A family affair! The Bachelorette alum JJ Lane found the perfect way to make his daughter, Gemma, feel special while he proposed to former NFL cheerleader Kayla Hughes.
“[Gemma] put her hand around my shoulder as I was down on one knee, so she was just so, so thrilled,” Lane, 36, exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, February 5. “I wouldn’t have had it any other way. You know, we’re bringing someone else into our family and so, for us, it’s so important to make sure that she was part of that whole process and she was able to feel part of that memory and feel she kind of got to be there in the action.”
The investment banker, who previously vied for Kaitlyn Bristowe’s heart on season 11 of the ABC dating show, had been planning his proposal to Hughes for nearly four months. He popped the question while the couple were vacationing in Hawaii with his parents and Gemma, who he shares with ex-wife Heather.
“To be honest, up until 20 minutes, 30 minutes before, I wasn’t even remotely nervous. I was just really excited to have it done,” admitted Lane, who started dating the brunette beauty in August 2017. “But in that last 30 minutes, I think I was nervous just to do the act, getting on my knee with my parents watching, my daughter’s there. It’s such a public display and I think that’s what started getting men nervous a little bit, when I started thinking about the magnitude of it.”
He added: “But as soon as I got down on one knee, the pressure went away and she looked… I mean, she immediately started crying. I’ll never forget that look of tears. It only lasted for three or four seconds and then it turned into ‘yes’ and smiles.”
Lane knows that Hughes is his perfect match. “I got really lucky that Kayla came into my life. She’s amazing,” he gushed. “We see eye-to-eye on kind of all of the major parenting issues or politics or religion … so it makes it a lot easier.”
The pair are excited to expand their family of three after walking down the aisle. “I’m extremely happy with my daughter and I could have lived with the rest of my life with just me and her, but now that I have someone else there, I’d love to start another family with Kayla. I’d love to make Gemma a big sister,” the investment banker raved. “She’s a great little leader and so thoughtful and so caring, and I can see her being just, like, the world’s best big sister. So it will be a lot of fun when that finally happens.”
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