Chapter 9 - The Proposal in the NICU
Leo’s first birthday was a small party at Lila’s house—just me, Ethan, Mia (Ethan’s seven-year-old daughter, who’d become Leo’s favorite person in the world), Lila, Maggie, and Elena. We had a cake shaped like a dinosaur, Leo smashed it all over his face, and Mia opened half his presents for him.
After everyone left, Ethan stayed to help me clean up. Leo was asleep in his high chair, covered in frosting, when Ethan grabbed my hand, pulling me down to sit on the couch next to him.
“I have something to ask you,” he said, reaching into his pocket. My heart stopped. He pulled out a small velvet box, opened it, and inside was a simple silver ring with a tiny diamond in the center. “Amelia, I love you. I love how fierce you are, how much you love Leo, how you fight for everyone even when it’s hard. I love that you make me want to be a better man, a better dad. Mia loves you like a mom. Leo looks at you like you hung the moon. I don’t want to do this life without you. Will you marry me?”
I didn’t even have to think about it. “Yes,” I said, crying, throwing my arms around his neck. “A thousand times yes.”
We got married three months later, in the NICU at St. Jude’s—now under new management, completely reformed, renamed The Boston Women and Children’s Hospital. We got married right in the bay where Leo had spent the first two weeks of his life, surrounded by the nurses and doctors who’d saved him. Mia was the flower girl, Leo was the ring bearer (he ate the ring bearer pillow, but no one minded). Lila was my maid of honor.
When the officiant asked if anyone objected, the whole room laughed. No one was going to object. Not ever again.
After the ceremony, we went back to Ethan’s house—the house we’d bought together, a big yellow colonial with a big backyard for the kids to play in. We were sitting on the porch, watching Mia chase Leo around the yard, when Ethan squeezed my hand.
“Do you ever think about it?” he asked. “That night. If things had gone differently.”
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I leaned my head on his shoulder, watching Leo trip over a rock and pop back up, laughing, his arm working perfectly. “All the time,” I said. “I used to think it was the worst thing that ever happened to me. But now? Now I think it was the best. Because if Cameron hadn’t done what he did, I never would have left him. I never would have gotten the job at Boston General. I never would have met you. I never would have this.”
I gestured at the yard, at Mia and Leo laughing, at the sun setting over the trees. “I spent seven years in a cage, Ethan. I just didn’t know the door was open. That night? It kicked the door down. And set me free.”
