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I look up, and freeze, startled. What I see in front of me, outside of the car door that Niall is holding open, isn’t my tall luxurious apartment building on a busy Boston street.
It’s a grey house with white shutters, freshly painted, nestled in the middle of a green lawn with a pristine iron fence surrounding it. There’s window boxes with flowers at each shutter, a newly painted porch with a swing in front of it, and a neatly kept stone path leading from the iron gate through the careful landscaping to the porch. Beyond it, I can see a glimpse of the water, the entire effect that of a small, cozy cottage-like home, like the gorgeous homes Niall and I had driven past before, but smaller and more warm. It feels like a home for a family, and my chest tightens as I slide out of the car numbly, looking at Niall with confusion.
“What is this? Where—where are we?”
Niall reaches for my hand, threading his fingers through it. “Trust me,” he says simply, and he leads me forward, down the stone path through the iron gate.
It looks like a house out of a fairy tale, like nothing I’ve ever seen up close or been in, completely different from anything where I grew up. We step through the varnished door into a foyer with crisp light grey tiles, a coat rack on the wall, a place to put shoes next to it as well. “Don’t worry about it,” Niall says when he sees me glance down, leading me forward instead. “I want to show you the rest of it.”
He leads me forward, over a hardwood floor that very clearly has been freshly re-stained, through room after room full of furniture that looks a bit outdated, but clean and very well-loved. Every room is sparkling clean, and at last, as Niall takes me through bedrooms and bathrooms and a wide-open kitchen and dining room with one of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen, of an open backyard and a view of the water, a small garden on the other side of a deck, he takes me finally to a room that makes me gasp, my hands coming up to cover my mouth.
The small room is painted a light blue, with crisp white wainscoting, and it’s filled with the baby furniture that Niall and I looked at that day after my first appointment. Everything we’d looked at and both said we liked, from the stuffed rabbit to the mobile of stars hanging over the white crib, is in the room.
I look at him, wide-eyed, feeling tears well up. “Whatisthis?” I ask again, gasping the words through my fingers, my heart suddenly beating wildly in my chest. “Niall, what—”
Niall turns towards me, taking both of my hands in his as he takes them away from where they’re clutched against my mouth. “This is our baby’s room,” he says simply. “And if you’ll have me, Isabella Santiago, this will be our house.”
“What—what do you mean? Did youbuythis?”
He chuckles a little self-consciously. “Not exactly. This is the house I grew up in. My father willed it to me after he died. He and my mother always wanted me to raise a family in it, but I never thought I wanted that. I paid someone to keep it from falling into disrepair—I never felt like I could sell it in good conscience, but I couldn’t see myself living in it all alone, and I couldn’t see myself settling down in it with a family, either. Until—” He sucks in a breath, his hands tightening on mine as his blue gaze flicks across my face.
“Until you, Isabella.”
“Niall—” I breathe his name, the word catching in my throat. “Please don’t—I can’t stand it if—”
“This isn’t a joke or a trick,” he promises me earnestly. “I swear to you, I’ve done nothing but think about this from the moment you went to the hospital. I wish I’d realized it before that. I’m so, so bloody sorry that it took something so awful for me to finally come to my senses, lass. But I have. You said you would take it back if you could, and I hope to all the saints you don’t mean that, because I wouldn’t.”
“You wouldn’t?” I ask faintly, my voice trembling.
Niall shakes his head emphatically. “No lass, I wouldn’t. I’ve tried so hard to keep either of us from getting hurt by trying to keep away from you, by trying to put distance between us, but all that’s done is hurt us both, more and more. All I can do is stop fighting against what I know I want, what I hope for—and hope that you want the same as me.”
As I stand there, stunned beyond words, Niall goes down on one knee in front of me, still holding my hands in his. “I spent the last two weeks working on this house, changing the landscaping, freshening it up. I wanted to bring you here, and ask you in this place, where I hope we can make a family together.” With one hand, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small black velvet box, opening it. Inside, as I stare down at it, I see a kite-shaped champagne diamond on a gold band, very like the color and shape of the gemstone necklace he gave me what feels like so long ago in the desert, that I’ve worn every day since he gave it back to me again.
“I want you to marry me, Isabella, not because we have to, but this time because we both choose it. I love you, and I wish I’d told you a hundred times before this, because it’s the truest thing I’ve ever said. It won’t always be easy for us to overcome the past, and we’ll both have to work hard to build a life together, every day. But I want this, with you, if you still want the same.” Niall takes a deep breath. “Say yes, Isabella, and marry me all over again.”
I can hardly speak through the tears that started streaming down my face halfway through his speech, clogging my throat and making my chest ache. “Yes,” I gasp out, nodding through my tears. “I never thought—oh, yes. Yes, Niall.”
He slides the ring onto my finger, and I stare down at it in shock, glittering next to the gold wedding band that he bought me the night of our wedding. Without another word, he stands up, scooping me into his arms as he kisses me deeply, carrying me out of the nursery and towards the bedroom—ourbedroom.
19
ISABELLA
“If you’re not ready, you can tell me,” Niall says as he sets me down beside the bed, taking my face in his hands and kissing me again. “If you’re not sure, after—”
“The doctor said it was fine.” I lean up on my tiptoes, kissing him again as well. “I’m ready. I’ve been missing you every day while I was in the hospital. And especially after—” I kiss him again, arching into him, wanting more. “After what you just said, I want you more than ever.”
“I love you.” Niall’s fingers thread into my hair, every word punctuated by a kiss. “I love you so much, Isabella—”
“I love you too.” I feel giddy, overwhelmed by the roller coaster of emotions that I’ve gone through since leaving the hospital. “I didn’t think—”
“I know.” Niall’s hands are busy undoing the tie of my wrap dress, feverishly pushing the fabric off my shoulders. “I kept telling myself I didn’t feel it. It’s my turn to tell you how sorry I am—”
“Shh—” I press my lips against his, sliding my hands under his shirt. “There’s no need.”
“There is. I thought if I stayed away—but I can’t stay away from you, Isabella. And I never could.” He kisses me again, hungrily, his hands tangling in my hair and holding my mouth to his. “I never will again.”
We end up on the bed, all hands and mouths, our clothes gone and forgotten on the floor. For a long time, we lay there with our hands roving over each other’s bodies, relearning every line and crevice as Niall kisses me, hot hungry kisses and long slow ones, pressed together as his cock throbs against my belly. He resists the urge to slide into me for a long time, as if he wants to make this last as long as possible, and I feel the same way. This feels like something new, something huge, a new beginning that neither one of us was prepared for. I’d all but given up hope, but in the end, it turns out that Ana and Max were right after all.
