“But he knew you would protect Aaron.”
“He’s my little brother,” I say simply.
“I’m sorry he did that to you,” she says, and I didn’t realize how much I needed her to believe me until so much tension leaves my muscles, they actually tremble.
“Us,” I correct in a rough voice. “He did that to us. You and me, and what could have been.”
“But why didn’t you just tell me? All this time I thought you stood me up. I thought it was just some…elaborate Reilly prank on the Gamble family. You could have at least slipped a note into my locker.”
“I’m so sorry.” Even though they can’t hurt Aaron anymore—Frank retired the year before Marcus passed away and died three years later—the old fear makes my chest hurt and I struggle to take a full breath. “If I told you, and then you told Mel or anybody else, Aaron might find out and I never wanted him to know. I was scared, Cara.”
Her brows draw together. “If a corrupt police chief threatened to frame me for a felony, I’d want to know.”
“Aaron was a kid. And he knew how I felt about you, so he would have felt bad or—even worse—tried to fix it. He probably would have gone to our mother, and she would have dragged the entire town into it. I knew that no matter what, I was never going to be allowed to talk to you, and I was afraid Marcus and Frank would get even more dangerous if they were cornered. The stakes were too high, so I had to let you go. As far as I know, your father and I are the only ones who ever knew.”
“And my mother.” I start to speak, but she holds up her hand. “She deliberately delayed me with the hair thing. She was in on it.”
“Oh, she was definitely involved in running me off. But that doesn’t mean she knew he threatened to ruin my little brother’s life with a fake drug dealing charge.”
Her sudden laugh echoes across the water and eases some of the pressure in my chest. “Hayden Reilly, are you actually defending Gin Gamble?”
“She is my mother-in-law, you know.” And I want to keep it that way, so even though I may have said what I had to say to smooth things over, there’s more I need to say. “And to circle back to us knowing what we were getting into, I guess I didn’t because falling in love with you all over again was never part of the plan.”
“Hayden—”
“Do you know what I felt the day we closed on that house?” I cut in, because even if she’s about to tell me she doesn’t feel the same and it’s over between us, I want her to know. “I thought the taste of triumph would be so sweet that day, but when we walked out of that office and the house was mine, all I could think about was how from that moment on, the clock was ticking toward you and I going our separate ways. The satisfaction of finally owning that porch was nothing compared to how badly I wished our marriage was going to last forever.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Her voice is barely more than a whisper.
“I broke your heart once, Cara. And I made a deal with you. I blew my chance, and dumping my emotions on a situation that was already emotional for you wouldn’t be fair.”
She inhales deeply, her hand stroking Penny’s back, before she looks at me. “That was so long ago, Hayden. I mean, I guess it was unfinished business between us, but we were kids. We’re adults now, and the teenage version of you might have broken my heart, but the grown version of you won it back.”
As her words sink in, my pulse races and it’s hard to breathe. “Cara?”
“I love you too, Hayden. Not still, but again. And I didn’t tell you before because, like you said, it wasn’t part of the deal we made.”
“I think it’s time we amend the deal,” I say after clearing my throat. “Cara, you’re my wife. I love you, and I’m asking you to stay my wife, not just in name, but in my heart.”
She presses her lips together for a few seconds before they curve into a quivering smile. “Yes. Yes, Hayden, I will stay your wife because I love you, too.”
“Then let’s do this right.” I take her hand in mine, my thumb pressed to the rings she hadn’t taken off. “Carolina Marie Gamble, I promise to love you until the last breath leaves my body. I promise that we’re going to dream big and then work together to make those dreams come true. And I promise to show up for you, every day, for the rest of our lives.”
Her breath catches in her chest, and she blinks away tears. “Hayden William Reilly, I promise to see you—to see the man you are and not who anybody else believes you to be—and I promise to love you for the rest of my life.”
Cupping the back of her neck, I lean in and kiss my wife.
My wife.
For the first time in my life, I know what peace truly feels like. Cara in my arms, her lips against mine. Penny happily cuddled up between us. The water lazily swirling around this rock where I kissed Cara for the first time, so many years ago.
And when the kiss ends and I look into her eyes, shimmering with happy tears, there’s only one thing left to say.
“Let’s go home.”
Chapter Sixty-One
Cara
