Page 118 of Enough
“No,” he says with a shake of his head. “Kay.”
“What?” I still and my chest begins to ache. “Did she recognize you?” I ask with astonishment.
He smiles. “She did. We talked for a few minutes and she asked me how long I would be in town. I told her I’d moved to town over a year ago but that I was thinking of heading back home. In typical Kay fashion, she insisted I tell her why. I don’t know what it was about her, but she made it so easy to just pour your heart at her feet.”
I smile knowingly and he grips my hands in his.
“I told her I was ready to go home because I realized I’d never get another chance with you. She told me, and I remember her exact words because I replayed them in my head whenever I had any doubts. She said, ‘Nick Rowen, don’t you dare lay down your cards and fold.’”
I feel tears in my eyes. I can picture her speaking those words. I’d heard them myself a few times. I miss her and everything about her.
“She said, ‘That girl deserves a man like you, and I promise you, someday, you’re gonna get that chance again. Don’t you dare stop believing. You play those cards and you wait for her to be ready to play her own.’”
“She said that? Really?” I ask through my tears.
“She gave me my sign and I stayed. I didn’t go home, and two years later, there you were.”
“There I was,” I repeat.
“Ever, there’s something here between us. Do you feel it?” he asks as he motions back and forth.
“Yes,” I whisper.
“From the first moment I saw you, it was like I knew. I was young and stupid and I made a lot of mistakes. I lost you.”
“But you didn’t,” I interrupt.
“Shhh…” he whispers as he lifts his finger to my lips. “Let me finish.”
I smile and he smiles back. It’s my smile.
“Then one day, I found you again and I knew from the moment I saw you that I would never take you for granted. That I would always wait for you and that if I was lucky enough to have you, I would never, ever let you go again.”
“Never ever?” I whisper.
He takes my face in his hands. “Never, Ever.”
His hands slip down my face and he takes a large breath before he bends down on one knee in front of me. I gasp.
“Everly, you are my everything, my everywhere, my everlasting, and my evermore. I love you, and if you’ll have me, I promise to give you every part of me and everything I have for every day of the rest of my life. Will you do me the honor of loving me forever and becoming my wife?” He raises his hand to mine, and a very large diamond ring glistens in the snow.
I gasp as tears flow down my face. “Yes,” I cry as I fall to my knees next to him and take his face in my hands. “Absolutely, yes.”
He kisses me as the snow falls around us, and just when I think he couldn’t be more to me, he’s more than I ever dreamed possible.
Two years later
“FOR PETE’S SAKE, Nick. This is ridiculous.”
“Stop,” he orders as he leads me blindfolded out of our car. “I have a reason. Do you trust me?”
“You know I do. I wouldn’t have married you and allowed you to impregnate me with your son if I didn’t.” I feel his hands on my expanding belly and then his lips press to mine.
“Do you know how crazy beautiful you are?” he asks me.
“Do you know how hot and sexyyouare?” I ask him.
“I’m going to show you hot and sexy later tonight,” he whispers in my ear, and my knees go weak. Every word out of his mouth is still music to my ears.
