“Yes, but while I might earn enough money, I wouldn’t have enough time for the girls. You know how it is.” Hannah had thought this through.
“That kind of power, that lifestyle can be hard to give up…”
“You did,” Hannah said. “You ran the family business and just walked away.”
“Can this be enough for you, Hannah? Can you be happy here, with me?” He had to be sure.
Hannah rolled her eyes. “I don’t know. There would be so many demands of me…”
Gavin sat up. “How do you figure?”
Hannah sat and faced him. “You’re helpless. You couldn’t do this without me. Hell, you have a history of failure, even.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
No one had ever suggested he might be a failure before. “How do you figure?” He was practically spluttering as he struggled to control his anger.
“Look. You couldn’t even complete your revenge plot against a helpless woman. I’m taking a huge risk sticking around.” She smirked at him.
And for the first time the entire conversation, Gavin realized she was teasing him. He started to laugh but decided instead to keep playing along. “Well, you have a bit of a history of running off and falling off the grid. How do I know I can count on you?”
“I guess that’s just the risk you’ll have to take,” Hannah said with a raised eyebrow.
“I don’t know. I think I’d feel better if we had some kind of agreement.” He watched her roll her eyes so hard that her entire head bobbed. “I mean…I want strings, lots of them. Or maybe in our case, it would be more fitting to have rope.” And with that, he held open his hand.
Hannah leaned over and clapped a hand over her mouth. “What is this?” She asked as she picked up the ring.
It was custom made, that was for sure. The platinum ring was designed to look like a Flemish knot. And where the ropes crossed, there was a diamond. A big, serious, sparkling diamond.
Gavin looked at her seriously. “Hannah, you remember what I told you about the Flemish knot? The beauty of it is that it can be used again and again. It doesn’t have to be cut out. You don’t have to start over. You can simply fix the positioning, fix the location. And it holds, Hannah. Man, do these knots hold.”
He took the ring from her and slid it onto her finger. It fit perfectly. It looked stunning. And Hannah’s eyes were tearing up.
“Will you say it, Hannah?” He looked at her, full of hope and love.
“You only have to ask.” She stared at him, then the ring, then him.
“Please marry me?” He kissed her hand.
“Okay, but only because you asked so nicely.” They embraced once more.
It was nearly dawn, but neither one of them were sleepy. They would be paying for this later, but for now, they were running on adrenaline. Gavin passed Hannah one of his shirts and pulled on some shorts. “Let’s go watch the sunrise.”
They went topside and snuggled together. “Oh, I almost forgot.” He had a bottle of wine. The moment Hannah saw it, she laughed.
“Well, I guess I don’t need to ask the occasion.” She leaned her head against his shoulder. “You went with a bubbly, I see.”
It was a beautiful sunrise. And then, just after 7am, her phone rang. “Oh, look,” she said. “It’s Rick.”
“I’ve got this,” Gavin said smoothly. He took her phone and answered. “Rick…she can’t come work for you. She’s going to marry her sugar daddy.” And without waiting for a response, he hung up. “There.”
“Nope,” Hannah sighed. “Here. Living in the moment, together, forever.”
About the Author
Nicki has lived in Charlotte, North Carolina with her children for the past eleven years and her husband for the past three year. Her journey has barely begun and she's loving every minute of it. Every day of her life seems to bring new adventures, some bigger, better, shinier and prettier than others. She's still getting used to that new life smell she's experiencing, a combination of hope, love, and happiness. (The perfect scents to build a new life on...)
For fun, she spends time with those she cares about, cooks, reads, writes, and especially lives to travel. The current travel goal: visit every Margaritaville. Two down! (Eleven to go?)
In addition to writing on Suddenly Single Journey, her writing can also be found on Shine, where she is a Shine Parenting Guru and an award winning Yahoo! Contributor on YourWisdom as the relationship and dating expert. And she has been published by McClatchy News in their syndicated papers.
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Author site: http://thenicknick.wix.com/novels-by-nicole
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