for the first time in years. That I had him to thank for that. That I had fallen back in love with our small town, and I was happier here than I had ever been before. That New York didn’t hold the allure it used to now, that I had discovered what it meant to truly be alive.
But he didn’t let me say any of that.
He took my hands and placed my palms over his heart. I could feel the steady thud beneath my fingers. “If you go to New York, I’m following you.”
Whatever I expected him to say, it wasn’t that. “What did you say?” I gaped at him in surprise.
“I mean it. I know I said I wouldn’t chase you, but that was a fucking lie. I’d chase you to the ends of this goddamn Earth if I had to. I’ve waited twenty-eight years to be with you. I won’t let you slip out of my life so easily.”
“Adam, let me speak—”
“Just hear me out. I’ve been rehearsing this in my head all evening since my parents and Lena told me to go get you. But then I got the call from the hospital, so there was a detour.”
“Your parents and Lena told you to go get me?” I asked in amusement, wishing I had been there for that particular conversation.
“If you won’t stay, then we leave together. I’ll go wherever you want to go. If that’s New York, then I’m going with you. If you want to go to Timbuktu, then I’ll build us a hut in the middle of the jungle because nothing matters as long as we’re together.”
“Seriously, Adam, take a breath,” I said, trying to get him to hear me. To tell him I felt the same. But he kept going.
He cupped my face between his hands, his eyes warm and intent on mine. “I love you, Meghan Galloway. I’ve loved you forever, and I plan to love you until we’re old and they put us in the ground beside each other.”
“That’s morbid,” I teased, my eyes filling with tears.
“And in the next life, I’ll love you still. And the one after that. And the one after that.”
I took a shuddering breath. “It’s you and me, Ducate,” I whispered.
His eyes brightened, and he leaned down to kiss me. “It’s you and me, Galloway.”
His mouth met mine, and the world exploded with a thousand colors. A million stars.
He pulled back after a minute, his face so, so serious. “Chelsea is signing the divorce papers. She won’t be an issue.”
I reached up to wrap my arms around his neck. “She was never an issue, not really. It was my pride that almost ruined us. And my stupid stubbornness.”
He laughed. “The Galloway pride is legendary. My mother always warned me.”
“Oh, she did?” My lips split into the widest grin.
“She did. And she also told me that you and I are were meant to be. And when my mother speaks, of course, I listen.”
“As you should. She’s a wise lady,” I agreed.
He kissed me again, and it felt like flying.
“Come inside. Stay with me. The whole night this time. I don’t want you running out of here in a few hours with your panties in a ball in your pocket.” He took my hand and led me to the house.
“Only if you promise not to take up all the bed. You’re a horrible cover hog.” I elbowed him in the side.
We approached the house, and Adam caught sight of the canvas I had leaned against the porch steps. “What’s that?”
“Oh. Um, it’s for you.” I felt shy as he picked it up and looked at it silently. His eyes roaming over the swaths of color and sketched drawing.
“This is us,” he said after a few minutes.
“It is.”
He looked at me, his cheeks wet. “When did you paint this?”
“The night at your parents when I first got to town.” I couldn’t quite tell what he was thinking, but I could tell he was struggling to speak.
“If you don’t like it, it’s okay. I only wanted you to see that even then, you inspired me. That you’ve always inspired me—”
He cut me off with a kiss. “You knew,” he murmured against my mouth, and I relaxed into his arms.
“I always knew.”
Epilogue
Meghan
Six Months Later
“I think that’s the last of it,” Kyle said, dropping my suitcase in the middle of the bedroom floor. “I thought there would be more stuff, with you being a woman and all.”