| |
Two years later
Jonah
I snuck into the back of the press corps room at the United Nations beside Dillon. “I didn’t think you were going to make it,” Dillon hissed under his breath.
“I almost didn’t. We were the last plane to take off from Paris,” I whispered back. The freak snowstorm had almost ruined all of this.
Up at the podium, Elle was holding court with the world’s leaders and press corps. My heart swelled with pride, just like it did every time I saw her in her element. Two years ago, I’d thought we were over, but she’d taken three months to find herself in the chaos that had been her life. Since then, she’d had a poise and self-assurance like she’d never had before, and even more amazing, she hadn’t had a panic attack since.
I glanced around the crowded room. If I had to speak in front of groups like this, I would be in a corner hyperventilating. My girl was pretty amazing.
She’d needed those three months to prove something to herself. While I’d resented it at the time, I could look back on it now and see that she’d been right in taking it.
The spring after that break, she’d graduated from college and went to work for EDAC, where she’d become a human rights voice that people sat up and listened to.
If she hadn’t taken that time, I don’t think she would have learned how to handle the publicity she now generated on a daily basis for the people living in poverty throughout the world. She’d learned that invoking her mother’s name to get the right people to listen to her wasn’t a bad thing. She’d learned how to handle the press like a pro. She’d learned how to reach out to others who had more expertise than her and find the right help for the right place.
My girl was a powerhouse, and tonight, I hoped to get her to agree to become my wife.
Because the paparazzi still had a fascination with the two of us, there were always one or two questions of a personal nature about us at this type of thing. Yes, even here at the United Nations.
Tonight, I planned to take advantage of that.
“Are you ready?” Dillon asked.
“I was ready two years ago.”
Luckily, New Mexico Protectors handled all her security throughout the world, so she wouldn’t question any of our presence here. And my whole team was here to support me and my quest to make her my wife...along with a couple of reporters that I’d planted within the press.
She’d begun to take questions, and I wiped my hands on my jeans. This was it.
A reporter asked, “Ms. Wilcox, rumors have run rampant that while you’re in Europe, you and Jonah Sutton plan to get married in Paris. Do you have anything to say about that?”
She laughed just like she did every time someone asked a question like that. “Well, since he hasn’t asked me yet, I’m thinking that’s probably not going to happen this trip.”
She took a couple more questions about the UN initiative, answering like the pro she was before she motioned to another one of my planted reporters.
“If he asked you, would you be open to a quick wedding?”
She gave him a small puzzled smile and a quick shake of her head. “I wouldn’t ever answer a question like that based on conjecture. Unfortunately, my boyfriend is working in New York this week, so I can pretty much guarantee that won’t happen.”
My team stepped aside in a wave of noise that drew everyone’s attention. I took a deep breath and wiped my sweaty palms down my pants. “But what if he was here and had a question to ask?” I asked her.
“Jonah?” Her voice shook.
We hadn’t seen one another in almost two weeks because of our clashing schedules. I had also been trying to get everything set up in New Mexico so I could leave for Paris, and we could get married. At least, that was the plan if she said yes.
I smiled at her. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Her eyes glimmered. “I think that’s because you asked the wrong one.”
My girl was quick.
I dropped to one knee, and everyone in the room gasped. Her gasp rang out the loudest, because she stood in front of the bank of microphones.
I smiled at her, my heart filled with so much emotion, but at the forefront of it all was my unending love and passion for this incredible woman. “Elle Wilcox, I love you with all my heart and want to have the privilege of claiming you as my wife. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
Tears streamed down her face, and she nodded. “Yes!” She stepped off the podium and dashed over to me.
I stood and swept her up in my arms. Right where she belonged. Always.
“You know,” she whispered in my ear. “You just guaranteed that our wedding is going to be a circus.”
I leaned back and winked at her. “Darling, I learned a long time ago to embrace the chaos. Besides, you’re the best ring master around. We got this!”
THE END