AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Theron stood to his full height, never once taking his eyes from her, drawing strength from the earth beneath him to say what he needed to say, desperately hoping that Summer would know the truth of his words.
‘I left because I was scared,’ he said, his throat thick with emotion, the shame and hurt filling his chest. ‘You asked me to be there for our child,’ he said, stopping himself from explaining why. He cast a glance to where Kyros stood beside an older version of Summer and two younger women who could only be her sisters. He refused to shame either Mariam or Kyros for their choices, but he knew Summer would know the depth of her request. ‘And I...that terrified me. You were right.’ He shook his head, hating the way his heart trembled in his chest. ‘I’ve lost so much family. My parents, my brother,’ he said, casting a look back to Lykos, who raised a wry eyebrow. Smiling slightly, Theron realised that Lykos would always be his family. He knew the hand that Lykos had played in this, in leading him to Summer, guiding him back to where he needed to be.
He took a breath and thought of the other person he had loved and lost. ‘Althaia,’ he said, unable to meet Kyros’s gaze. ‘The thought of losing you, the thought of anything happening to you or our child... I couldn’t bear it. I still can’t. But even just a night without you was more painful than anything I’ve experienced,’ he pressed on truthfully. ‘And if there’s even a chance that you’d consider letting me prove to you how much I love you, then please tell me. Give me hope.’
The sheen in her eyes told him there might be, but he would settle for nothing less than her words. Her heart. Even if it took him a lifetime. Behind him Lykos cleared his throat and he suddenly remembered.
‘No matter what happens, though, I want you to know that the estate is yours.’ He watched as her brow furrowed in confusion and he silently cursed himself. He was messing this up. ‘I’ve spoken to Lykos and I will buy the estate.’
She stared at him, her thoughts hidden from him. ‘It’s not for sale,’ she said quietly.
‘What? You didn’t find the jewels?’ he demanded, shocked, a thousand fears going through his mind at once.
‘We did,’ Summer said, her head tilted to the side, a smile pulling at her lips. He was distracted for just a second until her words penetrated.
‘But your mother’s treatment?’
‘I am handling that,’ Kyros announced from the steps behind Summer, his arm around the woman who Summer resembled so very much. When Theron looked at Kyros this time, there wasn’t disappointment or rejection, there was pride, love and a determined glint that warned Theron not to mess this up. He felt it. A blessing. One that he would never take for granted. He turned back to Summer, trying to read her gaze.
‘So you’re keeping the estate?’ Theron asked, instinctively knowing how much she would like that.
‘I still want a castle!’ Lykos groused in the background, pulling smiles from both Theron and Summer almost against their will.
Summer nodded. ‘Benoit and Skye will help with the redesign and Star and Khalif will arrange for help from Duratra on the large amount of metalwork I’d like done. I want to put my studies to use on the renovations.’
There was more to it, Theron knew. He could see it burning in her gaze. ‘You have a plan,’ he said, knowing instinctively that it would be marvellous.
‘But I also have a want,’ she whispered, stepping closer to him, a spark of something deliciously wicked in her eyes.
A tendril of hope unfurled in his heart and heat soaked into his bones. ‘Tell me,’ he demanded.
‘I want you to ask me to marry you,’ she said, closing the distance between them to inches.
He searched her gaze, the sparkle in her eyes, the mischief, the promise.
And his heart crashed.
He pressed his forehead against hers as an ache of sad frustration coursed through his body. ‘I don’t have a ring. We left London at six-thirty in the morning. I...’ he bit back a curse ‘...I want to do it properly. I want to give you everything you deserve,’ he said, his voice rough with emotion.
She bent her head back, her hazel eyes sparkling with gold. ‘Is that all?’ she said with a smile, though what she could possibly find to smile about he had no idea. Until she looked back to her sisters, the taller one he imagined was Skye, who smiled broadly and threw something small towards Summer, who caught it and presented it to him.
‘It’s perhaps a bit unorthodox, but I think Catherine would approve,’ Summer said, passing him the small ring-shaped box.
‘The Soames diamonds?’ he asked, and she nodded, her eyes and heart seeming as full as his own felt.
He took the velvet box, warm from her touch, in his palm and pressed it against his heart. But he wanted one last thing. He would propose no matter what, but this felt right. Felt just.
He looked up to where Summer’s family had gathered by the front door of the estate, catching Kyros’s eye first, then Mariam’s.
‘Ms Soames, Kyros, I would very much like to ask for your daughter’s hand in marriage. I want you to know that I will protect her and our child unconditionally, I will love her and our child unconditionally, and I will—’
‘We get the idea, Theron,’ Lykos said, rolling his hand as if to say get on with it. The smaller sister with red hair hid a laugh behind her hand and the older one bit her lip as if to stop herself from smiling. The love and happiness shining from Mariam was one of the purest things Theron had ever seen. She looked up to Kyros and back to him and nodded.
‘You have my blessing,yié mou,’ Kyros said, the wordsmy sonmiraculous to hear after all these years.
And then absolutely nothing could have pulled him away from Summer.
He took her hand in his and slowly bent to one knee, unfeeling of the bite of gravel through his trousers. Wonder and awe coursed through his body as he looked up at the woman who made him feel complete. Whole. The woman he would spend the rest of his life loving to distraction.
