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Ring.
“Hello?” Rob answered her call and she thought she might black out. For sure, clamminess covered her skin and darkness danced in front of her eyes for a few seconds before Jessie’s sharp poke pulled her back to the present.
“Answer him,” Jessie encouraged.
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
Rob quasi-shrugged at the camera, began walking towards her front door again, but didn’t hang up the phone. “Jill, is that you? Honey, say something?”
He climbed her steps, crossed her porch and stood on the other side of her front door.
“Jill?” he asked again.
Still clutching the phone, Jill hurried across the living room and flung the front door open to stare at the man she loved.
# # #
“Jill,” Rob breathed, his eyes fixed on her face as he clicked his phone shut and slid it into his suit jacket pocket. What was she thinking? Did she still feel the same or had he destroyed her feelings for him?
Was he about to be made the laughing stock of America on live TV?
Talk about your reality show.
He sucked in a deep breath and waited for her to say something. She seemed frozen to the spot, her one hand clutched the phone to her ear and the other on the door as if she were afraid she might slide to the floor if she let go.
“Darling, please say something,” he whispered when more time had passed than should have. Was she going to slam the door in his face? Throw the phone at him? Of course, he deserved all those things and more, but he’d hoped she’d throw herself at him and slam her mouth to his in a crushing kiss.
He searched her shocked green eyes to try to read her emotions. Overwhelmed. Unsure. Upset.
He’d made another mistake in doing this. He’d wanted to make a grand gesture. To prove his love to her by announcing his feelings to the world. He’d known she’d pick up on the significance of his actions, that he was putting his heart on the line in the most public of ways. But she wasn’t receptive to his proposal.
His proposal. He really hadn’t gotten to that part yet, had he? The diamond in his pocket suddenly weighed a ton, dragging him to one knee.
Her eyes widened. With fear?
Before he put her in a compromising position with twenty million plus viewers watching, Rob stood, unwilling to place such a burden on her. Not like this. They’d talk in private, and if he could convince her to forgive him, then he’d give her the ring he’d bought for her.
He turned to the camera. “Sorry folks. Looks like I’ve miscalculated.”
Her fingers closed around his upper arm, pulling him to face her.
“Tell me,” she whispered, her eyes large and full of the same emotion he’d witnessed when she’d stood before her throne and begged him to stop her from choosing one of the bachelors.
“I love you, Jill,” he said the words filling his heart.
Her eyes closed. He swallowed the lump in his throat and wondered if he’d misread her. Had he somehow failed her again?
Her eyes opened, and hope flickered to life. She still loved him. He could see it in her gaze, in the tears streaking down her cheeks.
“Don’t cry. Not over me. I’m not worth it.” He grazed his knuckles over her soft skin, wiping the moisture away.
“Did you mean what you said?” she asked, her tears not slowing.
“About loving you?”
She nodded.
“More than anything. Do you think I’d go through all this if I didn’t?”
