Love Again ✔

30. This Is Forever

I have a shit eating grin on my face now. "I want to marry her, Ty."

"My baby boy is getting married!" Mom screams again and I let my head fall back with a sigh.

"What do you need?" Mark asks. "We have a few hours before she gets back from the mall. We'll help prepare everything."

"Well, firstly, I'm gonna have to talk to her father." I visibly shudder. "If that goes well, then I'm gonna need to buy a ring."

"What can we do?" Sofia asks and I smile at her.

"Can you prepare the backyard? I want it to be romantic. After dinnner, before Ma's cake, I wanna get down on one knee and ask her."

"Aww!" Charlotte hugs me again, making me grin even wider. I live my family to death, even if they can be too overdramatic sometimes. I want nothing more than to start another family with my one true love.

"We'll handle the backyard." Peter nods his head with a grin, his hand finding Sofia's.

"We'll handle the dinner menu and the cake." Charlotte states, finally letting go of me and excitedly grabbing her husband.

"Oh, fuck. I'm on cooking duty." Mark groans in annoyance and I chuckle.

"And I, my friend," Tyler grins at me, his eyes shining with a happiness I haven't seen in a while. "am going ring shopping with the groom."

"I'm gonna cry." Ma sniffles and both Tyler and I hug her quickly.

"Don't cry, Ma." We state in unison, then glare at each other.

She giggles, wiping her cheeks. "Happy tears, my boys. Happy tears."

I drop a quick kiss to her forehead before I step back. "Now I need to talk to her father. Wish me luck."

"He better say yes." Tyler warns again and I chuckle with a nod, before turning around and walking to dad's office where he and Eddie are.

Clearing the nervous lump out of my throat, I carefully knock in the door before stepping inside.

Both heads turn to me and I notice Eddie's smile falling into a poker face.

"Come on in, my son." Dad chuckles, shaking his head at Eddie's not so well-hidden lack of enthusiasm at my presence.

"I wanted to talk to the both of you." I state, a nervous wreck as I take a seat on the chair between them.

"Is everything alright?" Dad asks, resting his back against the chair.

Eddie, however, scoots forward with worry painted across his face. "Does my daughter wish to leave? I can take her back to school. She can come home with us if she wants."

I quickly shake my head. "No, Ella is okay. She's still at the mall."

He sighs, visibly relaxing and I clear my throat again. Shit, I'm fucking terrified.

"What is it, son? You look quite nervous." My father observes and I give him a tight smile.

"Alright. Here it goes." I swallow, shifting a little on my chair before meeting Eddie's eyes. "I love your daughter very much."

He curls his upper lip in disgust and dad chuckles again. "Yeah, I've got that."

"I'm sorry for everything that happened yesterday." I continue, "but I promise you and her that I will take better care of her. I will love her like she deserves to be loved."

"Okay?" He raises an eyebrow at me, well aware that I still have more to say, and I shift in my seat again because I feel like an idiot.

"I've been in love with Ella for a long while. I've been her friend for a few months, and her boyfriend for a lot less, but I love her more than I ever thought I could love a person. I want nothing but to make her happy and keep her safe. When I shoved my way into her life, I didn't plan on her reciprocating my feelings. I only wanted to help her get back to the person she once was. And now I'm proud to say, that she's become even better. She needed to figure out a way to love herself again. To see that she's worthy of that love, and I'm fucking honored that I was the one to show her that." I pour my heart out, every word a piece of me, because no matter how fast our story has evolved, it still seems like a fucking long road we've walked together.