventually, I roll onto my back too.