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“She turned me down flat,” Heath explained.
“You did what?” her father bellowed.
All of a sudden everyone was talking at her in raised voices, to the point where she felt as if her head might pop off. “Enough!” she yelled. “It may not matter to either one of you, but I don’t want to get married simply for the baby.” She stood up and cradled her belly. “This child is my everything, but I won’t marry someone for reasons other than the ones I’ve always held dear. I deserve to be proposed to on my own merits. And if the two of you can’t understand that, then you can just go down to the end of the pier and take a flying leap.”
Bella reached for her purse and the bag of peanut butter cups then stormed away from them, flinging open the door to the shop as she heard both men calling after her. She didn’t stop until she’d reached her car. She revved the engine and roared away from the pier. Bella had no idea of where she was headed. All she knew was that she had to get away from Heath and her father. The topic of Heath’s marriage proposal was a sore one for Bella. If it had happened under other circumstances she would have happily said yes. She wouldn’t settle for less than love everlasting! But what no one seemed to understand was that Bella had hopes and dreams and aspirations that she’d held dear since she was a little girl.
She loved Heath Donahue with all of her heart, but she wasn’t going to exchange sacred vows with him unless he made it perfectly clear that he wanted to spend the rest of his days by her side. To have and to hold. Till death us do part.
And he was still keeping things from her, which wouldn’t be a great way to start a life together. As far as she was concerned, Heath Donahue still had a lot of work to do in order to get his act together.
*
“Wow!” Jimmy said, scratching the side of his head. “She blew out of here like a Nor’easter. She kind of reminded me of her mother, Tammy, whenever she got really upset about something.”
Heath shook his head. He hadn’t stopped by Fish Tails to make trouble. He’d wanted to bring Bella the peanut butter cups and have a man to man conversation with Jimmy. Then everything had blown up. He had thought about following after Bella, but had stopped himself. She was in a real mood and he knew his face was probably the last one she wanted to see.
“She really erupted,” Heath said. “Maybe it’s the hormones.”
“Heath, let me give you some good, old-fashioned advice. Don’t repeat that to Bella. Ever. Women don’t want to hear that their pregnancy hormones make them act a certain way. Trust me on this. If you want to get back in Bella’s good graces, don’t go there.”
“Okay,” Heath said with a nod. “I feel like I’m dodging landmines with her these days. I want you to know I’m well aware of my shortcomings. When I broke up with her I was still in the grip of my PTSD and depression. I thought I was doing what was in her best interest.”
“How’d that work out for you?” Jimmy asked, his expression intense.
“Terrible. Hindsight is twenty-twenty. If I’d only known then what I know now, I would never have let her go. Sometimes when you think you’re doing the right thing, it turns out it isn’t the right thing at all.”
“It backfired on you, huh?”
“I thought giving up Bella was possible. I was trying to be noble. In the end, I realized I can’t live without her. I don’t want to.”
Jimmy shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “So how are you going to convince her of those sentiments?”
Heath frowned. “I have no idea. I know she loves me, Jimmy. I know it more than anything. Feelings like the ones we shared don’t evaporate in an instant. She feels the same way I do.”
“She’s had a tough time getting through this break up. I’d be breaking her confidence by telling you specific details, but let me be frank. There were numerous times I wanted to hunt you down and give you a piece of my mind. The only reason I didn’t was because my little girl would never have forgiven me.”
Heath quirked his mouth. “I wouldn’t have blamed you if you had,” he admitted. “Even though my intentions were good, it tore me up inside to know Bella was hurting because of me.”
“I believe that. But if you truly want to get things right with my daughter, you have to understand what she wants. Bella wants to know you love her in a spectacular way. She doesn’t want an offer of marriage for the baby’s sake.”
“That’s not what I was proposing. I used the wrong words. I focused on the baby when I should have stressed the importance of us. What we’ve always meant to one another.”
“Ever since Bella was a little girl she’s dreamed of being Cinderella and having Prince Charming sweep her off her feet. She wants the carriage and the glass slipper. She wants to feel like a princess.” Jimmy let out a chuckle. “Of all my four girls it was always Bella who wanted to dress up in fairytale gowns and sing about her prince coming along one day. She puts up a good front of being a tomboy, but she’s a princess at heart.”
“I messed up,” Heath confessed. He felt like a complete failure. How had he made such a colossal mistake? In a sense he’d taken Bella for granted by throwing out the proposal in such a cut and dried manner. He slapped his hand on his forehead. We need to get married. Isn’t that what he had said to Bella? Let’s do this right and give the baby the best shot at a great life. He hadn’t stressed anything other than the baby.
“No wonder she shot me down,” he murmured. He wished he had a do over. If he did, he would make it the most special moment of Bella’s life.
“Just because she shot you down once doesn’t mean she’ll do it again. Tell me, Heath. What have you been doing in the last five months or so to change your life? To move past what happened in Afghanistan? What makes you think you’re ready to be a husband? Or a father?”
Heath bristled. Jimmy had no idea what he’d been through to get to where he was today. He hated the idea that he was being judged. He’d endured the chaos of Afghanistan and witnessed brutal deaths, most poignantly the death of his best friend. And he’d been the one to find his mother’s body after her death. But that wasn’t something he’d even told Bella about. How did he expect Jimmy to understand everything that he had gone through in his life?
He took a deep breath and reminded himself that Jimmy was protecting his daughter’s best interests. Someday soon Heath might do the same for his own child. How could he begrudge him for doing what any honorable man would do?
“I’m a different man than I was five months ago. I resisted it at first, but I went to therapy for my PTSD. Gradually, I learned to deal with the events that I witnessed in Afghanistan, as well as issues from my early years.”
