Page 118 of Until You Came Along
“What things?”
“I talked to Connor. He told me he misses me and hasn’t been able to forget me,” he told me.
I ran to his side and hugged him.
“I’m so happy for you, Tom. If you love each other, don’t let someone else’s cruelty keep you apart. Love each other freely.”
“We’ll probably see each other. He might come to spend a few days with us because he wants to meet you. I’ve always talked a lot about you to him, but I could never tell you about him.”
“I can’t wait to meet him! Now, while we walk to the beach, tell me about him so when I see him I’ll feel like I already know him a little,” I said happily.
“What time is it?” he asked, concerned.
“It must be close to midnight.”
“We should hurry,” he said, and I noticed he was very anxious, which caught my attention a bit.
???
We arrived at the beach five minutes before midnight. The fireworks display welcoming the New Year had already begun, though I knew the greatest splendor would come at exactly midnight. My brother was beside me and looked nervous. I didn’t want to ask him why because I assumed it was because he was still worried about our father’s actions, probably feeling a bit paranoid. When the clock struck the new year, the noise became deafening. I looked at Tom and hugged him with tears in my eyes, longing had invaded my entire being.
“Happy New Year, little brother.”
“Thank you, Delfi, same to you. I’m sure it’s going to be a good year,” he said, but he separated from me, observing me from about three feet away. I stared at him puzzled, not understanding why he was looking at me like that until...
“Happy New Year, my love.”
My heart stopped only to start pumping blood at a frantic rhythm. That was his voice, I could distinguish it even if I were in a room with a hundred people talking to me because it was the voice that went straight to my heart. My eyes searched for my brother and found him looking at me with a big smile. My body wouldn’t respond and I couldn’t move. When I finally reacted, I turned slowly and found him standing a short distance from me. He was looking at me with a sparkle in his eyes that gave the green of his pupils an extraordinary light. He was so handsomehe seemed unreal. He was wearing blue jeans and a white shirt. He looked thinner, his hair wasn’t neatly combed as usual, and I could see the shadow of a couple days’ stubble. I had never seen him like this, though he looked incredibly sexy.
“Hermes?” was all I could ask like a fool.
"I couldn't spend any more time without seeing you. We need to talk, my love, I have so much to tell you."
At that moment I heard my brother's voice and we both looked at him.
"I'll leave you two and see you later at home. Hermes, ...good luck."
"Don't go, Tom. I'd like you to stay and also hear what I have to say."
I looked at them and didn't understand anything. Since when did they have such trust if they supposedly didn't know each other? "Hermes, good luck" he had said? What did that mean? I looked back at Hermes and found him by my side. He took both my hands and looked into my eyes, he looked at me as if I were the most beautiful and important thing in the world, in his world.
"Delfina, it was always you. My heart was always waiting for you to surrender to you, you opened it and took complete ownership of it. Today I can assure you that I have only had, have, and will have one great love in my life, and that love is you. I love you more than I can express with words because there are no words to describe everything I feel for you," he said, placing a hand on his chest, "you are my life. I want you by my side, in my days and in my nights. When you bumped into me spilling that drink on me and looked into my eyes, I knew with certainty that those eyes were the ones I had been waiting for all my life. Thoseeyes broke through my barriers and melted with their warmth all the ice that wrapped my heart. I know clearly that, out of fear and having a closed mind, I made many mistakes and made you suffer, but believe me when I tell you that I suffered more when you weren't with me."
At that moment I interrupted him, because as much as everything he was saying was what my heart wanted to hear, there was a big issue to resolve.
"Hermes, what about that heavy backpack loaded with resentment and grudges that you carry on your back? That burden is too heavy and has prevented you from moving forward and, if I'm with you, I'll also get stuck in your resentment. I'm not saying this to make you feel bad, I'm saying it so you understand that you have the right and the obligation to move forward, to try to be happy, ...and so do I. I don't want to get stuck, I don't want that because, even though I love you, I would live in a continuous struggle and we would end up being miserable," I stated, so he would understand that love couldn't overcome everything, love wasn't indestructible.
"I got rid of that heavy and useless burden because it had me exhausted and bitter. I swear to you it's true. I realized I was giving up. Resentment, as you rightly say, made me relive the past over and over again, and I transferred that damage received to everyone around me. It was a vicious cycle that I couldn't escape from or, rather, I wasn't doing anything to escape. Until you came along, the love of my life. When I met you, I came out of the darkness I had been stuck in all these years and found refuge in your arms. For you, I got rid of that backpack and burned it so I would never carry it again, and that's a promise. I'm going to correct all my mistakes, I want to be a person worthy of you. I offer you everything that's mine, my heart, my soul, the rest of my life. I love you, I love you madly anddesperately, and I'm sure it will be that way until the last day of my existence. You are the love of my life, it's impossible to love twice the way I love you. I can't lose you, my life is by your side, I want to share it with you."
Then, he slowly approached and, cautiously, stretched out his arms to embrace me. I let him do it and I also hugged him tightly. When our bodies met, the connection was palpable. We yearned for each other, our bodies needed each other and our souls longed for each other.
"My love, you can't imagine how much I need you. My soul has returned to my body."
"I love you, Hermes, and I believe in you," was all I could say.
He moved away a little to look into my eyes and, without hesitation, kissed me. When our lips joined, we both sighed with pleasure and I felt my body recharging with an energy I hadn't had in those days, awakening with an unstoppable force to fight for the love I felt. That kiss was like coming home. That kiss was the confirmation that we couldn't be apart, our hearts were united forever. Hermes's warm and soft lips devoured me with delicacy and passion. I felt when he began to slow the rhythm of the kiss until it became just a brush of lips. He sought me with his gaze, gently wiped away some tears that were sliding down my face, and smiled. Then he separated from me and did something I wasn't expecting, he knelt on one knee in the sand and looked at me with emotion.
"Delfina Darner, my love, would you do me the honor of marrying me?"
