Hold Me

by Alexa Verde

  After texting her his thanks, he returned to hammering nails into the roof.

  Doubt wormed inside him, and the hammer stilled in the air for a moment.

  What if all this was too much for Aileen? But he knew what was in his heart. He’d even move to Portland to be with her, though that would make his life much more difficult, job-wise, friends-wise, and so on. He’d much rather stay in Chapel Cove, but not if it meant losing Aileen again.

  Deep in thought, he moved to a different spot. Somehow, his foot slipped, and he lost his footing.

  No!

  His arms flailed as he tried to regain his balance, and his heart thundered in his ears.

  Chapter Nineteen

  AILEEN WAS showing Jonah how to work the cash register as Mrs. MacPherson paid for cherry turnovers—Aileen had finally succumbed to his begging to let him work after school and on Saturday—when premonition made her heart dip.

  As if…

  As if something had happened to Roman.

  Everything froze inside her. This was ridiculous, really, but then she tried to imagine her life without him again, and… couldn’t. It was too painful.

  “Mom, are you okay?” Jonah’s voice filtered through her mental fog.

  “Yes.” She found her voice, but it sounded so weak she barely recognized it herself.

  Mrs. MacPherson, clutching her cherry turnovers, stepped forward. “Girl, you look like you’re about to faint.”

  “I just thought of something.” The words tumbled out. “How my life would be again without Roman, and I–I just can’t. I love him too much. I want to marry him. I want to spend the rest of my life with him.”

  Violet entered the store, wearing an eggplant-hued dress and matching shoes. “Oh, this is interesting. Looks like I came in just in time.”

  In other times, Aileen would’ve cringed. The entire town would know her secret. But now she didn’t care.

  Mrs. MacPherson patted her hand. “Then maybe you should tell him.”

  Aileen froze again. Put herself on the spot? “What if he feels differently?”

  Violet sighed. “I think everybody in Chapel Cove, with the possible exception of children under five and dogs and cats, knows that Roman Vela loves you. Go find your man and tell him, girl. No one will die if you close early today.”

  Jonah leaned forward. “I think it’s a little soon for that.”

  Aileen looked around. “Yes, you’re right. It’s premature. What was I thinking?”

  “I meant it’s about forty minutes early. It’s not dark yet. But oh well, good enough.”

  Huh? She gawked at her son. “What do you mean?”

  Two customers entered the store, saving Jonah from answering. Violet ordered a slice of strawberry cheesecake and coffee and joined Mrs. MacPherson at the table. While Aileen served pumpkin muffins to the young couple, her mind drifted.

  All her life, she worried about things, even the things—no, especially the things—that hadn’t happened yet and might never happen. But joy filled her over how much Mrs. MacPherson and Violet enjoyed her pastries and how beautiful and welcoming her store was.

  Roman said he wanted to see her in the evening, and her heart beat erratically just at the thought of seeing him again, being near him, and maybe, just maybe repeating the kiss. Her cheeks heated up, and she pushed the thoughts away.

  Jonah worked the cash register with confidence, and by the way he’d talked about Shannon nonstop any chance he got, things were going great there, too.

  “Are you happy in Chapel Cove, Jonah?” She leaned to him as she handed a plate with a slice of peach cobbler to another customer.

  His face lit up. “I love it here. I am very happy. And I want you to be happy, too. And that was why I did what I did today.”

  While his answer made her heart swell, suspicion crawled inside it. “What did you do?”

  “Oh, nothing.” He gestured at the door. “Look, we have another customer. Boy, this place is busy!”

  Lord, what should I do?

  As Aileen looked around, she knew her answer. This was the place where she wanted to be. This was who she wanted to be. This was what God meant for her. And her doubts evaporated like water on the stove.

  And just like in her teens, she knew exactly the man she wanted to spend her life with. Even after forty, she still hoped to have many years they could enjoy together.

  Maybe people were right, and life really began at forty.

  And if God was leading her, she needed to trust God on this. To trust God on everything.

  She couldn’t follow her own doubts and insecurities any longer.

  “I’m going to drive to Roman’s place and ask him to marry me.” Who said that? Aileen looked around. Did she just say that?

  Jonah’s jaw dropped. “Mom, you’re going to do what?”

  Violet leaped to her feet surprisingly fast for her age. “I’m driving there, too. I’m not missing this.”

  Mrs. MacPherson rose a bit slower and did a fist pump. “Go get your man.” Seemed she and Violet thought the same.

  But the store…

  Mrs. MacPherson marched to the door and turned the sign to Closed. “It’s near enough to closing time, anyway.”

  If you counted over an hour as “near enough”.

  Jonah locked the entrance door and helped to run up the register while Mrs. MacPherson and Violet did a quick cleanup. Then they left the store, and she locked the door.

  “Thank you for helping me.” She turned to Mrs. MacPherson and Violet.

  “I think we’ll make a good team with your son here.” Mrs. MacPherson waved her off. “And no need to thank me. We might be a family soon. Your father and I are not going to wait twenty-two years before giving each other a chance.” She placed veiny hands on her hips. “We don’t have that kind of time.”

  Aileen didn’t have the opportunity to think about having Mrs. MacPherson as a stepmom as they all hurried to the parking lot.

  “Um, one correction, though,” Jonah said. “I just texted Mr. Roman, and he’s still at our place.”

  Aileen stopped, then resumed her pace. “Why?”

  “I saw a few shingles missing on the roof and asked him to check it.” Jonah’s voice rang just a little high, like the other times he hadn’t told her the entire truth. But why would he be lying?

  “Shouldn’t you have asked me first?” She clicked on the fob to unlock her car.

  “Oops.” He spread his hands, then climbed inside her sedan.

  Her heart beat fast as she turned the key in the ignition and drove off. She glanced in the rearview mirror. Mrs. MacPherson’s forest-green sedan and Violet’s purple car followed. She suppressed a grimace. She wanted to have this important conversation without witnesses.

  But she might lose her resolve later, so she needed to do this.

  “Oh great. It’s getting darker now.” Relief coated Jonah’s voice.

  Her son continued talking in riddles.

  She blinked as she looked at him. “Why would that be great?”

  His nose was in his phone. “What? Huh? What would be great?”

  He was probably texting somebody on his phone and talking out loud. She sighed.

  She reached her place much faster than she usually did. Strangely, she didn’t feel the usual tiredness, adrenaline pumping blood fast inside her.

  Her mind barely registered Mrs. MacPherson and Violet parking on the curb. Her neighbors were on their swings on the front porch. Her resolve nearly dissipated. Should she just say hi to Roman and go inside the house?

  Aileen squared her shoulders and marched to the house. “Roman, I need to talk to you.”

  “Over here!” He replied from the other side of the roof. “I’m almost done.”

  Well, maybe it was better to say this without looking at him. She took a deep breath. “I love you. And… will you marry me?”

  Everything inside her stilled. What was she doing? Well, she was going to say this, but now she could b
arely believe she said the actual words.

  “What?” Roman’s words were followed by some noise. A tumble?

  “She asked you to marry her!” A chorus of voices said under Violet’s obvious guidance. When did all her neighbors get here?

  Panic that Roman might’ve fallen off the roof shot through her, so she didn’t even care she’d made a public spectacle out of herself when in previous times she’d be petrified.

  Heart in her throat, she rushed around the house.

  “Dear Heavenly Father, please keep Roman safe. Please help Roman to… not be hurt. I ask this in the holy name of Your beloved Son, Jesus, amen,” she gabbled out loud as she ran.

  “Amen,” Kristina echoed somewhere near her.

  When Aileen glanced at her, Kristina shrugged, sprinting alongside her. “I was, um, nearby and heard your proposal. And then I heard something—I hope not somebody!—tumbling off the roof.”

  “Lord, please, please, please help Roman be okay. Please! I love him so much. I will always, always love him.” Aileen nearly screamed as she rounded the corner.

  Roman, hanging in the safety equipment, cleared his throat. “The feeling is mutual. I love you so much. I just never imagined saying it hanging upside down.”

  Her heart overwhelmed, she rushed to him and did her best to help him to unstrap and get to the ground. Then she covered his face in kisses. “You’re alive. You’re alive! You’re okay. Please tell me you’re okay?”

  “I like this reaction.” He grinned. “Maybe I should fall off the roof more often.”

  She swatted at him as she took in his dear face. “Don’t even say such things! You… didn’t get hurt, did you?”

  “No.” He hugged her gently. “I’m grateful to the Lord for that. I’ve never fallen off a roof before, and today, I nearly did it twice. The first time, I managed to stay upright. The second time, I was so shocked you proposed that I slipped and tumbled down. Thankfully, it all ended well. I could’ve had brain trauma.”

  She winced as she eased out of his embrace to look into his eyes. “I don’t even want to imagine that.”

  He gazed down at her. “This is not the way I imagined our evening would start, but hearing you ask me to marry you was priceless.”

  “I agree!” Violet, Jonah, Nai, Reese, and Mrs. MacPherson said in unison.

  Huh? When had Reese and Nai joined the small crowd on the lawn?

  She swallowed. “You still didn’t answer.”

  What… What if he didn’t want to marry her any longer? What if she’d ruined all her chances with him?

  “First, I wanted to show you this.” He clicked something in his pocket.

  The lights on the roof lit up, spelling in huge letters I Love You. Then the same words illuminated her fence, simultaneously lighting up something inside her soul.

  “Oh, Roman! You shouldn’t have!” She threw her arms around his neck. Euphoria filled every cell in her body. “Well, you already heard that I love you, too. I love you so much!”

  “My sister said I should spell it out that I love you, and I decided she was right.”

  “Of course, I was right. But that’s not all. Let’s go inside.” Kristina gestured to the entrance.

  Aileen forced herself to ease out of his embrace. What was waiting for her inside?

  As she entered the house, she gasped. The wall to her right was covered in their pictures, also spelling I Love You in large block letters.

  “Follow the arrows,” he whispered to her, his breath caressing her cheek.

  So she did. The first arrow led to the coffee table with a small saucer holding a chocolate cupcake.

  “This was the first dessert you ever gave me. I’ve never tasted anything better in my entire life.” He leaned closer. “Except for your lips several years later.”

  Warmth rose inside her. “You still remember.”

  “Of course.” He gestured to the second arrow.

  From a scratched side oak table, she picked up a single rose and breathed in its aroma. The rose had an exquisite color, close to marmalade with light streaks, and her heart made a strange movement in her chest. “The first flower you gave me. Well, one exactly like that.”

  “It took me a while to find the rose that matched your hair as much as I wanted it to.”

  And at that time, a single rose had been all he could afford, but she hadn’t minded in the least.

  Following more arrows, she moved further, feeling lighter and even happier than before. All the care he took to do this!

  Spotting a basket with apples on the floor, she smiled. “Apples that you stole for me so I could make apple fritters.”

  The rose’s sweet perfume mingled with an enticing aroma coming from the dining room where the table waited, set up for two.

  “I can’t take credit for the food. Kristina made it.” He showed her to the table. “But I want you to see a few more things first.”

  Her brows shot up. There were more? Was it… Was it what she hoped for?

  The next arrow led to… a smiling Nai. Nai handed her a beautifully carved jewelry box with Aileen’s initials on it.

  “Thank you.” Aileen accepted the box and looked up at Roman, her heart expanding even more with gratitude and love. “You carved a similar box for me when we were sixteen.”

  “Open it.” His voice was husky. Was he nervous?

  She opened the box and stared at the paper heart with his name, stifling just a tiny sting of disappointment. It wasn’t a ring.

  “You had my heart then. And you still have it now.” Emotion darkened his eyes.

  “Ditto.” Happy tears sprang to her eyes.

  “Mom, don’t cry. And you didn’t even see it all.” Jonah stepped to her.

  “There’s more?” She looked around.

  Reese walked to her, holding Dawg on a leash. He was wearing a red coat with embroidered white letters—Marry Me.

  Roman took her hand and led her to the kitchen. Beside a few appliances she’d always wanted but couldn’t afford, the same words—Marry Me—were spelled by their numerous pictures on the wall.

  Her heart overflowed with happiness when he led her to the living room.

  Once they joined the others, Roman turned to her son. “Jonah? Aren’t you forgetting something?”

  Jonah slapped himself on the forehead. “Oh yes!” He rushed to the tank, got Speedy out, returned, then fished a black velvet box out of his pocket and placed it on the turtle’s shell.

  Roman dropped on one knee. “Aileen McKenzie, love of my life, will you make me the happiest man alive? Will you marry me?”

  Jonah cleared his throat. “Just for your information, Dawg, Speedy, and I took a vote, and we all voted yes.”

  Kristina laughed. “I’m voting yes, too.”

  Nai, Reese, Mrs. MacPherson, Violet, and Aileen’s neighbors joined in. All these people crowding her small house, witnessing this treasured moment, and she didn’t care. All that mattered was that this was really happening at last.

  “If I have to move to Portland so you can have your dream job, I’m willing to do that.” So much love and kindness shone in his eyes that Aileen nearly swooned.

  “I declined the job offer today,” she interrupted him. “You’re my dream. Aileen’s Pastries that would’ve never happened without your generosity is my dream. Jonah finally having a great father is my dream. I’m staying in Chapel Cove. It’s where I should be. I thought a lot on the way here. Since I found myself responsible for my family’s well-being at a young age, I let my worries affect my life. I know now that there are no guarantees in life, but we need to surrender our worries to the Lord. Then I’ll have the opportunity to be happy again.”

  Kristina coughed a little. “That sounds awesome, but I think you forgot something. Like answering my brother’s question.”

  “Oh, Roman. Of course, I’ll marry you. I can’t wait to marry you!”

  When he got up and embraced her and people clapped around them, she knew she’d fi
nally found her way home.

  For the next amazing moments, he held her close. In his arms—this was where she belonged. Where she was deliriously happy. Then he lifted her and whirled her around as more applause and congratulations erupted around them.

  This was what happened when she finally forgave herself for her own mistakes and for those of others, when she let God guide her instead of feeling responsible for everything around her, instead of worrying about things that didn’t even happen.

  When she took a leap of faith.

  She couldn’t wish for better.

  Epilogue

  One and a half months later

  “I CAN’T believe I’m getting married in two weeks.” Aileen took a sip of her latte at her store, after saying grace, of course, as she shared an afternoon tea party—or coffee party in this case—with her friends. All except Julia, home with her new adopted baby.

  She sent a grateful glance at Jonah, who together with Shannon was working the counter, as they did now most Saturdays. He’d been way more help than she’d expected and had even helped her bake her signature chocolate cake. Making several of those cakes a day had made a lot of people happy.

  Kristina helped herself to her favorite chocolate cupcakes. She wasn’t showing yet, but she was already wearing a loose white maternity-styled sweater over her long silver-gray flowing skirt and black boots. “Are you sure about the winter wedding?” She gestured to the dusting of snow outside the window. “Not much chance for an outside wedding in weather like that. Can you believe it’s a new year already?”

  Aileen didn’t let such details affect her happy mood as she stared at the engagement ring with a large diamond sparkling on her finger. According to Roman, Jonah and Shannon had assisted in choosing the ring. But what really mattered was that she was finally Roman’s fiancée. “I’d rather have a spring wedding, but I can’t wait that long. Neither can Roman.”

  Nai chuckled over coffee. “Imagine that.”

  “Frankly, I’d have married him on the nearest date we could get at church, but Dad suggested a double wedding since he’s about to marry Mrs. MacPherson, soon to become Mrs. McKenzie. And while Mrs. MacPherson seemed eager to get married again at first, she then had cold feet.”