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“Because you’re the first person who really saw me.” She fisted her hand against her chest. “You believed in me before anyone else did, even my parents and brothers. That’s what you’ll give our child, Cal. Unconditional love and support, and the belief that they can do anything.”
He shook his head slightly. She was twenty years younger and twenty times smarter than he was.
“What you see so clearly is something I understood for the first time only in the last few hours. I realized it was finally time to end the pain, once and for all. To make peace with my parents and the past.” He gave her a small smile. “I actually have to thank Daniel for what he did. The moment he started whaling on me, it highlighted the way I instinctively assume my father’s mantle of guilt and succumb to the subconscious fear I’ve lived with all my life. All along, I’ve secretly believed that, given the chance, I’d end up being just like him.” He shook his head. “I don’t know if it was getting hit over the head so many times that finally knocked some sense loose, but I finally see that I can no longer base all my decisions on what my father did or on what I thought was behind his actions. It was so automatic to think the worst on all counts—of him and myself.”
Her gaze held his, and the love in her eyes made him lose his breath. “I know you’re a good man, Cal. An honorable man who would never leave me high and dry. Even if I didn’t want to have a relationship, you would always be there for our child.”
“You still believe that even after I betrayed you by running away? Not just once, not just twice, but all over again last night?” His voice cracked with emotion.
She smoothed her fingers across his bruised and scraped knuckles. “Everyone has a little wobble. Or lots of little wobbles,” she amended with a tiny smile. “And it didn’t help that throughout those early weeks, I kept insisting it was just sex, when the truth is that what we did was never just sex. That’s not who I am—I would never sleep with a casual stranger. But even though being with you meant so much, I was afraid to admit it.”
“You’re not afraid of anything, Lyssa. It took a hell of a lot of guts to confront me on Catalina. And even more to go all the way to the Caribbean to tell me about our baby.”
“And it took guts for you to finally forgive your father, after all these years.”
“I finally listened to my heart, and I understood he wasn’t a bad man. He was a good father. He just made a bad mistake. Maybe because he was already unhappy. I don’t know. But I had to forgive him. Or I was going to lose you. That’s the worst thing that could ever happen.”
“You’re not going to lose me, Cal. No matter how wrong you might get things sometimes. I get things wrong too. It’s called being human. And that’s what unconditional love is all about—not just loving despite people’s imperfections, but loving them for their imperfections.”
He slipped his hand beneath the fall of her hair. “What could I possibly have done to deserve you?”
“All you ever needed to do was be yourself. Right, wrong, confident, scared, strong, shaky. You’re perfect just the way you are, Cal. Perfect for me.”
“So are you, Lyssa. Perfect just the way you are, and perfect for me.” He pulled her into his lap and held her tight despite the ache in his ribs. “When I left you after London, I was running from my feelings. But they never changed, even when I wasn’t near you. I thought you were the one woman I could never have, the Mavericks’ younger sister I could never dare touch. Never dare admit how much I cared for—beyond friends, beyond co-workers.” He put his hand to her cheek. “But I don’t care how off-limits you are. I don’t care if Daniel beats the crap out of me every day, or if your brothers never speak to me again. You are the only woman for me. And if that’s what it takes, I will happily brave your brothers’ wrath forever to be with you.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Will you marry me, Cal Danniger?”
His heart swelled a million times bigger in his chest. “There’s nothing I’ve ever wanted more.”
Chapter Thirty-One
It was more than he could ever have dreamed of, that this beautiful, amazing woman would love him, that she would brave the Mavericks’ disapproval to be with him. Lyssa would not only be the mother of his child, but also his lover, his wife, his everything. And there was no question that he would ever betray her the way his father had betrayed his family.
