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“If anything had happened to either of you…”
“Xander,” she cuts me off. “We don’t have to talk about it.”
I shake my head. “We do, Mel. We do because it’s important to me that you know, I would never put you and Lucian in harm’s way. I will never do it again.”
“I know.”
I shut my eyes and heave a huge breath. “All I could think of was our promise. The one I made you, to come back.”
Mel looks like she’s hardly breathing.
I look at her. “I may not always come back.”
“Xander…”
“I may not always come back,” I continue. “But I can promise you that when we’re together, we will have the best life we can possibly imagine. I will make all of your dreams come true. I love you, and I need you to know that I love you, every second of every day.”
“Xander,” her voice breaks.
I take another deep breath.
And this is not the perfect moment, but it's the one I've chosen. I grab the ring box that’s in my pocket. I push my chair back and turn Mel’s so it’s facing the room.
I lock eyes with her, grateful that we’re the only two people in the room. I want to do this right, so I get on my knees before her. I grab the ring box from my pocket and open it.
Her eyes widen and the tears that had seemingly dried up come hurtling back. Her eyes shine as she glances back and forth between me and the ring. "What are you doing, Xander?"
"Asking you to marry me,” I whisper.
My heart is in my throat.
I’m not sure what she’s going to say. I know that technically, we’re already engaged.
But we didn’t make that decision. Someone made it for us. Life pushed Mel and I back together. This time, however, it’s different.
This time, I’m asking her to choose me.
And I’m terrified to hear what she’ll say.
She looks down at me incredulously as though I've gone off my rocker. "We're already getting married. You can't ask me now,” she whispers.
I shake my head. She needs to know that this is important. That I need her like I need oxygen, and I want to know that she’s just as passionate about me as I am about her.
"I can. I will. I am." I open the ring box and the lights glint off the canary yellow diamonds nestled in the black velvet of the box. She bites her lips and lifts her eyes to mine. I know she's thinking of the red rubies. The one she's still wearing, though she hates it.
I’ll never make her do anything that she hates ever again.
I look up at her, and my throat feels tight. “I need to ask you, Mel,” I whisper. “I need to ask you because so much has changed from the first time we did this.”
“Which time?” she laughs.
I smile. “When you agreed to be my wife. When I gave you that dress and that ring. When I put that together, I honestly thought this would be something political only. Something to keep our businesses and families intertwined. I didn’t think it was possible for me to fall for you again. I thought there was no way I still felt a thing for this woman. At most, maybe I'll hate her. But when you stepped through the door, wearing that red dress and that damned ring that I hated giving to you, I'd should have recognized that even then, hating you just wouldn't be possible."
She sniffles and glares down at me suddenly. "Why'd you send me the ring then? I thought you'd forgotten I hated rubies. Still hate them,” she says with a meaningful glance at the yellow diamonds nestled in the box.
I wince and wish I didn't have to answer that question. But we're starting out on a clean slate, and everything needs to be out there.
"I know, baby. I'm sorry. But I wanted to prove to myself I was over you. Wanted to hurt you as much as you hurt me by leaving."
