“I know we haven’t had time to be together these last couple of days,” Trevor said. “I know this is sudden and without much forewarning, but do you think you’d be willing to come to my new job with me? Would it be something you’d consider? I know it would be more change for you, too, after you’ve gone through as much upheaval as you have, but would you consider going to a small rural town like that?”
Whitney twisted her head toward his, staring at him in wide-eyed confusion. “What?” she almost whispered.
“What would you say to coming with me?” Trevor questioned again.
Whitney sat absolutely still, trying to absorb the implications of what Trevor had asked. Trevor wanted her to go with him to his new job? He wanted her to be with him and work with him? For several moments, Whitney sat so breathlessly still that she could see Trevor eyeing her in uncertainty in the darkness. “Have I made you uncomfortable by what I’m asking?” he finally questioned.
Whitney shook her head “no,” her features knit in perplexity. “Not uncomfortable,” she said, trying to find the right words for what she was experiencing. “I’m just trying to understand what you meant. You want me to work at your new job with you? There’s a job for me there, too?”
Trevor sighed heavily as he dropped his shoulders. “I’ve made a mess of it. I didn’t say what I meant to say. I’m sorry,” he apologized quickly. “Let me start over and make sure I get it right this time.” Trevor turned to face her, his dark eyes on hers. “I love you, Whitney. I never stopped loving you. Your coming back into my life has made me happier and more hopeful about my future than I ever thought I could feel again. I now have an opportunity to pursue a job that will help provide comfortably for you and for me and I want you to come with me when I leave this place. I want to be in the position we should have been in a long time ago, if the accident didn’t get in our way. You and I belong together. Time has more than proved it for the both of us. I’m asking you to come with me—as my wife. You said ‘yes’ to me once before and I’m hoping you’ll say ‘yes’ to me again. I don’t have a ring with me this time but it won’t be long before I can get one. I didn’t want to wait too long to ask you, not with the changes facing me right now and with all the decisions before me. I wanted to ask you before there was even the slightest possibility I could lose you again.”
Whitney remained motionless, her emotions whirring relentlessly inside her. “I thought you came to tell me that you were getting back with Laura Benson,” she said, still in somewhat of a confused daze. “I thought you came here to tell me that our relationship was over.”
“That our relationship was over?” Trevor said, completely stunned by her words. “Why would you think I came to say that?”
“We haven’t seen each other and then when I saw you and Laura together speaking by the pool, I suspected you were talking about your future together. You both seemed sober and serious. I had supposed from your interaction that you intended to reunite.”
“We weren’t saying anything along those lines,” Trevor quickly reassured her. “I was telling Laura about my new job offer and about you being back at camp. I told her about my feelings for you and that you and I had begun seeing each other again. I told you before—Laura and I never dated exclusively. She’s understandably hurt that we will no longer be dating but I’m not the only man in her life. She has other relationships she’s currently involved in.”
“But I saw how fun and outgoing she is,” Whitney continued, hardly able to believe what she was hearing. “I saw how carefree and happy she is. I was thinking that she could offer you an easier life without all the emotional baggage and complications I come with.”
“Emotional baggage and complications?” Trevor repeated in dismay. “I love you, Whitney. I’m not committed to a perfectly easy time or perfectly easy life. I’m committed to you. I never stopped loving you. I would have been by your side years ago if I’d been given the chance. Now that I have the opportunity to be with you again do you think I’d let it pass by? I don’t want to lose you. I won’t lose you, not if I can help it.”
Whitney leaned over and took his large hand, wrapping her slender fingers around it before pressing it tightly against her face, holding it against her warm cheek. “I love you,” Whitney said.
“I love you, too,” Trevor said. He lifted himself up from the dock and then offered his other hand, pulling Whitney upward. He hugged her tightly against his broad chest, his arms easily encompassing her small frame. “I know there are still some complications that lie ahead of us. It might take awhile for your father to get used to the idea that I’m back in your life.”
“It will be hard for my father to accept it,” Whitney admitted, “but he will have to learn to cope with it. Once he sees how happy I am, I hope it will change his mind about our being together. I think he suspected this might happen. That’s probably why he fought me as hard as he did about my coming back.”
“My parents have already given their blessing,” Trevor told her. “I told them before they left that I was going to ask you to marry me.”
“You did?” Whitney said in disbelief, her dark eyes locking onto his. “You already talked to your parents about the two of us?”
“Do you believe now that there was nothing going on with Laura?” Trevor said. “There was absolutely nothing going on with Laura. I wouldn’t have allowed it. I don’t want to lose you again.”
“You won’t lose me again,” Whitney promised. “I love you too much to ever leave you.”
Trevor placed his hands at the side of her face and tilted it upward, kissing her gently. Last time they had been together like this, Whitney had soon afterward felt uncertainties and doubts about their relationship and their future together. She had let those uncertainties and doubts make her question Trevor’s renewed level of commitment to her. This time, Whitney could feel those uncertainties and doubts dissolve with a rush of soul-calming relief. She had come back to this place trying to salvage a portion of her broken, shattered life. She had come back hoping to find some glimmer of hope to keep her moving forward instead of wasting away to nothing.
Whitney’s life and future now stood brightly intact before her, giving her more anticipation and happiness than she thought she could ever feel at one time again, especially after those two long, desperate, painful, lonely years. The man that had renewed that happiness stood beside her. He would always stand beside her and be a permanent part of her life.
No wonder Whitney couldn’t rid herself of that compelling, urgent need to return to this place. No wonder that even her father’s stern and ongoing disapproval didn’t stop her from coming back. Her heart had known returning had been something that needed to be done, something that had been essential to her future happiness. Trevor had never stopped loving her. He had remained committed to her, despite all. Difficult circumstances had pulled them apart but Whitney now knew no outside forces could thwart destiny. She and Trevor were meant to be together and nothing could ever separate the two of them again.
Destiny Interrupted Page 12
