“Oh, honey, I’m so glad. What did he say?” her mom asked.
Kayla shrugged. “He said he had to do some soul-searching. He’s not ready, I guess.”
Her mom put her hands on her hips. “I don’t like that. Any man should jump at the chance to marry my daughter.”
Her dad put down the paper. “Men don’t think that way, Lynne. Kayla and Gabe have both been through a lot. He probably wants to spend time with her without the drama of an engagement.”
“Getting engaged is a beautiful time,” her mom insisted.
Her dad smiled, shook his head, and went back to the newspaper. “Until the family gets involved. Gabe’s a smart man,” he said, chuckling. “If I was a gambler, Kayla, I’d make a bet that he’ll ask you soon.”
Kayla ran up to her dad and kissed his cheek, then did the same to her mom. “Thank you both. I’ll see you later.”
“Have a good day, and don’t worry about Gabe,” her mom said.
Kayla was already out on the porch, the door closing behind her, before she had a chance to respond. The truth was, she loved Gabe more than life itself. But since she’d decided to come clean and had spoken her truth, she felt a million times better.
If he didn’t want to marry her, she’d be devastated, but she’d also start dating. She hadn’t lied when she’d told him that. She was ready to live and have fun again. Nana’s death had taken a toll on her in many different ways. But Kayla was alive. And life was for the living.
Before she opened her store, she grabbed an iced coffee. She was juggling her keys, her coffee, and opening the door to her shop when Sarah opened the door from the other side, almost causing Kayla to fall.
“Oh, shit, let me help you.” Sarah grabbed the iced coffee out of her hand while Lauren held the door open.
“Hi,” Kayla said. “What are you two doing here before eight in the morning?”
“We’re preparing for the class that’s coming up,” Lauren said.
“And we wanted to ask you something,” Sarah added, handing her back the coffee. Whatever she was about to say, she seemed nervous.
Kayla dropped her bag onto the floor. “Do we need to sit in a circle on the floor for this?” she asked.
Sarah laughed. “Yeah, I think we do.”
The three of them sat on the floor by the register desk.
“What’s going on?” Kayla asked. “Please don’t tell me you’re both thinking of quitting on me.” She had gotten used to them working at the store.
“Quite the opposite,” Sarah said as she looked down at her hands.
“We’ve come up with a different plan for the store.” Lauren smiled.
They were definitely up to something.
“Out with it,” Kayla said sternly.
Sarah sighed. “I want you to teach me the accounting side of the store and everything you can about how to run it, so you can take the rest of the online classes you need to finish your degree. You’ve always wanted to be a psychologist…that’s where your heart lies, not in owning a toy store. But I love it. It’s perfect for me. You can still own it. I’ll only run it.”
“And I’ll continue to work here, as usual,” Lauren chimed in. “Jordan is trying to start his own law firm here in Bella Cove, but he told me it’ll take some time. I don’t know what will happen between the two of us, but for now, I plan on working here. But instead of only listening to what you want me to do, I’ll listen to Sarah, too.”
Kayla swallowed tears. “Wow, I didn’t expect any of this.” Hope was bubbling up inside of her. “You’re both willing to do this?”
“Yes, it’s your dream to be a psychologist. We want to help you accomplish your dream, like you’ve helped us in every area of our lives,” Sarah said, giving Kayla the biggest smile she’d ever seen.
“We want you to be happy,” added Lauren.
“I told Gabe yesterday I’d marry him,” Kayla blurted out.
Sarah sat up straighter. “Get. Out! And it’s taken you all this time to tell us. What happened?”
Kayla held up her hand. “Do you see a ring on my finger?”
Lauren put her hands over her mouth and gasped. “Oh, my God, I’m so sorry.”
Kayla smiled softly. “He hasn’t rejected me yet. He said he needs to think about it, but we’ve also had sex. Three times.”
Her sisters screamed.
“Was it good? I bet Gabe is a really good lover. I can tell,” Sarah said, grinning.
“I’m not telling you that.” Kayla’s face heated up.
“It was good,” Sarah said knowingly.
Both her sisters burst out laughing.
“So, what do you think is going to happen?” Lauren asked, her tone serious.
Kayla thought about that for a second. “I honestly don’t know, but I love getting to know him again. There are moments when it feels like no time has passed. I’m so in love with him.”
“I know what’s going to happen,” Sarah said, batting her eyelashes. “You’re going to live happily ever after.”
Lauren giggled.
“Wow.” Kayla smiled wide. “That’s huge coming from a woman who doesn’t believe in marriage or happily ever after.”
Sarah smiled back. “But you do, so that’s what I want for you.”
“I love Gabe,” Lauren chimed in. “Since he offered Josh that job, our darling brother has been behaving like he used to. Did you know Josh left the house before we did this morning?”
“That’s funny. I heard all of you leave the house, but I thought everyone was off to the gym or grabbing breakfast or something,” Kayla replied.
“No, Josh told us how excited he was to start his morning job at Gabe’s.” Sarah slid over to Kayla and put an arm around her.
Kayla put her arms around Sarah, too. “Thanks for offering to run the store while I finish school. I love the idea.”
“You do?” Sarah clapped her hands.
“I do, but I’ll still be here. I like working with both of you. I have fun. But I’ll need a few hours every day to finish my online classes. Then I’ll have to find a supervisor to watch me give others therapy. That will take a few hours, too.” Kayla paused. “Do you think Melody will be mad if I’m not working here every day?”
“Melody didn’t work here every single day. She was always running off with Harry. And that was before he won the lottery. You used to complain about it all the time at dinner,” Lauren said.
“That’s true. And I’m not abandoning the store. I’m following my dream, that’s all.”
“So…it’s settled?” Sarah jumped up.
Kayla laughed. “Yes, it’s settled. And I guess I have to give you both a pay raise.”
Lauren jumped up and clapped her hands with Sarah. Kayla stood and hugged them both.
“I love you guys so much,” she said as a tear slid down her face.
“We love you, too,” they said in unison.
Kayla wiped the tears with the back of her hands.
“Sarah?” Kayla asked.
“Yes?” Sarah responded.
“Eventually, we’ll have to talk about what you went through when you heard Nana and Pop fighting about her cheating. You may not believe what I’m about to say, but I think it affected how you view love.”
Sarah sighed. “Okay, okay…but not now. I want to create a career for myself before I worry about a man. But I have worked on flirting less.”
Kayla nodded. Sarah wasn’t ready to deal with it yet, but at least she had found some inner peace at Magical Toys. For now, Kayla couldn’t ask for more.
* * *
That night, Kayla let Sarah close up the shop. She felt like walking while the sun was still up, and she wanted to talk to Gabe. She had been thinking about him all day, about their kisses, their intimacy, their everything. She didn’t realize how much she’d missed the way he touched her, the way he grabbed her face and looked lovingly into her eyes. Without thinking, she walked past her house to go to his. If she married hi
m and lived here, she’d walk past her house every day.
Gabe was sitting on the ground gazing out at the bay. She took a picture of him with her cellphone. He looked serene.
“Are you going to stand there taking pictures of me while I’m thinking of you or are you going to come and join me?” he asked, continuing to stare at the bay.
Kayla loved the fact he knew she was there even though he wasn’t looking. She sat on the ground next to him and looked at the bay, too, rather than at him.
She opened her purse and took out the picture cuttings of her perfect wedding. She handed them to him.
“I’m ready to begin a life with you,” she said, turning back toward the bay.
She heard him take a quick breath. “You do realize you’ll have to make an effort to communicate your needs, and I will still be controlling at times and not realize it.”
“I sure hope you’re talking about our sex life,” Kayla joked.
But he didn’t laugh.
So in a more serious tone, she said, “I do.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him look through some of the pictures.
“And you’re okay with that?” he asked.
“I am. I may struggle with it at times, but I’ll work on it.” Kayla fully turned to him. She couldn’t help herself.
He turned his head toward her at the exact same moment. They were so close they could have kissed again, but she needed to tell him more.
“You’re too important to me,” she said. “I cut those pictures out during the last few months we were together at school. On my plane ride to Bella Cove, when I had to come home, I looked through them over and over again. I kept looking at them, even after Nana passed, until I finally forced myself to put them away. Even though I allowed my family’s problems to consume me, I want you to know how serious I was about us—how serious I still am.”
“I can see now that you had to take care of your family. I was never upset that you had to return here and hold down the fort until they got healthy again. I was upset that I had no idea how you still felt about us. A few months before you got on that plane to come here, you pulled away. It scared the hell out of me to think I was losing the love of my life, and I didn’t know how to stop it.” He paused. “But now I know.”
Gabe reached into his pocket and took out the ring. Suddenly, the view from the bay slipped away. The only thing that mattered was Gabe and the ring his grandfather had given him.
“My grandfather was right. Getting back together was inevitable between the two of us. Neither one of us was ready to fight, but now we are. I wouldn’t have accepted this ring a year ago, and he knew that, but now I’m desperate to put it on your finger. It’s yours. It always has been and it always will be.”
Tears of relief pricked her eyes. “Gabe Wademan, are you asking me to marry you?”
“Yes, I am.”
“But I thought you had to do some soul-searching.”
Gabe chuckled. “Nah, I only said that. I wanted to put the ring on your finger the second you admitted you loved me. But I wanted to ask you properly, not have you take the ring and just put it on. And I only thought to delay the engagement because once your family finds out we’re getting married, there will be a huge amount of drama. I can see it now—your mom will want your wedding to be one place, and you’ll want it to be somewhere else. Sarah and Lauren will be fighting over what dresses to buy.”
Kayla laughed. “I could see those things happening, too. But I won’t let them control my wedding. I want to get married in my parents’ yard, overlooking the bay. My Pop built the house for Nana, and I think it will help me feel their energy more on our wedding day.”
Gabe smiled. “You say you won’t put up with any drama, but knowing your family, it will happen anyway.”
She laughed again. “You’re right, it will.”
He grabbed her hand. “I wanted to spend some time with you as just us. Like we used to be. No pressure. No drama. Just us, enjoying each other. I love you, Kayla. I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone.”
A tear ran down her cheek. “So, do you want to put off our engagement?”
He shook his head. “No, I can’t imagine allowing one more minute to pass before I put that ring on your finger.”
“So put it on,” she shouted.
Gabe put the clippings on the ground and got down in front of her on one knee. Kayla got the hint and stood.
“My beautiful Kayla, we’ve been through some intense ups and downs, but I love you more than anything. As much as I hated it, I think us separating for two years needed to happen to draw us closer together. I was a shell of myself during those years. Since you’ve been back in my life, I finally feel alive again. I want you to know I’ll be here as your equal. If you want to move to Europe for a few years, I’ll do it. I’ll move or stay here. It doesn’t matter so as long as I’m with you. You’re the most caring, wonderful, generous, trustworthy, honorable, intelligent woman in the world. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Kayla Conway, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
Kayla knelt in front of Gabe. “Yes! I love you so much. And if you want to move to Europe for a few years or stay here, I will, because as long as I’m with you, I’m complete.”
Gabe took her hand and placed the ring on her finger. He caressed her face and kissed her lips with passion, reverence, and a new promise of tomorrow. And then he abruptly ended the kiss. “Oh, wait, I forgot something.”
He quickly stood. Kayla watched him run to his car and get something from the back seat. She couldn’t imagine what it was. When she saw him run back, holding what looked like her favorite doll of all the ones she’d ever had on sale at her shop, she stood.
“This is for our son or daughter,” Gabe said as he stood in front of her.
He handed her the rag doll with the long blonde hair and the piercing green eyes. Kayla took it and held it against her heart.
“It’s from Magical Toys,” she said.
Gabe nodded. “It is. I had Alice go get it a few days ago when you were at lunch. When I was painting your ceiling, a little girl came into your store and picked it up. You walked up to her and asked if she needed any help. She only wanted to hug the doll. But you looked at her and the doll with such yearning and sadness. It took everything inside me not to climb down my ladder and hold you, to tell you not to give up on our dream of having children together.”
Kayla swallowed back tears of happiness. This beautiful man filled her heart with such love. “I loved this doll because she looked like a combination of us with her blonde hair and green eyes.”
“I know,” Gabe said.
Kayla smiled. “I can’t wait to have your children, Gabe Wademan.”
She threw her arms around him and held him as tight as she could, while also holding on to the doll. Gabe held her equally as tight.
“But I promise I’m on the pill. We’re not pregnant yet.”
Gabe chuckled. “So here’s what I’m thinking. If you don’t like the idea, just tell me. You may have a better one. I thought I’d move into your bedroom at your house until mine is finished. That way, I get to spend more time with you, and I’d like to sell my grandfather’s house in East Hampton as soon as I can. Of course, I’ll ask your parents first. Then, in about six months, our house will be complete. I’d like us to spend the first night there as husband and wife. What do you think?”
Kayla smiled wide and hugged him tightly. “I think that’s perfect.”
Gabe laughed. “Come on, let’s go tell your family,” he whispered in her ear and then kissed her on the forehead.
Before stepping out of his warm embrace, Kayla briefly closed her eyes. She hoped both Nana and Gabe’s grandfather were looking down on them.
She grabbed Gabe’s hand and started walking toward her house, but then she stopped. She wasn’t ready to face them all yet. There was something she needed to do before that.
“Wait,” she said. “We di
dn’t seal your proposal with a kiss.”
Gabe chuckled again. She’d never get tired of that sexy sound.
“Yes, we did.”
“You’re right, but I want another one.”
Gabe’s eyes grew darker as he grabbed her and gave her his signature kiss, passion and love mixed together. Kayla pulled his hair and kissed him back the same way, but it wasn’t enough.
“That was nice, Mr. Wademan, but I would have preferred if you’d kissed me behind that huge pile of wood over there.” She nodded to the far end of his property, toward the area that was farthest from her house.
Gabe sighed dramatically, but his eyes held the most adorable twinkle. “I might as well start pleasing my wife-to-be now.”
“That’s right,” she said as they started walking toward the woodpile. “It’s good practice.”
“Whatever you say, honey.”
“I’ll have none of that. My man can’t lose his backbone.”
When they were behind the pile of wood, their teasing stopped.
“I’ll show you how strong my backbone is.” Gabe’s eyes turned intense as they darkened.
Kayla lay down on the dirt and spread her legs. “Show me.”
Gabe swallowed and then lay on top of her. He kissed her gently, then slightly harder, then harder still until she opened her mouth, and his tongue slipped inside. Kayla threw her arms around him, while he continued making love to her tongue.
Reluctantly, he pulled back. “We officially sealed my proposal with a kiss…three times,” he said. “Now I’m going to seal it with my cock.”
Kayla moaned as he slipped his finger under her sundress and inside her panties. She was wet already. He turned her on so much.
“I’m so wet.”
Gabe’s breathing picked up. “My goal is to keep you wet forever.”
That will be an easy goal to reach, she thought.
“You want me to be wet every minute of every day?” she teased between moans.
Gabe pulled down his shorts and took out his already hard cock. “Yes, because I’ll be making love to you as much as possible,” he said, before thrusting deep inside her.
Kayla couldn’t say anything after that. Because he was kissing her like he couldn’t get enough of her, and she was kissing him back in the same way.
Bella Cove_A Second Chance Romance Page 26
