to make my life easier. Only a true friend would do that.”
“I love you, Gia. I know it makes you uncomfortable to hear me say that, but it’s the truth. I can’t change the way I feel about you.”
“I don’t want you to.”
“What do you mean?”
She could see the pulse in the hollow of his throat throbbing, could feel a corresponding throb in her own chest. “I mean . . .” She took his hand in hers. “I’m sorry for being skittish. It threw me when you told me you’d bought that engagement ring for me. I wasn’t ready to hear it.”
“I get it,” he said. “I was disappointed at your reaction, but I did spring it on you.”
“I just need some time.”
“I understand.”
“It’s not that I don’t want you. I do. Want you.”
“I understand,” he repeated.
“You do?”
“Haven’t you learned by now, Short Stack, that I mean what I say? I think it’s smart to take your time. I was the one rushing things. I was just so happy to make our engagement real I didn’t think about what a bind I was putting you in.”
“Not a bind—”
“You do need to please yourself and if that means taking a year, I’ll be here. If it means five years, I’ll be here. If it means ten years. Ditto.”
“You’d put your life on hold for me?”
“Gia, don’t you get it? I love you. I would do anything for you. I admire that you had the ability to put on the brakes when you felt rushed and not get caught up in the excitement. It’s the adult thing to do. Nothing will be lost by us taking our time. I want you to be one hundred percent certain that I am what you want.”
“I’m already certain about that,” she said. “I want to marry you, Mike. I love you with all my heart and soul. Have loved you from the time you took that five-year-old girl out on the beach and taught her how to fly a kite.”
He put his hands on her shoulders, stared deeply into her eyes. “What’s different since this morning?”
She smiled at him, honest and true. “I patched things up with my sisters. I see things differently now. I’m less scared.”
“What were you scared of?”
“Things falling apart. I love my sisters more than anything in the world and yet, I thought I’d lost them forever. I lost my parents and now Grammy is so ill, we’re going to lose her, too, eventually. I know that.”
“So why the change of heart?”
“I experienced a paradigm shift when I learned Shelley sacrificed herself to spare my feelings, and to save Madison from a huge mistake. I thought all this time she was being selfish, when she was the exact opposite.”
“But how did Shelley’s sacrifice adjust the way you look at the world . . . at me . . . at us?”
“She was so brave. She’s always been brave. She calls it recklessness. Others have called her impetuous, but Shelley is just brave. She follows her heart. She takes chances. Sure, she gets hurt, but she lives. Fully lives with abandon. I want to be brave like that. I want to take chances. I can’t do that if I’m busy trying to please everyone else.”
“I agree, so don’t say you want to marry me just to please me.”
“This isn’t about you, Straus.” She laughed at his confusion. “It’s about me. I want you. But there is one small catch.”
“What’s that?” he asked, looking a bit nervous.
“I got a call from Pippa Grandon. Remember she told me she’d give me a month to think about her job offer?”
“Did you say yes?”
“I did.” Gia grinned. “But that means I can’t start planning my wedding until I get those kites done.”
“Fair enough,” he said.
“Do you still have that ring?”
He reached in his front pocket and pulled out the ring. “Do you really like it? Should I buy a better one?”
“Don’t you dare. You bought this ring for me and it’s the one I want.”
“I want you to be pleased with it.”
“I’m thrilled.”
“Honestly?”
“Are we doing this or not?”
He laughed, took her left hand in his, and sank down on one knee.
Her whole body shook, and her heart sang, and the sun was shining, and there were three red kites bobbing in the sky behind him.
“Gia Jasmine Clark, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife? For real this time?”
“Oh, Mike.” She laughed. The day that had started out as one of the crappiest days