Her eyes never leaving her granddaughter, Mom shook her head. “We canceled. We’re staying here for Thanksgiving.” She finally peeked up at me. “We’ll fly back when Kellan is well enough to leave with you.” She turned her smile to him. “Family sticks together.”
I wasn’t too surprised by Mom’s news, but it was wonderful to hear. Hopeful, I looked over at Gavin. He pointed over at Riley playing a video game and Hailey flipping through a gossip magazine. The photo of Kellan and I kissing in the graveyard was on the cover. “The kids are on break from school, and I already told work there was a family emergency and that I wasn’t coming back until Monday.” His warm smile outshone his son’s. “You’re stuck with me until then.”
Kellan grinned and looked down. “That means a lot to me. Thank you.”
From the expression on the D-Bags’ faces, I knew they were all sticking close to Kellan during the holiday, so I didn’t even ask. I wasn’t sure about Justin’s schedule, though; I couldn’t remember where his band was at. After I asked him, he told me, “We’ve got one more gig tonight, then we’re free ’til next week.” Leaning over, he asked Hailey and Riley, “Hey, you guys wanna see Avoiding Redemption tonight? Maybe hang backstage with some rock stars?” Gavin cleared his throat, and Justin snapped his head to him. “With your permission, of course.”
Since Hailey and Riley were begging and bouncing up and down in their seats, Gavin really didn’t have a choice but to say yes. Pointing at Hailey, he added, “You keep an eye on your brother. And no drinking.”
Hailey rolled her eyes, then turned to Kellan. “See what I have to put up with.”
Kellan gave her a crooked smile. “Yeah, he’s a real brute.” I raised my eyebrow at Kellan’s comment, but his expression was amused, not pained, so I felt okay to laugh.
While light chuckles went around the room, my gaze shifted to Denny and Abby. “What about you two? When are you heading back?”
Denny put his arm around Abby, pulling her in close. “Well, this is Abby’s first Thanksgiving in the states, and she wanted the full holiday experience. She even made me promise to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with her on television.” He rolled his eyes while Abby gave him a playful scowl. I chuckled at the annoyance on Denny’s face, but I knew better. He was probably looking forward to giving Abby a dream holiday, parade-watching included; there really wasn’t much Denny wouldn’t do for the person he loved.
Denny laughed at the look on Abby’s face, then told me, “We talked about it on the flight over, and we’ve decided to stay through the holiday.”
Abby patted his chest. Her engagement ring sparkled in the rays coming through the open window, matching her personality. “Denny’s taking me to see the parade in person!” She giggled, and I could tell she was truly overjoyed about watching enormous balloons traversing through the city above elaborately decorated floats.
From across the room, Griffin discretely coughed, “Wuss.” Anna giggled, but respectfully elbowed him. I thought defending Denny was pretty big of her, since he wasn’t her favorite person. I guess his showing up here had really impressed her.
Smiling that everyone was staying for a few days, I stood up. “Well, I have a proposition then.”
Walking around to Kellan’s bag of belongings on the nightstand, I rummaged through it until I found the zip-top bag holding his promise ring. Kellan watched me with curious eyes as I removed the small bag from the larger one. Opening it, I fished out his ring and showed it to him.
Gingerly sitting on the edge of his bed, I reached across him for his left hand; my shoulder ached a little with the movement, but it was already feeling much better. Heart hammering in nerves and excitement, I told him, in a low voice meant only for his ears, “Kellan Kyle, you are the love of my life. You have my heart from now until the end of forever. Will you please make me the happiest woman on earth and marry me . . . Thursday.”
After I slid the ring on his finger, Kellan cinched my hand. Eyes bright, he asked, “You want to get married on Thanksgiving . . . here?” He looked around the clinical room, the mechanical bed he’d only left a couple of times so far. It didn’t exactly scream romance.
Content with my decision, I nodded. “The where doesn’t matter . . . just the who. I can’t wait another month to officially marry you, and what better way could we celebrate a day of giving thanks than by becoming husband and wife?” I indicated the people in the room staring at us. “The most important people in our lives are already here.” I frowned. “Except Jenny and the girls. We’ll just have to fly them back out to us. They should really be here for this.”
Evan was leaning against a wall, his face bursting with uncontainable happiness. “Not a problem. I’ll have Jujube gather the girls and head on over. She wouldn’t want to miss this.” He twisted his lips. “And I would never hear the end of it if she did.”