“They say addiction can be hereditary.”
“She could have made him a monster to me, but she never told me why they ended things. All she’d say was that they wanted different things.”
“I’m sure Dr. Mackle will know more. I’ll message him and ask him to meet us for dinner or somethin’. Or just you.”
Looking up into his eyes, I smile. I’m so grateful for all of this. “No, I’d like you to be there. This is so extraordinary. You’re bringing me closer to my family. I love this so much, and I don’t know how to thank you.”
“Just knowin’ you’re happy makes it worth everythin’. You smiled last night in a way I haven’t seen in a while, and I was glad to be the one to put it on your face. Especially since I was the reason you stopped. I love you so much that I never want to take it away again.”
“I love you, too,” I say and kiss him gently.
“Any chance you’d be willin’ to come to Mama’s for brunch?”
Last night felt like we made so much progress, but it’s hard to feel sure. “What will that tell them?”
“That you’re stickin’ around. Youarestickin’ around, aren’t you?”
Am I? “I think so.”
“You think so?”
I hate the sadness taking over his otherwise happy demeanor. “I love my house. My grandparents’ house, but there’s still uncertainty with us.”
“What do you mean?”
Here it goes. Will he be the man who hurt me because he was hurt? “I don’t know if I can fully trust you yet.”
“You don’t trust me?”
The pain in his voice nearly breaks me. “If my life was in danger, I believe you’d do what you could to help me. It’s trusting you with my heart that I’m still unsure of right now. This is all really thoughtful and amazing, but it doesn’t quite outweigh the hurt. Not yet.”
“What do you need me to do?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I need to trust that you want this for the long haul like you say you do. That you won’t decide you don’t believe I love you and try to push me away again. I need to feel that what we have is safe again.”
Nodding, Rhett licks his lips. “I want to marry you and have kids with you. If you’d come back and told me you were pregnant, I don’t think I could’ve been happier.”
“You say that now, but I’m scared it won’t last. That you’ll freak out and not want me like—” He stands and walks out of the room. I stare after him, dumbfounded. “I guess the conversation’s over?”
I hear a drawer open, and he walks back out with a box in his hands. “This isn’t what it looks like.”
Opening it, I see a ring. A beautiful, elegant diamond ring. “Uh… what is it? Because it looks like an engagement ring.”
“It is,” he says, “but this isn’t a proposal. Not yet.”
“Yet?”
“I bought it the week after you left. It wasn’t planned, and I kind of just stumbled upon it. When the woman pulled it from the case, I knew it was for you. The idea of marryin’ you excites me, and I want to give you my last name.”
Okay, I’m confused.“Why are you showing me this?”
“Because I don’t know how else to show you that I’m in this. I’m fully in this, and I have plans. Big plans. And to make sure I achieve them, I have to be the man you fell in love with. I’ll never accomplish what I’ve set out to if I’m not, and it’s my incentive to prove myself. To one day put this on your finger and tie our lives together forever.”
Holy shit. “It’s beautiful, Rhett.”
“I know it’s nothin’ like the ring Kevin gave you based on the pictures I saw, but this looks more like you. The woman I know. It’s you in jewelry form. Beautiful and timeless.”
“And you aren’t proposing?”
