He held the ring near her and asked, “Donna Smith, will you marryme?”
She knelt down so they were on the same level, took the ring in her palm and claimed his lips in a kiss. “Absolutely. I loveyou.”
“I love you.” He wrapped his arms aroundher.
She’d never expected to feel such happiness—believing in Blackwell was easy. He’d been nothing but perfect. His kiss set off fireworks inside her and she pressedcloser.
Then he took the ring back and slipped it on herfinger.
She laughed as she held it higher to stare at the brilliant stone. She was going to be hiswife.
He stood, grinning. “I’ll send a car to the airport to pick up your friend in the morning. Tonight, I want to spend the evening withyou.”
The bed behind her knee beckoned. Blackwell made her feel whole, and part of her heated at the idea. However, she shook her head. “Okay, but I need a few minutes to unpack and let my insidessettle.”
He stepped back and nodded like he accepted her words without question. But then his face darkened slightly. “What made you be honest withme?”
Her nerves jumped which sometimes signaled anxiety. She took a deep breath. “I told you. I calledBeth.”
“That’s what I thought.” He nodded and walked to the bedside, where he took out a pen and a piece of paper. He wrote something and handed her the note. “Talk to your therapist now if you’d like. Here is my phone number. If you need me to get you someone here, text me. I’m going to tell my mother to buy Beth a gift—she’s so good at knowing just the rightthing.”
“I want to unpack and really feel like I’m staying here.” Her lips parted as she stared at him with pleased surprise. “Why are you buying Beth a present?” She took the paper, and stuffed it in her pocket next to herphone.
He winked. “Because I need to impress your family and I owe her mythanks.”
She had to work on her trust issues. There’d been no reason to feel that rush of panic earlier. “Give me an houralone?”
He kissed her cheek, but then changed his mind and kissed her mouth. His lips were hot and branded her. Her heart ached for him to never let her go. Her hands wrapped around his neck, while her fingers curled into his thick hair, and pressed himharder.
Her body grew weak, and if he wanted her now, she’d sayyes.
However, he let her go. “Soundsperfect.”
He walked to the door and let himselfout.
She watched his strong backside while lifting one leg on the bed, as he’d doneearlier.
She hadn’t known this sense of belonging in a long time and the last time she felt it, with her grandparents after her parents died, the feeling took years todevelop.
She truly needed to trust. She fished out her phone and stared at Blackwell’s number. She programmed it in first and put him at the top of her favoritelist.
Once she was done, she thought about calling her therapist but put the phone down. She found space in the closet and hangers to put up her black dresses and button downshirts.
The motion of unpacking helped. She realized that she could clearly still feel the tingle of Blackwell on her lips and her heart settled. She really had agreed to getmarried.
This seemed unreal. She hugged her jeans she picked up from her bag. At therapy once, her doctor tried to get her to talk about Harry and relationships, but she brushed off any questions or concerns like he didn’t matter. She stood and took the jeans to the closet. She’d never be able to shrug offBlackwell.
At her last appointment, Dr. Johnson had encouraged her to yell at a doll pretending to be Harry, but she couldn’t. Donna shook off the thought and tugged her ear. With Blackwell, she broke into a thousand pieces. The idea of him with the beautiful blonde had reminded her of when she’d dropped a Christmas ornament and it had shattered all over the floor, but the ornament was her heart. She’d shared her feelings, and he’d listened with compassion and love. She promised herself to find the positive no matter how out of her element she felt. Blackwell had chosen her, of all the women in theworld.
She hung her jeans and stepped back to observe how well their clothes fit together, they both favored black, which she took as a good sign for theirfuture.
Donna paced by the huge window that overlooked the garden and the pond from the second floor, her heart leaping to her throat with the realization that she’d grown. She told him her past and it hadn’t destroyed her. And she’d said yes. She was going to marryBlackwell.
She closed her eyes and let the excitement build as she considered her new future in Avce. She picked up her phone and texted, ‘Blackwell, I’ m ready. I’d like to find someone in Avce to see more often, but not today. Can we take the rowboat out on thepond?’
‘On my way, Donna.’ Blackwell answered as if he had his phone inhand.
She went to her bag and found her charger. It was time to live and for once she was going to! She lovedBlackwell.
