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I can see it. He’s coming around.
“It sounds like you’ve thought everything through,” he says, shaking his head just a little. “I don’t know how you’ve even had time.”
“It’s not about time,” I say. “When I’m sure about something, I move on it. You know that.”
“I do,” he admits. He’s seen me at work. And never once has he ever seen me go back on a decision. It’s what I’m good at. Knowing the lay of the land, knowing my own self. Seeing opportunities and jumping on them. I don’t get it wrong. I just don’t.
“So, Dad?” Gabby asks. Her voice is hopeful, her face open and raw. She wants his approval, I can see that. But I can also feel, in how tightly she grips my hand, that it’s not the be-all and end-all. If he still doesn’t approve, if he tells us to stop this and wants her to come home, it won’t change the way we feel about each other. This is it – me and her against the world.
He sighs, looking down again. Finally, when he looks up, I see it. The expression in his eyes that I was hoping for. There it is.
“I don’t think there’s anything I can say to make you change your mind, is there?” he says. “You two… the way you look at each other. You mean it. Or, at least, you believe you do.”
“Yes,” Gabby says, in a rush. “Yes, Dad, we do.”
“Then…” he pauses, then nods. “Then I don’t think I’m going to be able to stand in your way. I don’t want to give you the impression that I’m totally happy with this because I’m not, but… I know you. Both of you. And I know that no one’s going to stop either of you from doing what you want.”
We both laugh, a sound made of both happiness and relief. “You’re right,” I say. “Fire, famine, flood, or earthquake couldn’t stop me. Dean, you’ve got no chance.”
“I know,” he says. But then he gets really serious. “But if you hurt my daughter, Oswald Patterson, you won’t have any chance either. And sweetie, you’re welcome home at any time. Any time. I mean it.”
Gabby grins and nods, but I have one more thing up my sleeve that will hopefully put his final concerns to rest.
“I hope you’re going to stop worrying as much, Dean,” I say, shifting in my seat. “There’s one more thing I haven’t told either of you – and I think it’s going to help show you how serious I am.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Gabby
I look at Oz in surprise. He’s already dropped the bombshell that he’s willing to leave London for me, that he wants me to move in with him, and that he’s even going to buy a new house for us to live in. What else could there possibly be?
But then he slips out of his seat, which has me wondering even more. And then…
And then he gets down on one knee in front of me, and it’s all I can do not to scream in surprise.
Excited, overwhelmed, but a positive surprise.
“Gabby,” he says. “I know it’s only been a week. But for me, it’s been a lifetime of waiting for you, of waiting to find that person that would be right for me. I don’t want to wait any longer. I’m so sure that you’re the right one for me that I’ll risk it all. Money, property, business – it doesn’t mean anything in comparison to you. I won’t ask for a prenup. I won’t risk that we might not be able to stay together because of visa issues. Gabby, marry me – make me the happiest man on earth. And do it soon please.”
I laugh, with joy and wonder, clapping my hands over my mouth as my eyes fill with tears. From somewhere, I don’t even know where he’s produced a small ring box and popped it open. A beautiful diamond ring is propped up on the black velvet pillow inside, ready and waiting for me to pluck it out and try it on.
“Oh, my god, Oz,” I say, managing to get the words out of my mouth with some serious difficulty. “Yes. Yes. A hundred, thousand times, yes!”
When he leaps up from his position to embrace me, holding me close against him, the both of us are laughing. And from the sound of his laughter, with a wet edge to it, I know I’m not the only one crying in happiness, either. We cling to each other like we’re drowning and need to stay afloat, and it’s like that in itself is the thing lifting us to the surface. It’s the best feeling I’ve ever felt, a pure kind of happiness that fills me up from the inside and makes me feel like nothing is ever going to be bad again.
