Long Distance Lover
Page 22
Epilogue
Six months later, New York City
Kelly had secured her contracts from David and thankfully he hadn’t done anything with her money. She could live comfortably for a very long time from the investments that he’d made on her behalf and the residuals from the commercials she’d done. For that she would always be grateful. David would spend some time in jail and pay his fines. Hopefully, he would make it through and come out a wiser man. She’d even offered him a job as a counselor when he got out in a year. In the meantime she still had to work hard on her own issues. It was a lifelong struggle but the value of the counseling and the classes was immeasurable.
She hummed softly as she unpacked boxes in her new office on Broadway and Fifty-Seventh Street. It was small but would serve her purposes. She’d already hired an assistant, a young woman in graduate school who had plans to go into sports management. She and Alex were pretty much inseparable and she was really liking the whole living-together thing. Life was good.
“Hey, sweetheart.”
Kelly looked up surprised to see Alex in the middle of the day. She wiped her hands on her jeans and walked over to him. “Hey, this is a treat but what are you doing here?” She sat down on the edge of her brand-new desk.
“I got a letter in the mail today…from Charisse.”
Kelly’s stomach knotted. “What…did it say?”
He drew in a breath. “She is relinquishing all parental rights.”
Kelly frowned. “What, why?”
“She wants you and I to raise the baby. She sent the documents in the mail for me to sign. She’s due to deliver the baby any day now.”
Kelly didn’t know what to think or how to feel. She knew that Alex had every intention of being a major part of the child’s life but she never expected Charisse to turn the baby over to him totally. “Did she say why?”
“She said that she went through with the pregnancy because termination was not something that she could live with. Her plan, unknown to me, was to have the baby adopted.” He reached for her hand. “She was at the press conference. She said when she saw us together she knew that was the kind of loving household she’d want the baby to be raised in.”
Kelly blinked several times. She was speechless.
“I wanted to wait until your birthday next month, but…” He reached into his jacket pocket and took out a velvet box. He opened it and a brilliant marquis diamond sparkled, set on a platinum band. “But if I was going to ask you to be a partner with me, to be mother to my child, I couldn’t do that without you saying yes to being my wife first. Will you say yes, Kelly? Will you marry me? I will be good to you, girl. I’ll love and honor you, trust you with my secrets and guard yours with my life. I’ll be your friend, your lover, your partner. Through thick and thin.”
Tears slid down her cheeks as she thought of where she’d been, how far she’d come and where she planned to go. She knew it wouldn’t be easy, but nothing in her life had ever been except for running. But she wasn’t running anymore. She was standing still and tall ready to face life and whatever it dished out and she couldn’t dream of anyone other than Alex “Hutch” Hutchinson that she wanted at her side.
She stretched out her left hand and with shaky hands Alex slid the ring on her slender finger. He held her hand.
“I’ll love you for the rest of my life,” she whispered. “One day at a time.”
* * * * *
ISBN: 9781459220430
Copyright © 2012 by Donna Hill
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