“What if it’s a mistake?”
“What if it’s not?” I leaned forward, grabbing her left hand and bringing it to my lips.
“Hold on, Romeo.” Polly slid her hand out of mine. “This is all predicated on my father bluffing. What if he’s not?”
I smiled and leaned back against the seat, inexplicably calm. “This morning, not five minutes before I got your text message, Pop asked if I had any interest in moving into their house. With his arthritis, my parents need someone to handle all the house upkeep, and eventually, he or both of them will need more care. He offered to deed the house to me in exchange.”
Polly’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head again.
“I said no. I told him if it was a few weeks earlier, I wouldn’t have hesitated. I would have helped out and lived in that house as long as they needed me. But it wasn’t up to just me anymore. You and the kids, that’s where my home is now.”
I could see her softening a bit but could still hear the gears turning in her head as she tried to puzzle her way around all of this.
“Polly, if you lose your job and can’t find another one in town, I’ll move anywhere you need to go with you and the kids.”
I’d started inching closer to Polly as I talked, her face continuing to soften. She was moving closer to me, too, almost unknowingly. Like she knew the way forward but wasn’t ready to go there. Not yet.
“Or we can stay in Green Valley and if you’re game, we can live in my parents’ house. We can start our life here, together, the four of us.”
She startled at my words, eyes going soft then, looking mildly dazed, like she was finally starting to believe this was true.
“You have me,” I continued. “So, you also have my family and my friends. You have Leah and the new friends you’ve made. And most importantly, we have Max and Ryla. Whatever is coming for us, we can get through it together.”
We moved closer together still, our hands intertwining almost on their own accord.
“Say yes, Polly. I’ll sign an iron-clad prenup where you can take me for all my money in the case of a divorce.”
Our foreheads touched and I felt a little puff from her exhale on my cheek.
“Do you love me?” I whispered.
“Yes,” she whispered back.
I closed my eyes briefly with relief, then opened them.
“Then say you’ll marry me, Polly. We can face the future together.”
CHAPTERFIFTY-TWO
POLLY
Lehabah still pushed. Still shook with terror. Yet she did not stop. Not for one heartbeat.
“My friends are with me and I am not afraid.”
Sarah J. Maas,House of Earth and Blood
The school board meeting the following Friday had an exceptional attendance . . . or so I was told. After all, this was my first one.
I’d arrived early to the high school auditorium with Jace, who gave my hand a little squeeze before Rose and I went to find our seats at the tables onstage.
Rose introduced me to school board members as they arrived. Most seemed nice and curious, until I saw the bottom dweller, himself, walk onstage. Brad stiffened when he saw me, then looked away, nose in the air.
Well.
A few minutes before the meeting started, nerves threatened to overtake me. I searched the audience, finding solace as I spotted Jace in the front row. He winked at me. Sitting on either side of him, were his parents. They both smiled and waved at me.
I’d met them for the first time last weekend, face blotchy and red, and engaged to their son. They took the news of our engagement remarkably well. On the other side of Jace’s mom was a woman who looked like the female version of Jace. I’d been warned, before meeting Sarah, that she was a ball buster. True to form, within two minutes of meeting her, she threatened me with bodily harm should I hurt her brother. She could also execute one hell of a fast prenuptial agreement.
