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With a smile on her face, she holds out a key ring with a small red bow on it and one key.
“Congratulations, Isabelle. The library is now yours again.”
With a shaking hand, I take the key from her.
“I don’t understand,” I whisper.
She gives Vincent a wink before addressing me again.
“The board received several very angry phone calls over the last few days, as well as a very, very large donation. Enough to keep the place fully staffed and running for well over a year. At that time, the board will review things again, but I’m certain that when you implement all of your amazing ideas, they’ll have no trouble agreeing to keep it open,” she explains. “Personally, if I were you, I’d forgive the handsome man standing behind you. He’s really sorry for what he did.”
I can’t help but laugh, wiping away a tear as she goes back to stand with the rest of the employees. I turn to face the handsome man standing behind me. Who currently has my father, Cindy, and Ariel standing right behind him.
“Can you guys give us some privacy?” I ask them.
“Damn it,” Cindy mutters, walking around Vincent to go talk to Mrs. Potter.
I look at Ariel, raising an eyebrow at her.
“Fine. But I’m walking away under protest, just so you know,” she tells me, pausing in front of Vincent. “Don’t fuck this up, or I’ll fuck up your face.”
“How’s your hand?” he asks with a twitch of his mouth.
She replies by giving him the middle finger before walking away, and I turn my eyes towards my father.
“First I didn’t get to stab him or burn his house down, now I can’t even stay for the good part,” he grumbles, stomping over to join the group.
When we’re finally as alone as we’re going to get, I look up at Vincent and shake my head at him.
“What did you do?”
He closes the distance between us, bring his hands up to either side of my face.
“You, of all people, deserve a happy ending and the big, romantic gesture,” he says softly, staring into my eyes. “I had some money saved, and I had a little help from Eric because he’s really sorry about being an asshole with a big mouth.”
“I can’t let you do this. It’s too much.”
Dipping his head, he rests his forehead against mine.
“It’s too late. It’s yours, and I’m not taking it back. And just so you know, I didn’t do this to hold it over you or expect anything in return. I don’t give a shit if I have to go back to Canada, as long as you never leave me again. Promise me you won’t leave me again. We can do the long-distance thing. It’s not that far. You can come visit me, and I can come back here. You know, as long as I don’t stay for longer than six months at a time,” he says with a smile.
Pulling my head back from his, I stare up at the man who started out as a beast and ended up being the sweetest, most caring, and thoughtful—if sometimes annoying—man I’ve ever met. He’s so much better than any hero I’ve ever read in any book, and the best part is, he’s mine and he’s real.
“Like I’d really let you go back to Canada after you bought me a library. I’m not an animal,” I tell him with a smile. “I told you, all you have to do is ask me.”
Vincent drops his hands from my face and quickly reaches over to the table next to him, grabbing a book that’s laying on top.
I can’t help but laugh when I see it’s the same book he used to sit at that same table not reading, when he came in here every night for a week.
“Open it,” he tells me, handing me the book.
I flip it open with a smile that immediately turns into a gasp when I see what’s inside. The words on the pages all blur together as my eyes cloud with tears.
“You cut a hole in a book and put a ring in it?” I ask in shock, staring with wide eyes at the beautiful, princess-cut diamond nestled amid the pages, sparkling as the light hits it.
I look up at him and then watch him slowly drop to one knee in front of me, barely paying attention to the chorus of gasps from the group of people standing a few feet away.
“Isabelle Reading, will you marry me? And not because of that fucking green card, but because I need you. I love you. And I want you to be my wife.”
I’ve never heard anything more romantic in my entire life, and I quickly nod my head, swiping away the tears as he gets up from his knee. He pulls the ring out of the book, tossing the book back onto the table next to us, and I hold out my left hand, the tears falling faster as he slips it on my finger.
