Page 119 of Until You Came Along
I felt my legs weaken and they wouldn't hold me up. Hermes was proposing marriage to me. I believed in him, in everything he had told me, and I had faith that we would be happy. Ididn't doubt it. If we loved each other and wanted to be together sharing everything that life had in store for us, we were ready to take that step. I let myself fall onto the sand next to him and took his face in my hands.
"Yes, my love. I wish with all my heart to join my life to yours and marry you," I responded emotionally.
Hermes smiled with eyes full of tears and kissed me, kissed me and kissed me, until loud applause made us separate and turn in that direction. I was totally surprised when I saw that our enthusiastic spectators were three. Not only was my brother there, whom we had completely forgotten about, but also Baco and Catalina, and all three were applauding effusively and with genuine emotion. Hermes and I were still kneeling in the sand. I looked at him surprised and he looked at me with a big smile.
"They missed you too and wanted to see you to apologize personally. They left everything to accompany me, I think that if you had said no, you would have had them chasing you all over Miami trying to convince you that you should marry me."
I looked at them again, smiling.
“Come on, son, give her the ring!” exclaimed Catalina, emotional.
Hermes stood up and helped me to my feet by taking my hand, then took out a velvet case from his pants pocket and from it a beautiful gold ring with three diamonds, one large and two small.
“I love you with all my heart and I feel like the luckiest man on earth to be able to share my life with you,” he said, sliding the ring onto my ring finger with utmost delicacy.
“I’m not dreaming, am I?” I asked, and heard the laughter of our family members.
“If we’re in a dream, I never want to wake up,” responded Hermes, smiling, and then he embraced me and kissed me passionately again, while a chorus of cheers and applause enveloped us along with the noise of fireworks celebrating the arrival of a new year. For us, one that brought a new chapter and a life to share.
Chapter 13
“I love you as one loves certain loves, in the old-fashioned way, with my soul and without looking back”
—Mario Benedetti
We returned to Uruguay a week later. Baco and Catalina went back two days after the proposal, but Hermes and I decided to stay another week to enjoy a few days and spend time with my brother. After Baco and Catalina left, I moved to the hotel where Hermes was staying so we could sleep together, and also because Connor had arrived and we wanted to give them privacy, just as we wanted privacy for ourselves. Connor turned out to be charming and we immediately got along wonderfully. My brother was so happy and I felt so blessed that it seemed like I was living in a dream.
When I entered Hermes’s house, I truly felt like I was coming home, because my home was wherever he was—he was my home.
“Welcome home, my love. You can’t imagine the happiness I feel having you back in our house,” he said, as he opened the door for me to enter.
“Thank you. I was just thinking that when I stood in front of the door, I felt like I was coming home,” I confessed.
“You were always here, you never left. Our home holds your essence and my bed carries your scent because that’s where youbelong. Your place is in my arms and in my bed,” he said, giving me a sweet kiss on the lips.
“I like my place,” I commented with a sensual smile.
He took me in his arms and carried me inside. As he headed toward the grand staircase to go to the bedroom, we crossed paths with Felicia, who began to laugh seeing Hermes’s eagerness.
“Welcome, Miss Delfina. It’s a joy to have you back here.”
“Felicia, we’ll greet you properly later because right now we’re in a hurry,” Hermes stated as he climbed the steps two at a time with me in his arms.
“Hello, Felicia. Thank you for the welcome. I’ll come down later to greet you properly,” I said, looking at her over Hermes’s shoulder.
“We might not leave the bedroom for quite a while…or several days,” Hermes clarified.
Felicia burst into laughter and said:
“Good for you, take advantage of that energy that love and youth give you.”
When we reached the bedroom, Hermes closed the door with his foot and gently laid me on the bed.
“I don’t know what you’ve done to me, but I desire you more each day. I’m crazy about you.”
He lowered himself to my lips and took possession of my mouth, savoring it possessively. Our tongues danced together at a frantic rhythm; we didn’t want to leave a single inch of them unexplored. Slowly, the kiss decelerated until we were gently caressing each other’s lips and looking into each other’s eyes with blazing passion.
“I love you. I want to marry you as soon as possible, let’s get married right away,” he pleaded.
