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She bent her head to the keyhole, larger than a modern-day keyhole and surrounded by peeling greenpaint.
At first, she didn’t see anything at all. Then she shifted the angle of her head and the main pathway came intoview.
But that wasn’t what made her catch her breath; it was the Vatican, its dome lit gold and perfectly centered through thekeyhole.
“I seeit!”
It was strangely magical, the view far too perfect to be a happy accident. Somewhere along the way, someone had known what they were doing, had crafted this perfect secret to please anyone willing to look closely enough to findit.
She saw Farrell as he’d looked when he’d happened upon her in that seedy bar all those years ago. She saw the pregnancy test that had told her she was going to have Lily, the one that had driven her away from Farrell and to New York, where she’d ended up working forNico.
She saw the fall of the Vitale family and Nico’s flight with Angel to Bali, the easy decision Jenna had made to remain in London when she had no job to return to in NewYork.
Her father’s death had led her to seek Farrell’shelp.
Seeking Farrell’s help had led her back into hisarms.
Any one of those things might have been a happyaccident.
Or maybe none of themwere.
She had no idea how long she’d been looking through the keyhole, remembering, when she finally straightened, comfortable in her skin for the first time since she’d found out she waspregnant.
It wasn’t an accident that she and Farrell had found each other again. Nor was it an accident that they fit together like two pieces of the same batteredpuzzle.
It was meant to be. When had she forgotten to trust inthat?
Inthem?
She turned to face him, took abreath.
“I’mpre— “
He wasn’t standing before her anymore. He was on oneknee.
* * *
Everythingin him had stilled when she’dspoken.
I seeit…
And she had. She’d seen everything. Had made him seeeverything.
The knowledge made it easy to say what he needed tosay.
He took her hand. “Jenna, when you came into my life, it was as if I were really seeing for the first time. As if all those years before you, I’d been viewing life like a black and white movie.” He forced himself to keep talking around the lump in his throat. “Then you left, and after awhile, I thought I’d gotten used to it. I thought I’d learned to see withoutyou.”
He took a deep breath andcontinued.
“But when you walked back into my life, I knew it had been a lie. I was never going to see what was important without you.” He paused, wanting more than anything to get this last part right. “You were my kaleidoscope, illuminating all the pieces I’d been missing. I knew then that I wanted to share my life with you, that I’d lay down my life for you.” He shook his head. “I don’t know why it took me so fucking long to make it official, and if you don’t want to make it official, I’ll understand, but… jesus…” He opened the ring box, hoped she could see it in the dim light. “Jenna… will you be my wife? Will you let me protect you forever? Serve you forever? Love you forever? Will you do me thathonor?”
She was crying, tears streaming down hercheeks.
But it wasn’t until she removed her hands from her mouth that he knew they were happytears.
She was smiling. Smiling and crying and laughing as she knelt in front of him, took his face in herhands.
She pulled his face down to lay kisses on his cheeks and mouth and nose. “I will marry you, Farrell Black. I will protect you and serve you and love youforever.”
