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"You're not the only one who thinks so." He nodded toward Marcus Sullivan, who was laughing at something his wife had said, a look of all-consuming love on his handsome face.
"They are definitely giving Ashley and Drew some serious competition for the Most Perfect Couple in the World Award," she said with a little sigh.
"So could we." His statement stopped her in her tracks, just the way she was certain he'd intended. The others were continuing around the corner of the building, leaving them alone as he said, "Let me love you, Taylor. And let yourself love me back. I know things aren't easy right now, but that's what love is, isn't it? Sticking together in good times and bad. In sickness and in health."
Her heart clenched as he all but made his vows to her right then and there. He'd always been her best friend, but he was right in saying he'd make an even better boyfriend. She wanted to be with him so badly--wanted it more than anything she'd ever wanted before.
But wouldn't it be selfish to fall into his arms when she was such a mess? She had to be realistic, even if she hated what reality held for her. For them.
"I can't stand the thought of putting you through the sick watch again. You read my charts, so you know that dating me would be like dating a ticking time bomb."
"Be with me, Taylor." Determination radiated from him.
"Have you heard anything I've said? Do you understand at all where I'm coming from, that I only want to protect you?"
"I heard every word. But it doesn't change a thing. I love you. I've always loved you and I always will. You don't need to protect me. I promise you that I'm strong enough to take whatever comes. Strong enough to be there for you. Strong enough to help you with anything you need help with."
How could she possibly resist him when he opened his arms to her? No one could have, unless they were made of ice.
"I know exactly how strong you are." For a moment, she let herself lean into his strength as she rested her cheek on his chest and wrapped her arms around him. But she knew what caring for, worrying about, and researching cures for his mother, all while putting on a brave face, had done to him. How it had almost turned him into a shell of himself. That was precisely why she hadn't thought she could ask him to be strong for her too. Still trying to be strong, trying to do what she'd been so convinced was the right thing for him, she forced herself to pull back a couple of inches. "But I won't ever be able to forgive myself if I end up hurting you."
"You're not going to hurt me."
He sounded so certain that she almost believed he could make it so. And when he lowered his mouth to hers, she felt as though the passion and the emotion in their kiss just might be the magic ingredients she needed to make her wishes come true.
"Will you let me love you, Taylor?" He held her face in his hands, holding her heart just as tightly, as he gazed into her eyes with deep emotion. "Will you let yourself love me back? No matter what hurdles we have to face, now or in the future?"
She had tried to keep him safe, but she knew deep in her heart that in the end, she would never be able to keep in, or hold back, her love for him. Not now that it had finally spilled forth last night in the most beautiful way possible. She couldn't promise anything when it came to her health, but she could promise him this: "I will let you love me. And I will let myself love you too. I want to be with you, Justin. It's what I've always wanted."
They were kissing when Ashley and Drew came back around the building. Justin's arms tightened around her when he saw them, but he needn't have worried that she was going to pull away again.
Giving him up was the very last thing she wanted.
Guilt at the thought that she shouldn't have been so quick to fall into his arms--that she should have tried harder to protect him from future pain--pulled at her as Ashley and Drew beamed at them.
"Aha!" Drew said with a wide grin as he wagged his finger between them. "I knew something was going on in the kitchen this morning." His eyebrows moved up and down in an exaggerated manner. "You two are finally getting it on, aren't you?"
Taylor felt her face go up in flames as Ashley smacked her fiance's shoulder. "Drew!"
But Drew looked positively gleeful. "We've all been waiting forever for the two of you to see the light. To do the horizontal tango. To bump fuzzies. To make a bedspring symphony."
Ashley clamped her hand over Drew's mouth, giving Taylor and Justin an apologetic look even as the corners of her own mouth were twitching with a smile she was barely holding back. "Sorry that my husband-to-be has no manners."
He nipped at her hand, before saying, "Good thing you love that about me." Then he gave her a seriously hot kiss.
"What I came to ask before Drew went out of his way to get a rise out of both of you," Ashley continued in a slightly breathless voice when he let her go, "is, would you mind coming to look at the guest house with me, Taylor? It's where I'll be getting ready on the morning of the wedding, and my brain is so overfull with details already that I'm afraid I might miss something I'll need."
"I'd be happy to come take a look with you."
And she was even happier to be able to give Justin a kiss, rather than silently long for one the way she used to. Their kiss was soft and sweet and set dozens of butterflies loose inside of her. If only the shadow of guilt--and the weight of her worries about the future--would give up their grip on her, everything would be perfect.
But even though perfect wasn't in the cards for her, that didn't mean she couldn't appreciate every wonderful moment she and Justin had together now. If anything, she appreciated them even more.
*
"Finally," Drew said as he threw an arm around Justin's shoulders, "you've got the girl of your dreams."
A server came out of the tasting room with a tray of champagne flutes. "He
re are several vintages that Marcus and Nicola suggest you taste so that you can make your final selections for this weekend."
"Perfect timing," Drew declared. "My brother and I have plenty to celebrate."
They were sitting on outdoor chairs in the shade of a large oak when Drew picked up a glass and held it out to Justin in a toast. "To both of us snaring the women we were meant to be with."
Justin clinked his glass with Drew's, but barely took a sip. Holding Taylor in the middle of the vineyard, hearing her say that she loved him and that she wanted to be with him, meant more to him than anything else ever had. He'd never felt so high.
Or so low, when he thought about how much time he'd wasted. "How could I have been such an idiot not to tell her how I feel years ago?"
"No point in worrying about the past," Drew said. "You've got the future to look forward to."
The future. Justin had read all the statistics about the life-spans of PKD patients--the progress the scientific community had made with dialysis and kidney transplants was impressive. But he wanted guarantees, damn it. For the hundredth time in the past hour, he went back through everything he'd read before leaving the B&B.
Drew frowned when Justin didn't immediately agree that his future was all roses and sunshine now that Taylor was his. "I'm pretty sure you have everything you've ever wanted now," his brother remarked. "So why aren't you skipping through the vineyards with cartoon hearts floating around your head?"
Justin hated to break Taylor's confidence, but he needed to talk this through with someone. His father, though brilliant, was out of the question. Something told Justin there was a chance Dad might even agree with Taylor's concerns about getting too close--if only to try to protect his son from any harm.
When the truth was that the only thing that would truly devastate Justin was living without her.
"You're right," he said to his brother. "This should be the best day of my life. After all these years of loving Taylor but not being able to tell her or show her, and not knowing if she felt the same way, my mind is blown to find out I'm not the only one who has those feelings."
"So then I'll ask again--where are the cartoon hearts?"
"She's been diagnosed with PKD."
