Captivated Hearts

by Yahrah St. John

  Grayson smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “Trust me, I understand. It’s something about those Hart women that makes it hard to stay away.”

  “You’re not lying.” Damian swallowed the lump in his throat.

  “Bree didn’t tell me much, but she mentioned that you and Jada were on the outs.”

  Damian nodded. “We are. I messed up, man. Real bad. It’s why I’m here—to make things right.”

  “Good luck with that.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Jada’s father is coming over right now.”

  “Young man, what do you have to say for yourself?” Duke’s tone told Damian that any favor he’d gained during his last visit was gone.

  Damian turned around. “Mr. Hart.”

  “I told you to call me Duke.”

  “Duke—” he began, but was interrupted.

  “What did you do to my daughter?” Duke asked harshly. “She came back to Dallas without you. Why is that?”

  “Well, sir, I believe that is between Jada and me.”

  “You’re on my land, son.”

  “I’m well aware. And no disrespect, Duke, but I need to discuss a few things with Jada first. Once I do, I’ll come see you.”

  Duke’s firm look loosened, and a small smile started to form. “Sounds like you’ve come to your senses.”

  “I have, sir. And if you’ll allow me to stay, I’d love to see you remarry the love of your life.”

  “Alright, Damian.” Duke’s tone softened. “You can stay, but know this: If I get a whiff that my daughter is hurt or uncomfortable in any way, you’ll have me and the rest of the Hart men,” he said, motioning behind him to where several tall and able-bodied men stood, “to contend with.”

  “Duly noted.”

  Duke stepped away, and Grayson returned to his side. “My advice to you,” Grayson whispered, “is don’t mess up.”

  Damian didn’t intend to. He was in love with Jada, and he was here to tell her so.

  Jada heard her parents’ vows to each other in the periphery of her brain. Her father declared, “I’ve never loved a woman like I’ve loved you, Abigail. You have and will always be the love of my life. I’m just sorry I screwed that up.”

  She saw her mother wipe away her father’s tears with the back of her hand. Heard her mother’s words: “You weren’t the only one who screwed up. I made mistakes too. I was too proud to forgive even though I loved you. But I’m so happy that you never gave up on me, on us. I promise that from this day forth, I’ll remember the good times no matter what life throws our way, to always have your back … and to catch you when you fall. I promise my heart will be your shelter … and my arms will be your home.”

  Jada wiped away an errant tear. She hadn’t even known she was crying because she’d been looking at Damian the entire time her parents had said their vows. And when the preacher told Duke he could kiss the bride, Jada never felt so happy her entire life. Her parents were finally back together!

  Jada stood as her parents accepted congratulations from the family and a few close friends who’d been invited.

  “Looks like someone is here to see you,” Bree whispered in her ear as Damian walked toward them. “Damian.” Bree said and nodded at him, but Grayson immediately came forward to lead her away.

  Abigail glanced behind her and winked at Jada. Then she and Duke departed to walk toward the house, where Deborah had laid out a feast of food and drinks. Jada caught some of her relatives looking at Damian with inquiring gazes, but she couldn’t focus on any of them, not when her heart was beating at a rapid pace. She could barely hear herself think let alone breathe.

  When it was just Jada and Damian alone outside, she finally asked, “What are you doing here?”

  “I needed to see you.”

  “Why?”

  “Will you sit with me?” Damian took another more tentative step toward her, and when she didn’t move away, he took another until they were inches apart.

  Jada could feel the invisible thread between them even though they weren’t touching. “Very well.” She walked beside him to sit in one of the white folding chairs facing the rose-covered wedding arch. As Damian took the seat next to her, his masculinity overwhelmed her as it always did when she smelled his clean male scent. “I’m listening.”

  Damian turned to her. “I’ve come to tell you what a fool I’ve been. I want to apologize for letting you go, for not telling you that I want to be with you … in a relationship for as long as you want me.”

  Jada wanted to be happy, but she was a bit stunned by his declaration. “Why now? What’s changed?”

  “Me. For years, I’ve always been alone, afraid to let anyone in because I was afraid of losing them. I loved my mother, but she left, abandoning me to the will of strangers. I loved my foster parents, but after they got pregnant, they chose to send me back into the system. When I’d finally hardened my heart enough to get through life, along came the Locketts. They took me in when no one else would. They gave me a home. They gave me love.”

  “Damian—”

  “No.” He held up his hand. “It’s not easy for me to admit this, so please let me finish.”

  “Alright. Go on.”

  “The Locketts were kind, giving people, and they didn’t deserve to die at the hands of some drunk driver. So, once again, after I’d finally found a place I could call home, people I could love, it was wrenched from me … at the morgue, when I had to identify their bodies.”

  “Oh.” Jada clutched her hand to her mouth.

  “That’s when I vowed to never love anyone else because anything I valued was subject to be taken away. Then I met you. I told myself that it was just lust. We had such a strong physical connection that surely that’s all it could be, but then slowly but surely you began creeping into my heart. You weren’t like any of the other random women I’d been sleeping with. You truly understand me. You get me without me having to try to please you as I’d done with all those foster families in an attempt to get them to love me. You cared about me, just me. No, dare I say it?” He paused. “You loved me. So, I tried to divorce the emotion from the sex because it was making me wish for things that I knew were a fairytale and could never come true. I always felt like I could never be truly happy. But I was. I am with you, Jada. And it scared me. Made me push you away because the only way to beat fate to the punch was to let you go first.”

  Jada’s stomach twisted into knots. She couldn’t believe that Damian was being so open, so honest, so forthright about his feelings. “Wh-what are you saying?”

  Damian reached for her hands and grasped them. Then he moved to kneel at her feet. “I’m saying that I love you, Jada. It may have taken me some time to get there, but I do. You challenge me and make me feel more alive than I’ve ever felt. I don’t want to lose you. Please tell me I haven’t. Please tell me that you’ll let me love you.”

  “Oh, Damian.” The sentiment darted through whatever remaining barriers Jada might have had up. His feelings were something he’d just discovered because Damian had never looked at her with such fierce longing as he was doing right at this moment. She believed him and threw her arms around his neck. Damian clutched her to him as if she were his last breath.

  “Thank God.” He began kissing her neck, her cheeks, and then her lips. “Thank God I haven’t lost you.”

  When they pulled apart, Jada peered at him through her tears. “You could never lose me, Damian, because I love you too.”

  He smiled. “You do?”

  She nodded. “I think I fell in love with you here in Dallas when you came and stood by my side with Bree. I don’t think I could admit it to myself then, but deep down I knew. I love you, Damian, for you.” She grasped his face. “You never have to try to win my heart because you already have it.”

  He yanked her into his arms, and she fel
l on his knee. His mouth captured hers, and Jada melted into the kiss as her heart swelled and became whole again at hearing Damian’s declaration of love.

  A cough sounded from behind them and broke up their kiss. “If you two are done making out,” said London, who was standing a few feet away, “we’re going to toast the newlyweds.”

  Jada smiled and rose to her feet, holding out her hand to help Damian up. She didn’t want to be too far away him. “Yes, we’re coming.”

  Damian brought her hand to his lips. “Let’s go celebrate with your parents.”

  Chapter 23

  When Jada and Damian arrived to the great room, the Hart clan was gathered and spread throughout it in small family clusters. Jada’s parents were front and center. They were both holding the crystal champagne flutes Jada and her sisters had purchased for the occasion.

  Jada and Damian grabbed a flute from a passing waiter. Jada caught Bree’s large grin from where she sat, surrounded by Grayson, Cameron, and Sonya.

  “As the oldest of the Hart children,” London said as she held up her flute, “I’d like to make a toast.”

  Since Bree and Jada had walked their mother down the aisle, they’d all agreed that London would toast the happy couple. It hadn’t always been easy for London to feel that she was part of the family, but she was.

  “Daddy, Abigail,” she said, glancing at her stepmother, “I can’t tell you how excited your daughters are to see you both joined in marriage. You’ve taught us that it’s never too late to forgive and to find happiness with your soul mate. To the Harts.” She held her up her flute.

  “To the Harts.”

  “To the Harts.” Everyone clapped loudly for the happy couple.

  Once the applause died down, Jada walked over to her parents with Damian in tow. “Daddy, Mama, you remember Damian.” She smiled up at the man she loved.

  “Of course,” her mother said. She leaned over to kiss Damian’s cheek. “Welcome to the family.”

  Damian’s eyes grew large, and Jada could see how touched he was by the sentiment. “Thank you, ma’am.”

  “Glad to see you came to your senses,” Duke said, “and got my daughter back.”

  “He never really lost me, Daddy.”

  “That’s good to hear.”

  “Could I have a word with you, Duke?” Damian asked.

  “You absolutely may.” Duke grinned. “Excuse me for a second, Abby.” He kissed her mother on the forehead. Damian let go of Jada’s hand and walked off with her father.

  “Do you know what that’s about?” Abigail asked as she watched the men disappear around the corner.

  Jada was bewildered. “No clue. But it doesn’t matter. I’m just happy that he’s here and that he loves me.”

  “Oh, Jada.” Her mother clutched her pearls. “Did he really say that?”

  Jada nodded, unable to hide her enthusiasm. “Yes, he did. And I told him I loved him too. Oh, Mama …” Her voice cracked. “I can hardly believe it.”

  “I told you it was never too late.”

  And Jada finally believed it. After everything she’d been through with Joshua, she was finally getting her happy ending.

  Damian was so thankful. Not only had Jada forgiven him and was willing to give him another chance, but she loved him too. He was so used to losing those he loved that he’d been afraid to hope for love. But it was true. Jada loved him.

  Now he had to seal the deal, which is why he was nervous to stand with Duke in his study. His palms were clammy and his heart was thudding louder than a horse’s on race day. He’d never asked anyone to marry him, but he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Jada. He saw no reason to wait. He wanted to ask her here with her family nearby, but first he had to ask her father for her hand in marriage.

  He didn’t fear Duke, but this occasion was different. He was usually so well-spoken, yet words were escaping him now.

  “Alright, young man. You wanted to talk.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “So, spit it out.” Duke was watching him with an eagle eye, and Damian could feel beads of sweat forming on his forehead. “How about a whiskey first?”

  “Would love one.”

  He watched Duke walk over to his wet bar, grab two glasses, and open the whiskey decanter. He poured them each two thumbs of whiskey and handed one to Damian. The younger man gulped it back in one swig.

  “Easy, boy. That’s twenty-year-old whiskey. It’s meant to be savored.”

  Damian coughed. “I realize that now.” He coughed again and placed his glass on the desk.

  Duke chuckled. “Why don’t I make this easy for you? You want to marry my daughter, am I right?”

  How does he know? Am I that obvious? “Yes, I do. I love Jada very much.”

  “I know that.” Duke grinned. “I knew it the moment you showed up at the hospital. I was just waiting for you to figure it out.”

  “You did?”

  Duke sipped his whiskey. “A man doesn’t fly to another city for a piece of ass, not unless he truly cares for the woman. I saw how you took care of Jada in the hospital and after. I was impressed. Therefore, you have my and Abigail’s blessing.”

  “I do?”

  “Don’t sound so surprised, otherwise I’ll have to rescind it.”

  Damian smiled. “Thank you, sir.” He offered his hand. “You won’t regret it.”

  Instead of shaking his hand, Duke pulled him into his embrace. “We’re huggers in this family, so get used to it.”

  Damian patted his back. “I will. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have something very important to do.”

  He left Duke in his study and went in search of Jada. He found her in the living room holding one of her baby cousins. She had never looked lovelier, and Damian took a moment to envision Jada with a round belly and pregnant with their child. It was surprising because he’d never thought about children before, but with Jada anything was possible.

  She looked up to find him watching her. She handed the baby back to Chynna. “Excuse me for a moment.”

  “I’m sorry to steal you away,” Damian murmured softly in case anyone was listening, “but can I talk to you for a few minutes?”

  “Of course.”

  He took her hand and led her outside to the front porch. Surprisingly, it was empty of occupants, which was perfect. He’d thought about proposing in front of her entire family, but this moment was theirs and theirs only.

  Jada looked up at him questioningly. “Damian, what is it? You’re scaring me.”

  “Out back, I didn’t get to finish my speech.”

  “You didn’t?” She laughed nervously. “I thought you did pretty good. What more is there to say?”

  “I forgot one important thing.” Damian dropped to his knees again. “I love you, Jada Hart. I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy. Would you do me the honor of being my wife?”

  Wife! When they’d met, marriage had never crossed Jada’s mind. She’d been so focused on her career, but Damian was everything she hadn’t known she wanted and she couldn’t be happier than to join her life with his.

  “Yes, yes, yes!” Jada leaned down and kissed Damian hard on the lips. “I will marry you.”

  Damian reached inside his pocket and pulled out a blue Tiffany box. He’d been carrying around the five-carat diamond ring all day. Thank God he’d had the foresight to call in a favor last night. He’d placed an emergency call to a friend who owned a jewelry store and begged him to reopen. Damian had known he couldn’t come to Dallas empty-handed. When Jada saw the ring, she gasped. “I hope you like it.” He pulled it out of the box and slid it onto her left ring finger.

  “I love it, Damian, and I love you. I can’t wait to be Mrs. Damian McKnight, because you’re the man I’ve waited for all my life.”

  Epilogue

  One ye
ar later

  “You look happy, baby doll,” Abigail told Jada as she helped her mother set up the table for the barbeque at the Hart ranch. Her parents had invited her sisters, their respective spouses, and grandchildren to Dallas. Caleb and Addison had come with their two children as well because Caleb was like a son to Duke. He and Duke were in the stables watching a pony being born.

  “I told her she was glowing, Mama,” Bree said as she held her ten-month-old daughter on her lap.

  “That’s what everyone says to all mothers-to-be,” Jada chimed in.

  “But it’s true,” London said from her outdoor seat. “You look like you’re at peace, Jada.”

  “That’s because I understand what you were all saying about finding the person you were meant to be with. After that, everything seems to fall into place.” And it had for her. After they’d returned from Dallas, newly engaged, she and Damian had come out of the dark about their relationship. Of course, there had been some sour faces at the station, but mostly everyone had wished them well, including Kyler, who eventually moved back to Ohio in favor of her small-town roots.

  Within months, Hilary Reed, the morning anchor, got poached by a large station to anchor the evening news. This had left the position open for Jada. And she’d stepped right into it seamlessly because viewers were already used to seeing her on Fridays. It was like all of Jada’s dreams had come true with a snap of a finger. She had her dream job and a man to come home to whom she loved every night.

  “I told you.” Addison smiled. “And look what happened. We’re about to be aunties.” She inclined her head toward Jada’s growing belly.

  “Yeah, well, this one,” Jada said, rubbing her stomach, “was a bit unplanned. We were hoping to get the new house built before starting a family, but …” Her voice trailed off.

  “You’re newlyweds and couldn’t keep your hands off each other?” London supplied. “It’s OK, and it’s to be expected. Enjoy the moment, because when my niece gets here you’re going to need your energy.”

  Jada nodded. She couldn’t believe she was going to be a mother. She’d always wanted this but never thought it was going to happen after her first failed attempt at getting married. She was excited and overwhelmed.