you to worry about that. You’re nothing like them. You’re a strong man, a loving one.”
Now her hands gripped his tightly. “One who loves me enough to shatter his heart worse than his legs, if the best thing for me is to let me go. That’s what I didn’t realize, until I came back that night and saw you by your bed.”
He still felt bad about that, but before the inadvertent knife twist could make him say anything about it, she’d taken a breath and pushed onward. “You know things about me I have a hard time saying about myself. You’ve told me you can read my heart, that I don’t have to work as hard to express my desires, and that…your caring for me, it never ends. It means everything. So for both of us, I need to say something.”
The raw emotion in her voice told him what it was costing her to pull the words from her heart and soul, put them out into the air between them. It made his own heart ache for her, but he answered her in a steady tone. “Then I’m listening.”
“I’m getting better at saying what I want. But there’s a difference between want and choice. That was the real problem, wasn’t it? They made me think I didn't have any choices. You, your family, you all taught me otherwise. There's a line…and past that line no one, not even you, gets to make those choices for me.”
She’d kept her eyes on his chest as she said it, and he could see the quiver in her rigid shoulders. He leaned forward enough to put a thumb on her jaw, tip her face up. “Say it again,” he said. “While looking right at me.”
When she did, her eyes were bright, almost feral. “No one gets to make those choices for me.”
She swallowed, and her fingers had that coldness to them, but he held them, warmed them, as he deliberately let his lips curve. “You bet your ass.”
She stared at him. “You say that, but do you trust my choice? Will you let yourself believe I want you as much as you want me?”
The light dawned. Well, hellfire. That was why she thought he’d been hedging about moving in. He noted she’d added a little tilt to her chin at the end that made him smile, a painful thing. He withdrew his hand, but only to back up his chair. "Come stand in front of me, rebellious woman."
She gave him a curious look, but when she rose and complied, he looked up at her. It was as close as he could get to kneeling.
“I’m marrying you,” he said. “So you'll know I believe you."
She jerked, her eyes widening. “I thought…I wasn’t sure if you meant it that night, when I overheard you.”
“So you didn’t bring it up again. Waiting on me.” He smiled again, easier this time. “And I didn’t mention it again, because I didn’t want to hold you to it. But I changed my mind. With one very important condition.”
“What?” She looked off balance now, but in a very lovely way.
"You’re going to promise me that whatever you want to do with your life, no matter how it changes, you’ll always tell me. Travel, design a rocket, learn to be a surgeon. Whatever you want to be or do, I'm going to back you."
Her eyes sparkled, then softened as she sank to her knees and put her hand on his leg. "As long as you’ll trust me when I tell you my favorite thing is just lying in a hammock with you, watching the sun set over the fields, hearing the breeze and the beating of our hearts. Oh…” Her eyes brightened even further. “We need to put a hammock out between those two maple trees in back. I forgot to add that to the plans.”
He chuckled. “I have a million reasons for wanting to marry you. But here’s the really important one. This can’t be returned.”
He fished out the ring. He’d grabbed it out of its box, wrapped it in tissue paper and shoved it in his pocket before he’d followed her out to the van. Hence Johnny’s amused look, who’d known all along why Rory had been putting off the move.
Now he unwrapped the sparkling band and offered it to her. Since she was at his feet, he leaned forward enough to tunnel a hand under her hair to clasp her nape in a warm hand, rub his thumb there,