by Nora Roberts
“I’m going to give you one more chance before I say what I have to say. What I wasn’t going to say. What I didn’t think you’d want to hear.”
How many chances did a man get? he wondered. How many lives? How many offers of everything that mattered? He took a step toward her, stopped.
“Once I say it, the door closes. For both of us. Do you understand that?”
Her lips curved. “Do you?”
“I understood it the minute I saw you again.” His eyes went dark, dangerous. “Stay or run, Laura.”
She lifted her chin. This time she would say it. “Stay.”
“Then you’ll have to live with it. And me.” He took her hand. Not gently, but possessively, his battered fingers clamping onto hers. “I’ve never loved another woman. That’s a first you gave me.”
She closed her eyes. “I feel as though I’ve waited my whole life to hear you say that.”
“I haven’t said it yet.” He lifted his free hand to her face. “Look at me when I do. I love you, Laura,” he said when her eyes opened. “Maybe I always did. I know I always will. I’ll never lie to you or leave you to handle things alone. I’ll be a father to your children. All of them. I’ll love them, all of them. And they’ll never have to wonder if I do.”
“Michael.” Overcome, she turned her lips into his palm, kissing his hurts much as Kayla had. “That’s everything.”
“No, it’s not. So here’s the rest.” He waited until her eyes cleared and met his. “If you want to take a chance on this, I’ll give you whatever I have, whatever I can make and whatever I can be.”
The words were just there, he realized. Just there, waiting to be said. Absently he reached over, plucked a tulip from the vase on the table beside them. Held it out to her. “Marry me. Be my family.”
Rather than take the flower, she closed her hand over his around the stem. “Yes.” She touched her lips to his cheek, settled her head with a sigh on his shoulder. “Yes,” she said again, feeling his heart thud against hers as she looked into the simple box filled with dreams.
“I’ve found you,” she murmured, turning her mouth up to Michael’s. “We’ve found each other. Finally.”
