by Kim Law
She blinked, and he saw that her jaw had grown tight. Her eyes gave nothing away.
“Please say something.”
“It’s the middle of the night, and you’ve snuck into my house to tell me that you value our friendship. What am I supposed to say?”
“How about if I also tell you that I love you?” Cold terror dried his mouth. “And that I sold Lisa the house. I called my lawyer before I left. Told him to make it happen. And I found this.” He pulled a paper out of his back pocket and handed it over to her.
He’d found it about two hours before he’d gotten into his car to come here. He’d pulled it from an unpacked box, and he’d just known. Everything had become clear.
Ginger unfolded the paper, and he leaned toward her, wanting to look at it with her. She smoothed a finger over the faded blue lines of their blueprint.
“I didn’t know I had it,” he said softly. “It’s our house. This house.”
“My house,” she corrected.
Her words scared him. “Your house.” He took her hand in his, and when she made eye contact, he ignored the fear inside him and plowed ahead. “I love you. I know you may not feel the same way, but I had to come tell you. I had to see if there was a chance.”
“Are you really over Lisa? You were so hurt. You went home so fast.”
“Sweetheart, being over Lisa was never the question. The hurt came from what I’d thought I’d lost—my plans. The life I envisioned. It was never about losing her.” He dropped Ginger’s hand to hold his arms out to his side. “I wanted this. I wanted what you want. And in the blink of an eye, she took that from me.”
“And now you think you love me?” Her look grew more skeptical. “Maybe you just see me as another way to get what you once wanted.”
“No.” His desperation grew. “I can see where it might look like that, but you’re wrong. It’s not about the house. It’s about you. You have your daddy’s soul and your mama’s beauty. You make me a better person. I love who we are together. That’s why I left so fast when I got Lisa’s e-mail. You and I were getting too close, and I think subconsciously, I knew how badly you could hurt me. I wasn’t ready to risk that.”
“But you think you are now?”
“I know I am now.”
She lowered her gaze, and he could see tears on her eyelashes. The day was just beginning to lighten, making her more visible to him, and she looked sadder in that moment than he’d ever seen her.
“Please tell me there’s a chance,” he whispered brokenly. “I know we were just having a good time before. But I thought you might have wanted more. That last morning, I felt something. I thought you did, too. I’m sorry I disappeared. That I haven’t called. But I had to deal with my own crap. To find myself again, like I’ve watched you find yourself. But I do love you, Ginger. More than I ever knew was possible.”
She was staring at him again. Wearing a look that said he’d played his last card. And lost.
“Okay.” He stepped away from her. “I’ll go. For now. Give you time to think about all this. I brought you something, though. I need to get it.”
He returned to her bedroom for only a few seconds, and when he came back, he passed over the first item. A three-ring binder. “I finished the book,” he told her.
Her eyes rounded.
“You get the first copy.”
She took the book, and after glancing at it, carefully set the binder on her chair. Her interest lay more on the other item in his hand. It was a bundle of balloons of all colors, tied together by their strings. He’d driven with them for the last half of the trip, and two of them were drooping already.
She licked her lips. “What’s with the balloons?” She sounded as scared as he felt.
“I want to be your dream, Gin.” He held them out to her. “I want to be your hope that happiness can always be found in the world. This is my promise that I’ll be that for you. Always. If you’ll allow me to.”
She took them, and when she said nothing, he nodded and turned to go. He had no words left.
“Don’t go.” Her voice reached him before he stepped through the open door.
He closed his eyes. Nerves threatened to cut off his air.
And he slowly turned back.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
I love you, too.”
A rush of air came from Carter at Ginger’s words, and she moved to stand in front of him. Silently, she watched him, enjoying the shocked look on his face. She might love him, but this wasn’t over yet. She still had questions. And she needed promises more concrete than balloons.
Though she would give him credit for the balloons. He understood her.
“You have to be sure.” She said the words softly. “These are big gestures.” She looked at the book lying on the chair. “I get that. And I appreciate them. But this is a big deal. I don’t want to get my hopes up for you, Carter. Not if you’re not positive that I’m the one for you. I’m in a good place now. I don’t need a man. And I certainly don’t need to be crushed by one.”
“I would never hurt you.” He touched his fingers to her arm. “Not in that way. Though Lord knows I can be stupid. I might accidentally cause pain, but when I do, baby, just tell me. I’ll fix it. And yes, I’m sure. I’m positive. You’re perfect for me. And if you’ll have me, I plan to marry you.”
Could it really be this simple?
“Just like that?” she asked. Fear and hope warred together and had her hands shaking once again. “We’re childhood friends, I grow up and you see me naked, we have a little casual sex, you go back home the instant your ex-wife waves, and suddenly . . . you want to marry me?”
He smiled, and the heat from it torched her a little.
But she had to ignore that heat until this was sorted out.
“I absolutely want to marry you,” he confirmed. “But good call on the nakedness. I think it was the angel potholders that did it for me. I plan to buy you a replica pair as a wedding gift.”
She rolled her eyes at him, and at this point she had to fight off her smile. She was caving; she could feel it. But that might be okay.
“I haven’t said I’ll marry you,” she pointed out.
“I am aware of that fact. You haven’t said anything, really. Other than that you love me.”
His eyes burned steady on hers, and she saw the fear still in them. He’d laid his heart on the line for her. And that’s what she’d needed. She still wasn’t positive, but if he’d just shown up and said that he wanted to pick up where they’d left off, maybe take it a layer or two deeper, that wouldn’t have been enough. She’d changed too much over the last few weeks. She wanted all or nothing.
And the truth was, she wanted it all. With Carter.
“You scare me,” she told him. “You could hurt me a lot.”
“I understand that. I’m scared, too. But I also think I could make you happy a lot. And I swear I’ll do my best to make that happen.”
Ginger didn’t take her eyes off him. She wanted to believe in this. All of it. But it was so sudden. But then, hadn’t she waited thirty years for this? She’d known him her whole life. Loved him as a friend forever.
Why couldn’t it so easily be more now?
“Sit with me until sunrise?” she asked. She needed to calm down and think. And the two of them at sunrise was always the best time for her to think.
“That’s why I drove all night,” he answered solemnly.
And that almost won her over. Together they turned, the balloons still in her hand, and they settled into one chair, her on his lap.
She loved him. And she’d told him. And that had felt unbelievable.
There was no way she would let him get away from her now. But he’d made her wait three weeks for this. She would make him wait at least three minutes.
The sun was closer than she’d realized. She’d sat up all night, rereading his latest book. She looked at the binder he’d brought her, and she felt his love encircle her. He’d given her his book
.
She reached for it, and opened it across her lap.
To Ginger Root
My friend. My soul mate. My love.
Let me be your balloons forever.
“That is the corniest dedication ever.” Her voice wobbled, and tears once again spilled from her eyes.
“You wound me, babe.”
She looked up at him. “I mean, really. What are people going to think? Let you be my balloons forever? Ginger Root? They’ll think I’m insane.”
“Well, you don’t wear pants.”
“Carter.” She elbowed him in the chest. Then he smiled at her and pressed a slow, hot kiss to her mouth. He left her breathless.
“They’ll think I’m the luckiest man alive,” he told her after they parted.
“And I get to be the first one to read it,” she whispered. She sighed in great satisfaction, but then made a face at him. “You do know that it’ll only take me a couple of days to finish it.”
“Readers.” Carter rolled his eyes as she liked to do. “They can be so demanding.”
“Good thing I got your office finished. So you can get busy on the next one.”
The smile froze on his face. Then he looked up.
“I had Gene add in a special writing corner for you. I noticed that if the sun is up, you sometimes turn your back to the ocean when you write, yet you still seem to want to hear the waves. Now you have a spot in the room where you can do that.”
“Baby.” He pressed a kiss to her hair. “I love you so much.”
“I love you, too. But can we really do this, Carter? Can we love each other? After all this time?”
“We already do. That’s a given. It’s the ‘more’ I’m after now. I want forever. With you.”
She tucked herself in tight against his chest, her balloons waving in the morning breeze, and the sun silently slipping from behind the ocean. It rose up, shining bright on their faces, and she tilted her eyes to meet his. “And I want forever with you.”
EPILOGUE
Almost five months later, after Julie had delivered a healthy baby girl, and Roni had delivered a bouncing baby boy, Ginger stood at the end of the short aisle, her arm hooked through Clint’s, and couldn’t take her eyes off her tuxedoed fiancé standing under the arch of live oaks.
Roni’s stepdaughter, Gracie, stepped to the side after dropping rose petals along the path and beamed a proud smile back at Ginger, and Clint asked, “You ready for this?”
Ginger took in the small assembled crowd and the ocean beyond. The morning was still gray, but that would soon change. “I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life.”
She saw Kayla nod discreetly—Mrs. Rylander, who stood at her side, nodded, as well—and then the wedding march began to play. Roni and Andie waited for her at the end of the aisle, with Carter and Julie on the other side. Ginger and Carter hadn’t wanted a large ceremony; there had been only one requirement. It would take place at sunrise.
Ginger started moving, all eyes on her, and she felt her dad’s whisper touch her cheeks. She stopped walking, tears suddenly spilling over her lashes, and she shook her head at Carter’s panicked expression. She touched her father’s wedding ring, which she wore on her right thumb as her “something old,” and Carter nodded in understanding. She’d wanted to marry here on the senior-center patio, where she’d last felt her dad’s presence, in hopes that he would be there with her today.
Before she could start moving again, Kayla appeared, a handkerchief in hand, and blotted at Ginger’s cheeks. Andie and Roni smiled from the front, and baby Teddy gurgled from his grandmother’s lap.
As Kayla cleaned her up, Ginger caught her mother’s eye. Pride shone bright.
Ginger blew her mom a kiss, nodded at Clint, then made her way to her future husband.
After the vows were spoken, and as the preacher pronounced them husband and wife, the sun slid into the bright morning sky, bringing with it a bounty of color. As Ginger looked at Carter, she’d never seen more love shining her way. She’d just married the man of her dreams.
And she was his dream, as well.
“I love you,” he said. He kissed her then, and as he pulled away, all three babies in attendance began to cry. Carter chuckled under his breath. “I vote we add to that sound as soon as possible. They’re going to need friends to play with.”
“A baby?” They’d talked about having kids, but hadn’t decided on when.
“If we’re having four, we’d better get started.”
Her mouth curved with a huge smile, and she nodded her agreement. That was the dream, after all. Big house, four kids . . . amazing husband. Little had she known, the life she’d always wanted had been the life she’d soon find.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © 2012 Amelia Moore
As a child, award-winning author Kim Law cultivated a love for chocolate, anything purple, and creative writing. She penned her debut work, “The Gigantic Talking Raisin,” in the sixth grade and got hooked on the delights of creating stories. Before settling into the writing life, however, she earned a college degree in mathematics and worked for years as a computer programmer. Now she’s living out her lifelong dream of writing romance novels. She’s won the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart Award, been a finalist for the prestigious RWA RITA Award, and served in varied positions for her local RWA chapter. A native of Kentucky, Kim lives with her husband and an assortment of animals in Middle Tennessee.
