Page 87 of Fight from the Heart

I’m in love with you, my angel.

To explain the depth of my love

For you, unconditionally,

I must admit my loyalty.

And to fulfill my destiny,

To keep you and mine safe with me,

I promise to love evermore

And ask you to forever be

Mine.

I sit up to discover Jacob in his writing chair beyond the bookshelf in his bedroom.

“Who wrote this one?” I ask, finding its meaning abundantly appropriate. Jacob doesn’t answer but stands, setting his laptop on the floor. He circles around the bed and kneels next to it.

“I wrote it,” he states sheepishly.

“It’s beautiful,” I tell him, reaching out to cup his face.

“You know, I want you to be with me for the rest of my life.”

“Yes,” I reply uncertain where this is leading.

Jacob leans back on his knees and pretends to pull something out of his pocket. He cups his hand as he presents me with the invisible something. Literally, there’s nothing in his palm, which he flattens but holds out toward me.

“Play along?” he questions, and I glance up at him.

I reach forward and take the air between pinched fingers like I’m picking up a delicate package.

“It’s a box,” Jacob explains, and I nod as if I understand, as if I see it, which I do, but it’s not the kind of box I expect from him. I wipe away my imagination. I’m in his home for now. He’s accepting the baby. It’s more than I could have asked for.

“Open it,” he suggests, but when I sit there dumbfounded, uncertain if the lid is loose and pulls straight upward or on a hinge and tips back, Jacob continues his pantomime. He pretends to flip the lid and present me with something. I’m confused, and the crease to my brow expresses it as I glance up at him again.

“I want to clarify something before I do the actual asking because I want there to be no misunderstanding.”

The crease of my forehead furrows farther. “Okay.”

“When we were in New York, I went on an errand the day you went to the spa with Ella.” He shifts to dig in another pocket and pulls out something I can’t see with his hand fisted. “And I bought something, thinking it would represent a promise. A promise to try. A promise of hope. A promise from me to you.”

I’m still sitting as if I hold an open box inside my hand—the invisible box—and its weight is suddenly real. Its shape I can feel pressing against my palm, which begins to sweat. I can almost see the box within my hand. It’s white, with a white cushion, but I can’t picture what it holds. I’d never imagine what came next.

“But I’d like this to be more than a promise.” Jacob holds out the real item in his other hand. A square-cut diamond with small purple stones around it. Lilac-colored stones. “This is my proposal, Lilac. Let me love you. Teach me to be a better man, and I promise to love you in return. I’ll be loyal and faithful, trustworthy and true. I’ll fight for you every day, fight to deserve you if you’ll be my wife. Be my evermore and marry me, angel.”

I stare down at the ring, placed where the invisible box rests in my palm. Silent tears stream down my face, and I glance up at him, finding his expression hopeful but hesitant.

“I love you,” I whisper, and his face lights up. He rises higher on his knees at the side of the bed, hands curling into the blanket over me.

“Is that a yes?” he questions.

“Evermore. That’s a yes, Jacob.”

He picks up the ring with shaky fingers, and I flip my hand so he can place it on my ring finger. We both stare at the sparkling gem surrounding by light lilac-colored jewels.