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I recognize the box as one from an expensive jewelry store and wonder what Deklan might have picked out for me. I take it from his hand and slowly open the box, revealing a silver medallion on a chain. In the center of the piece is a raised figure of a man with a staff and a halo around his head. A small shamrock decorates the bottom.
“It’s Saint Patrick,” Deklan says. “He built the first Irish church.”
“It’s beautiful.” I turn the medallion over and read the inscription. “‘Christ in hearts of all that love me.’”
“Like I do.”
Deklan’s words are so soft, I barely hear them. I definitely don’t infer his meaning.
“Like you do what?” I ask as I rub my finger over the metal.
“Like I love you.”
I stop fingering the metal and look up.
Deklan is standing near the edge of the bed, running the palms of his hands over his thighs like he’s looking for pockets in his underwear.
Did he just say what I think he said?
He stops moving his hands and looks away from me. The light in the bedroom is dim, but I think his cheeks are a little red.
“When all this started…when you first…” Deklan stops and takes a long breath. “When we were first married, I hoped maybe…maybe we’d at least like each other, but I didn’t dare think…or hope…Fuck! I suck at this.”
He turns away and closes his eyes.
“No, you don’t,” I say softly. My heart is pounding hard enough I can feel it in my ears. I watch as Deklan slowly looks back at me.
“I love you, Kera,” he says again. “I don’t know how or when it happened, but I do. I just thought I should tell you that.”
I stare up into his eyes, and I can feel his words dive deep down inside of me. They twist around my heart and through my body, entangling my insides with their meaning. The words hold me close, and I feel utterly and completely safe.
I blink a few times before I find my feet and manage to stand. I take two steps forward and reach up to lock my fingers behind Deklan’s neck.
“I don’t know how or when either,” I say as a tear slips down my cheek, “but I love you, too.”
Deklan closes his eyes and lets out a long, sharp breath as he pulls me to him. He hugs me so tightly, I can hardly breathe, but I don’t tell him to stop. Instead, I try to hug him just as tightly. We stand silent for a moment before Deklan pulls back and kisses me, molding our mouths together as he whispers the words against my lips.
“I love you. I love you.”
“I love you,” I reply over and over again, entrusting the words to my lips as I commit the deeper meaning in my head and heart.
“Sweet Jesus,” Deklan whispers. He pulls back. “How did this happen?”
“I don’t know, but I’m glad.”
Deklan grins and reaches for the medallion. I turn so he can clasp it around my neck and then hold it out so I can see it. I turn it over, trying to read the words upside down.
“I want you so bad right now,” Deklan says.
“I’m not stopping you.”
“No.” Deklan shakes his head slowly. “I meant what I said about you needing sleep.”
Contradicting his own words, he picks me up and carries me to the bed. He climbs in beside me and holds me against his chest.
“The next time I take you to this bed,” he says, “I’m going to make love to you like we never have before. I swear it, Kera.”
“You won’t have to take me very far,” I say with a grin. “I’ll be right here in the morning.”
