Page 77 of A Brambleberry Summer

He still wanted to kiss her, after everything she told him. All this time, she had been so afraid for him to learn the truth. He now knew the ugliest part of her past and yet he kissed her anyway with a tenderness that made her feel...cherished.

“Thank you for coming to my rescue.” She realized in that moment she had not really told him that yet. And while she was speaking about earlier, with Aaron Barker, her words held layers of meaning.

He smiled against her mouth. “I don’t think you needed help from me. You were doing just fine. You’re pretty ferocious, Rosita.”

The endearment—Little Rosa—made her smile, too. Her mother had always called her that and Daniel still did.

“Ow. Smiling still hurts.”

“Oh. I forgot about your mouth. I shouldn’t have kissed you. I’m sorry.”

“I am glad you did.” To prove it, she pressed her mouth, sore lip and all, to his.

All of the emotions she could not say were contained in that kiss. All the love and yearning she had been fighting for so long.

When he lifted his head, Wyatt was breathing hard and Rosa realized they were once more on the sand, sitting on the blanket she had brought.

“I have to tell you something,” Wyatt said after a long moment. He gripped her hands again, and even through the darkness, she could see the intense light in his eyes.

“I was scared to death when Jenna called me and said you were in trouble. I made all kinds of deals with God on my way to Brambleberry House, begging Him to keep you safe until I could get here.”

“You...did?” She didn’t know what to say, shaken to her core by the emotion in his voice. Her heart, already beating hard from the kiss, seemed to race even faster.

“Yes. Though I suppose I should have known you could take care of yourself,” he said with a little smile. “You’re amazing, Rosa. One of the most amazing women I have ever met.”

She could not seem to wrap her mind around this man speaking such tender, wonderful words.

“I do not understand,” she finally asked. “How can you say that after—after everything I have told you about my past? About what I had to do? About...about giving my baby to someone else?”

“All of those things only make me love you more.”

She thought she must have misheard him.

“Love me. You cannot love me.” She stared through the darkness, wishing she could see him better. She wanted to drag him back to the house so she could look at him in the light to read the truth.

“Yet I do,” he said, his voice ringing with so much truth she had to believe him. “What you did was remarkable. Even more so because of what you have been through. You were scared to death but you still risked your life to protect your friend. You make me ashamed of myself.”

“Ashamed? Why? You came as soon as you heard we were in danger.”

“I don’t have your kind of courage. I have been fighting falling in love with you for a long time. I think long before I moved to Brambleberry House.”

“Why?” She was still not sure she could believe it but she wanted to. Oh, she wanted to.

“I loved my wife,” he said simply. “When she died, I thought I had nothing else to give. I did not want to love someone else. Love brought too much pain and sadness and it was easier, safer, to keep my heart locked away.”

He kissed her gently, on the side of her mouth that had not been hurt. “I am not brave like a certain woman I know who has endured horrible things but still manages to be kind and cheerful and loving.”

His words soaked through her, more comforting than she could ever tell him.

“This woman. She sounds very annoying. Too good to be true.”

He laughed. “She isn’t. She’s amazing. Did I tell you that she also reaches out to those in need and is willing to protect them with every fierce ounce of her being?”

She was not the perfect woman he was describing. But hearing how he saw her made her want to be.

Wasn’t that what love should be? A window that allowed you to discover the best in yourself because someone else saw you that way?

She didn’t know. She only knew she loved Wyatt with all her heart and wanted a future with him, as she had never wanted anything in her life.

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