by Нора Робертс
The hell with working it out, thinking it through.
“I’ve got a damn good house, too. You should be in it with me. Build in it with me, and come back to it with me, depend on it—and on me.”
“You want me to move in with you?”
He’d been working on it, he thought, and this wasn’t the direction he’d planned on. Screw it, he decided. All or nothing.
“I want you to marry me.”
“Oh, Jesus.” After a couple hitching breaths, she looked down. “I can’t feel my feet.”
“Trust you to have the most frustrating reaction.”
“I’m sorry. Just give me a minute.”
“No. Damn it. No. It’s not about spine. It’s about love and faith, and hope, I guess. I watched my brother marry Clare, and I knew I wanted that. I’ve always wanted it, but I thought, sure, eventually. Eventually I’d settle in, settle down, make a family. It’s eventually, Avery, because the other thing I know is eventually never came until you. It’s always been you. My first girlfriend.”
“I need to sit down a minute.”
She did, right on the floor. She clutched the key around her neck. Locks, she thought, had to be opened. And he was wrong; it did take spine. But she was no wimp.
“What would you feel if I said no, I didn’t want any of that?”
He crouched down, looked her dead in the eye again. “You’d break my heart.”
“I’d never do that.”
“You’ll marry me to spare my feelings?”
“I love you enough to do just that. You make my heart flutter, Owen. You always did. I got used to it—and maybe getting used to it I didn’t value it enough. When we started to be with each other, it was more than a flutter. Something more, and I didn’t know what to do with it. No one else ever made me feel the way you did—do. I thought something was missing in me because I couldn’t feel enough. But the only thing missing was none of them were you.”
He sat down across from her. “Now nothing’s missing, for either of us. Say yes.”
“Just wait. What I feel . . .” It lit inside her, all at once. “God, it’s like the stone heart. Was she trying to show me? It’s so strong, so solid, so enduring. I never thought you’d feel it for me, so I just couldn’t open that place and let it come out. And it does take spine.” She dashed a tear away. “I just had to find mine.”
He took her hand. “I’m in love with you, Avery. Say yes.”
“I’ll probably suck at marriage.”
“That’ll be my problem, won’t it?”
She looked at his face, so familiar, so precious to her. No, she thought, nothing was missing for either of them. “I need my purse.”
“Now?”
“I really do.”
“Jesus, break the moment much?” Griping, he pushed up, grabbed it off the counter, dropped it in her lap.
And stared when she pulled out the pink plastic ring.
She offered it to him. “I want to be your problem, Owen, for the rest of my life.”
“You kept it,” he murmured. Grinning, he started to slide the ring on her finger, but she closed her hand. “Don’t mess with me, Avery. Say yes.”
“Just wait. I don’t have Clare’s—what’s the word?—equanimity, or Hope’s efficiency.”
“Am I asking either of them to marry me?”
“No, and you’d better not. I don’t have your patience, and thank God you’ve got it. I’ll try it a lot—but you already know that.”
“I already do. Say yes.”
“I love you. You’re my friend, my lover, my match.” She smiled now, kissed his cheek. “My first boyfriend is going to be my last boyfriend. Yes.” She held out her hand for the ring. “Absolutely, definitely yes.”
He slid it on. “It fits. Mostly.”
“It was way too big the first time. Looks like it works now.” She climbed into his lap.
“Took you long enough.”
“From where I’m sitting, it took exactly long enough.” She held out her hand, wiggled her fingers. Not sad now. Just happy.
“I’ll get you a real one.” He took her hand, kissed her finger above the pink plastic heart. “You know, a diamond or whatever you want.”
“This is a real one—but I’ll take the diamond. I’ll take you, Owen, and thank God you’ll take me.”
He wrapped her tight and hard. “Avery.” Emotion swamped him as he took her lips. His eventually, he thought, right here in his arms. “Here we are.”
“You and me,” she murmured. “I know what Clare meant now.”
“About what?”
“How she felt right before the wedding. She said she didn’t feel nervous. She felt clear-eyed.” She drew back, framed his face. “So do I. Steady and sure. You’re my eventually, too. Let’s go home, and get started on building.”
He helped her up, and together they switched off lights, locked doors, and walked out hand in hand.
She thought of the key around her neck, and the heart stone she still carried in her bag. And the sweet, silly gum-ball ring on her finger.
Symbols, all of them—of unlocked places, and lasting love.
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