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“I wish I could have saved those roses and pressed them into a book as a reminder of what we started that night.”
“I’m just glad I savedyoufrom the fire. You’re what’s irreplaceable to me, Emma. In a lot of ways, Amanda was, too.”
“You loved her?” she said, astonished. She hadn’t expected that.
“Yes, I loved her, just not in the same way she loved me.”
“Oh.Oh.” She understood now. “You loved her like a sister.”
“I did. I mean, maybe. It’s all so confusing now.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “I didn’t know she felt the way she did, so when she confronted me at the party, it completely blindsided me. I tried to talk to her, but everything I said made her angrier, soMamástepped in. She tried to help, but evenMamá’scharm didn’t seem to work, so shetook Amanda home, but not before I told her I’d call her the next day so that we could talk. It was the last thing I ever said to her.”
“Oh, my love. I’m so sorry.” She wrapped him close, and his arms bound around her in return, holding on as if she were the only thing keeping him from collapsing.
“I thought about her all that night, and I started thinking…maybe. The way I felt about her was stronger than what I felt for my girlfriend at the time, but different. I started wondering if maybe that was what love was supposed to feel like, so I decided that I’d ask Amanda out on a proper date so that we could see if this was something more, but as I was coming to that realization, she was dying.”
Emma held him tighter, her heart aching for both the girl who lost her life and for the man who’d punished himself for so much of his.
“Papácame to tell me the next day, afterMamáhad called to check on her. I broke down inPapá’sarms and cried for what seemed like forever. I don’t remember exactly when I went to the police, but I told them her death was my fault. I confessed to killing her, which led to a long interrogation and a subsequent intense mistrust of police.”
“What do you mean you confessed?” She leaned back and cradled his face between her palms.
“I told them I was the reason she died. Since I was under eighteen, they had to call my parents. My parents brought an attorney, and the detectives interrogated me for hours. They brought out the note she left that simply read, ‘I am too heartbroken to go on.’ This was back when cyber-bullying was really coming to people’s attention, and I can’t remember if it was the cops or the DA who wanted to twist what I’d done into that.”
“Noah,Corazón, you were guilty of nothing except being a heartbroken little boy.”
“Part of me understands that, but the things they said in interrogation fueled a guilt that drove me to drugs, alcohol, and a depression that nearly killed me.”
“How bad did things get for you?”
“Rushed-to-the-ER-to-have-my-stomach-pumped-because-I-overdosed bad.”
“Oh, sweet baby.” She pressed a kiss to his forehead, his nose, to each of his cheeks. “How old were you when it happened?”
“Seventeen. It scared my parents senseless, so they put everything on hold, and the three of us went to Switzerland for treatment. It took a while, but I turned my life around. I still feel guilty every day for Amanda’s death, but slowly, I regained my life. And I vowed that every relationship I went into would begin with me being completely upfront about how this would never go anywhere, that I was just looking for sex, but if it ever turned out that I wanted more, I’d tell them.”
“You said nothing like that to me.” And she wasn’t sure how to take that.
“That’s because, with you, it was never just about sex. I knew the moment I saw you that you were it for me.Mamáknew it, too, the first time she saw us together.” He lifted the necklace. “Did she tell you the meaning behind this?”
“She just said it was a thank you for making her mom so happy at her birthday party.”
“Not exactly.” He placed the pendant in his palm, face up. “This is a Whitlow family heirloom. On the wedding day of the eldest Whitlow son, the mother of the groom presents the bride with this necklace as a gift to welcome her to the family. It has been passed from bride to bride for over a hundred years, and one day, when you’re mother of the groom, you will give this necklace to our eldest son’s future bride.”
“Our…son?” Her heart somersaulted.
“Eldest son,” he corrected as he returned the necklace and retrieved a blue velvet box from his pocket. She held her breath as he flipped the lid and presented a ring. “That is, Emma Morgan, if you’ll marry me.”
If Noah lived a million lifetimes,he’d never forget the look on Emma’s face. The ‘O’ shape of her lips. The lift of her brows. The gentle flare of her nostrils. The sharp intake of breath.
“Noah.” She touched the ring as if it were a figment of her imagination.
“I love you, Emma Morgan. There is no one else I want to share my life with. No one else I want to have children with, to wake up with year after year, to grow old with, to share the ups and downs of life with.” With his thumb, he swiped at the lone tear that slid along her cheek. “Corazón,say yes so that we can begin our life together.”
“Sorry.” But she didn’t sound sorry. Her laugh was too drunk and giddy. “I thought I already had.”
She launched herself at him, her arms wrapping around his neck as she pressed her mouth to his, the smart, amazing woman he’d spend the rest of his life with. He forced himself to pull back just long enough to slide the ring onto her second finger.
She held her hand out so that the stone sparkled in the sun. “It’s gorgeous, Noah.”
