Page 128 of Reckless Love

I work on this New Year’s Eve plan and have a restaurant reserved for the evening. The guys are all in; each one has a job. Weston is in charge of inviting everyone. Penn is in charge of getting the menu in order. Bowie is in charge of getting security lined up. I don’t think Carrie or anyone else will cause any trouble, but I want to be on the safe side. Brock hasn’t been a problem, but again, security knows to keep an eye out for him. Henley is in charge of the flowers and decorations—well, Tru and Bree are actually working on that more, but he’s helping deliver all of it. My parents are bringing Levi and watching him for the night so we can stay out late.

I invited Elle’s parents too, but I haven’t heard back from them yet.

Earlier in the afternoon on New Year’s Eve, I tell Elle I’m going to run an errand and I go to her parents’ house. Ihad called earlier to set this up and knew that unless they were busy, they were too courteous to say no.

Once I get to the house, I’m greeted warmly and it already feels better than the last time. I’m glad fucking Bernard isn’t around.

“Thanks for calling,” Doug says. He looks around and his shoulders drop a little. “Oh, Elle’s not with you.”

“No, sir, she’s not. I wanted to speak with you and Louisa alone.”

“I was hoping she would be. I’d like to talk to her. I’ve thought a lot about what you said last week, and you’re right. How can I preach love and forgiveness if I’m not loving my own daughter the way I should? And I forgive her for doing—well, you know in my eyes, what she’s doing is a sin, and I forgive her for that.”

“But she’s not sinning against you. If what she’s doing is a sin at all, she’s sinning against God, not you, so it’s really between her and God.”

He points at me. “Maybe you should be the preacher,” he says, laughing sheepishly. “You make a good point.”

“I’ll let you keep to the sermons,” I tell him, laughing.

We walk back to his study and Louisa pokes her head in the door to say hello.

“Hi, Louisa. I’d really like to talk to you both about Elle and me,” I pause and take a deep breath.

I really don’t want to botch this.

Louisa comes in and sits down and both of them look at me, waiting.

“I love Elle. Completely. I’minlove with her…and have been since the day I met her, and that’s never stopped. I’ve made mistakes. I should have let her know right away how I felt, but we had this pact going where we would not cross that line of friendship because it meant so much to us. I tried to hold to that and didn’t do such a good job in my agony of not being with her the way I wanted to be. I should’ve just held on and waited for her.” I lean forward. “And then Carrie got pregnant, and I knew I couldn’t mess around like that again. I wasn’t sure Elle and I would ever be on the same page, but there’s no one else I want.”

I take another deep breath and can’t tell from their expressions how they’re taking this.

“Come to find out, she loves me back. She has all along too, which is just fu—flipping fantastic. And now that we’re finally here, I don’t want to waste any time…I want to marry her.” Another deep breath. “But I would love your blessing. I know that it means something to Elle to have your blessing, and therefore, it means something to me too. I hope you’ll give it and maybe even be happy for us when we get married…if she’ll have me.” I wipe my forehead because I’m suddenly sweating like I’m in a goddamn sauna. “I kind of think she’ll say yes,” I finish quietly.

No one says anything at first. And then I hear Louisa sniffling. She reaches over to grab a tissue and wipes her face. Doug comes around to the other side of his desk and leans on it in front of me.

“I appreciate you coming and talking to us,” he says. “You guys are old enough to not need our permission by any means, but it means a lot that you want our blessing, and I’m giving it to you now.” He looks at his wife and she nods. “We’re giving it to you. I know we’ve pushed another agenda on Elle and it’s time that we stopped doing that. If she says yes to you, we will support it one hundred percent.”

“Thank you, sir. That means so much.” I stand up and shake his hand and then move toward Louisa.

She stands up and hugs me. “Thank you, Rhodes,” shesays. “I’m sorry things have been strained between us. We want to be part of your life with Elle.”

“Thank you. You’re invited to Rose & Thorn tonight. I’ve rented out the place and I’m asking her to marry me there with our family and friends present. I would love for you to be part of it.”

“We'll be there,” Doug says.

I hang around a little longer, talking football with Doug. When I head home, relief and adrenaline courses through me.

I’m ready.

And I’m stillready when we pull into the parking lot of Rose & Thorn. According to the group thread, everyone’s already here as planned. Elle looks too gorgeous for words in her little black dress, as I help her out of the SUV.

But I get hit with a case of extreme nerves.

I didn’t think I was capable of this feeling anymore, but when it comes to Elle, I just always want to get it right.

“Oh my goodness, everyone's here!” Elle says as we walk inside.

She hugs the girls and when she realizes her parents are here too, she stops and turns to look at me, eyes wide.