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That ought to stir her up.
As I hoped, Maddie shot to her feet in a huff. She ran her fingers through her hair before shaking it loose and fixing a nasty gaze on me.
“Grey!” she exclaimed. “The reason I gave you for not saying ‘yes’ has nothing to do with ‘bullshit excuses’ or ‘nonsensical behavior’.”
I raised my brows in an expectant manner. “Oh, no?”
Maddie’s lips thinned as she glared back at me. “No!”
“Okay,” I deadpanned. “Go on, I’m listening."
“Uh!” she yelled. “Well, it’s simple, Grey. And it has to do with three little words you seem incapable of saying to me.”
Maddie’s voice trailed off as she finished her thought. The space between us fell silent. I edged closer to her and reaching up, I cradled her jaw in my hands. Her eyes shimmered with the beginnings of tears as I looked into them.
“That’s what you want then is it?” I asked.
Maddie nodded but didn’t speak. I felt a hard lump slide down her throat. A single tear trickled from her eyes and raced towards my hand, moistening it as it dribbled downward.
“All right,” I replied. “Fine. But, if I do this, I expect you to keep your end of the bargain.”
The tears began to flow with freedom. Maddie broke free of my grasp, turning her back to me.
“G-Grey,” she gulped between sobs. “I don’t know what it is you want from me. I’ve given you everything. I was on the verge of having your child even though it nearly killed me! I’m hopelessly in love with you, okay? I would give anything to be with you forever. Can’t you see that?”
I chewed the inside of my lip as she spoke. “Yes, Maddie. Of course I do.”
Maddie turned back towards me, her delicate features made dark by the sadness in her eyes.
“How can you be so cruel?” she sobbed. “If you feel something for me, anything at all, why can’t you just tell me? Is there something wrong with me? If you don’t feel the same way, why are you even here any longer? There’s nothing keeping you here. Our baby is gone. I’ve given all of myself to you, but it’s clear now that it’s not enough. I’m not enough. Am I Grey?”
Her reaction caught me by surprise. What I’d wanted to be a tongue-in-cheek moment had become anything but. I thinned my lips as I watched the emotion pour from her. Without thinking, I stepped towards her and swallowed her with my arms. Maddie’s torso convulsed with sadness as she wept. What the fuck had I done? This wasn’t at all what I wanted. I’d misjudged the situation, and her. Pulling her away, I looked down into her tear-filled eyes.
“Maddie, let’s be done with this fucking charade. Once and for all.”
MADDIE
Shaking my head, I said, “Grey, nothing about this is a charade! How can you say that? Are you telling me you don’t believe me?”
Grey waved off my protest. “Shut up, Maddie. Just shut the hell up for five seconds would you?”
Despair wicked away from my spirit as Grey’s comment sunk in. Instead anger, bordering on white hot rage, began to take its place. In seconds, I felt the change in my body as my tears gave way to a growing fury. The tips of my fingers curled under, causing my nails to dig into the flesh of my palms. If this was going to be our final moment, the end of it all, then the fucking bastard would hear every last word I had to say.
No one ever made me hurt the way he had, spill the tears I did or love with such as a disregard for my own sanity. Determined to make him realize it, I licked my lips and readied myself to tell Grey Sinclair the truth, once and for all.
“Grey, no! I will not shut up!” I began. A hard-edged tone sputtered from my mouth, lacing my words with intent. “And you will listen to what I have to say, whether you like it or not!”
But just as I started to spew my venom, Grey began to shake his head back and forth with disapproval. His eyes locked on mine, holding my gaze like a snake charmer freezes the instinct of the cobra, keeping it from a strike. As I watched him in a state of semi-hypnosis, he dropped down in front of me, positioning himself on a bent knee.
I felt my eyes widen in their sockets.
Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!
A wave of nervous energy pulsed though my body, shocking me into a state of utter focus with Grey at the center of it. Goosebumps rippled across my skin, the hairs on the back of my neck stood at rapt attention. This couldn’t be happening, it wasn’t real.
But just then, he reached inside his pocket and produced a small box, teal in color. My breath hitched in my chest as I looked down at him, mesmerized by his movement. Cradling the box in one palm, he reached over the top of it with the long fingers of the other. Grey opened it with a smooth unbroken motion, and I blinked in a mix of shock and awe at what I saw.
A rainbow of sparkle cast brilliant rays on nearly every surface around me. As the lid gave way to the contents inside, my hand flew to my chest. The largest diamond I’d ever seen shined back at me. My mouth fell open as I tried to remember how to breathe. For several moments, I remained motionless as I gazed down at it, and him, in wonder.
“Maddie,” Grey began as he looked up at me. “I love you, goddamn it. I want you to be with me, as my wife. Forever.”
Shaking in disbelief, I raised my hand to my mouth. Hot breath streamed from it. Tears clouded my gaze as I looked down at Grey on bent knee in front of me. For several moments I only looked at him, and the ring, without so much as a word. The only sound in the room were the gasps emitting from my mouth every few seconds, as I tried to keep from fainting in shock.
“Maddie.” Grey said at last, as he broke my trance-like state. “What’s it gonna be? Will you marry me?”
I shook my head back and forth as the words bubbled to the tip of my tongue in unconscious response.
“Grey, I want to be with you and married to you. Of course. More than anything!”
Grey nodded as he looked up at me. “I hear a ‘but’ coming.”
“Yes, well, I just…” I stammered as I searched for the right words. “I know our relationship isn’t perfect or anything. No one’s is. That’s not what I’m trying to say.”
“Well, what are you trying to say Maddie?”
“I’ve agreed to give the respect you deserve and I’m sorry if I ever did or said anything to make you feel like I don’t have that for you because I do. But, Grey, I can’t be with you as your wife if you don’t change.”
Grey wrinkled his brow in confusion.
“Change? What are you talking about, Maddie?”
“Look, please. Just hear me out. This is something I’ve needed to say for a long time. I know I can be silly, dramatic and immature sometimes. I’m not saying I’m without blame, okay?”
“Come on, Maddie. Out with it,” he said with a smirk. “My knee is getting sore.”
“Hah, hah,” I deadpanned. “Grey, if I am to be your wife, we have to be equals with one another. I won’t be with someone, not for all the money in the world, if they can’t trust me to be myself, make my own mistakes and grow as a person.”
Grey listened intently. “Okay Maddie, I’ve got no problem with any of that.”
“Yes. I hear the words from your lips. But your actions don’t match, Grey. You have to stop meddling in everything I do. You have to stop trying control me. That is my dealbreaker, Grey. If you can’t make that change, then no, I’m sorry but I won’t marry you. I can’t.”
Grey grimaced as he looked up at me. Furrowing his brow, he said, “Okay, Maddie. Fair enough. For what it’s worth, yes, you have behaved in childish and immature ways at times. On the one hand, that’s not something I want in a business partner, let alone a wife. But, on the other, you’re damn young. Frankly, the way you handled the pregnancy, the courage you showed throughout it, impressed me.”
As he finished his thought, I felt a swell of pride gather inside of me.
“Grey, thank you. And yes, I know I’m young. I also know I can learn a great deal from you. I’d be crazy not to take advantage of that."
Grey waved my compliments off. “Flattery aside, tell me, Maddie. What do I have to do to convince you I’m a man of my word? What is this about? The business? Fine. You never have to work there again. Carmen will become the CEO. Is it acting? The movie is on hold until you’re feeling better.”
I stood in disbelief as Grey Sinclair negotiated his way to my hand in marriage.
“But I need something from you, Maddie. I’m more than willing to give you all the things you want. Don’t make me look foolish. I’m trusting you to show me you deserve my respect. This is the only time I’ll say this to you. Do you understand?”
I nodded. “Yes Grey, I promise. I won’t. And thank you.”
“Okay,” he replied as he repositioned himself on his knee. “Let’s try this again. Shall we?”
My spine prickled with excitement as he reached inside of the box. Removing the ring with a gentle tug, he slid the box back inside of his pocket and turned his attention to me once again. I looked down at his face. Grey’s almond-shaped, dark brown eyes flickered like the diamond he now held between his fingertips. I watched his chest fill with a deep breath and as he exhaled, he spoke once more.
