Page 68 of Royal Darling
My heart stays with you
I need to be whole
I need my Emma
My goddess of music
My Emma
My muse, my life
I would be your family man
My Emma
Will you be my wife?”
The last note rings out pure and sincere, and I’m frozen in shock.
His gaze searches mine.
I can’t quite believe my ears. My heart hammers against my rib cage, my pulse thrumming through my veins. “What?” I ask inanely as if hearing him propose again would suddenly make sense to me.
He removes his guitar, setting it in its case, and then drops to his knees in front of me. “Emma, will you marry me?”
My mouth goes dry. He proposed again. I’m having trouble wrapping my mind around it. “You left me and now you want to marry me?”
He takes my hands in his. “I thought you’d be better off without me in the picture. But, Emma, I love you, and I can’t turn my back on us. This past week has been excruciating. Bloody horrific. I didn’t think I could ever join my life with someone, but you’re different, so special. I know I’ll never find another woman like you. I want everything with you, marriage, kids, music that we write and play and sing together for the rest of our lives.”
I stare at him, speechless.
He rises smoothly to his feet and gazes deep into my eyes. “I love you.” His voice breaks. “It’s been hell. Everything reminds me of you, my guitar, my boat, even my stupid leather jacket because you wore it once. I can’t sleep at night. I’m miserable without you.”
Part of me is pleased that he’s in misery, though it was his own fault. The other part of me is filled with hope. “You shouldn’t have left, especially without a goodbye.”
“I thought I was making things worse for you with your mum. I thought you belonged here and I didn’t, but we belong together no matter where that is. I swear on my life I will never leave you again. I love you more than I love music, more than I love myself. I never thought I’d feel that way about anyone.”
A lightness spreads through my limbs, a soft floating feeling that I’ve only ever felt with music and Jackson. The two are forever entwined for me now. “Swear on your guitar that you won’t flake.”
He takes the guitar from its case and hands it to me. “It’s yours. Everything I have is yours.”
I set the guitar gently back in its case, avoiding eye contact as I ask the one thing that has nagged at me. “What about the diamond ring? Would you give it back to me?”
“Um…”
I straighten and force myself to voice my fear. “If I wasn’t a royal with money, would you still want me?”
He steps close. “Yes. But I can’t give you back that ring. I need it to set up a trust for Charlie’s son. He’s only four. Emma, he named him for me. Jack.” His voice chokes, his eyes watering. “I want to make sure he has a chance at a good life, music lessons, tutors, whatever he needs.”
My knees go weak. He wasn’t using me at all. He was looking out for a child who lost his father much too young. How could I not love this man?
He takes both my hands in his. “Does any part of my song sound remotely good to you?”
“Yes.”
One corner of his mouth lifts in a crooked endearing smile. “Which part?”
I grab him and hug him, my entire body relaxing back in Jackson’s arms, wrapped in his heat, his scent, his love. “All of it. Yes to all of it.”
