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“So, let me get this straight…you were willing to marry a man you didn’t have any feelings for but you’re not willing to giveusa shot? That makes no sense Paige. Why are you being so stubborn here? The only reason we fight so much outside of the bedroom is because we both know we want to be in it, and you’ve been adamant that it not happen.”
“It won’t work Joel. I’m just saving us a load of heartache down the road.”
“This is ridiculous Paige. We both know we’re going to end up in bed together again and again so for the sake of your father just admit it and marry me.”
“Oh my god…is that supposed to be your idea of a proposal?”
“I can do the flowers and romance if you want. I haven’t forgotten how Paige I’m simply trying to figure out if your refusal is coming from your head or if you’re hiding from your heart. It’s always belonged to me I’m just trying to get you to see that it’s also the smart move. We’ve had sex twice in a week Paige, both times without protection and I’m guessing you’re not on the pill if you and the idiot fiancé weren’t sleeping together…”
“So?”
“So…I think your father would prefer any child of ours to be born nine monthsafterthe wedding.”
“There won’t be any children Joel.” She sighed turning away from him.
“What? Paige look at me. What do you mean there won’t be any children?”
“That scar on my stomach…it wasn’t as tiny of an operation as I said. I had an ectopic pregnancy and there were complications,” she said not daring to look him directly in the eyes because she knew he’d see what she was hiding.
“Paige, I don’t—I’m sorry baby, you would have made a wonderful mother. Is that why you were going to marry Aaron?”
“He doesn’t want kids and I can’t have them…a match made in heaven,” she laughed. “That’s why we’d never work Joel, you’d resent me, and I can’t deal with that.”
“Damn it Paige do you really think I’d care if you can’t have kids? I don’t, besides if we do want children there are plenty of other ways to go about it, adoption for one…between your rescue credentials and the money you’d be a shoo in to be approved. But if you don’t want kids at all, I don’t care. All I’ve ever wanted was you.”
“You can say that now that you’re the number two at the mine, ten years ago was another story.”
“Are we back to thatagain? Paige, I wanted…you know what? Get dressed,” he stated walking over to his clothes and pulling them on.
“Excuse me?”
“Get dressed. You’re not going to believe me so you might as well see it for yourself,” he told her. “Please Paige?”
“Fine,” she grumbled pulling out a clean set of undergarments and slipping into them. She searched in the dresser for a pair of jeans that would fit; most of what was there was a size or two too big for her anymore. She finally found a pair of skinny jeans that should do the trick and slid into them easily, adding a belt to keep them up, and then pulled on a pair of her old boots and a sweater to ward off the chill that had begun to descend on them.
He took her down the back stairs and to his car without running into anyone and for that, she was grateful. She didn’t know what he was up to, and she didn’t want questions she didn’t have an answer to right now. They drove a short distance until they were on the other side of the Brighton property line, and he turned up the road to the old Jasper place.
“Joel, where are we going? There’s nothing out here but the Jasper place…”
“You’ll see,” he stated coming up around the last curve. He stopped the car and let her take in the sight of the house no longer run down and in disarray but clean and welcoming.
“Someone bought this place?You?” she asked as he crept slowly towards the house. She got out and stared up at the refurbished porch that wrapped around three sides of the house.
“Welcome to my home Paige,” he stated opening the door and showing her inside.
She slowly walked through the rooms, her heart constricting a bit as each showed her that he had remembered her comments about the place, little hints she’d given him about a future she wanted to share with him.
“When did you do all this?” she asked at the foot of the stairs. “Why?”
“Let me show you,” he said taking her hand and heading up the stairs. He opened the door to the master suite he’d remodeled and headed to the desk pulling the deed out of the safe in the bottom drawer.
“Wait…Joel, this was before I left,” she said confused as she sat down on the edge of the bed. “Why would you buy this place…redo it the way…”
“The way you wanted to see it?” he finished for her. “Because I had planned on asking you to marry me, rebuild this place with me. I went to see your dad that night to tell him…ask him for permission I guess, and as much as he wanted to say yes, he told me that you weren’t ready. For the first time I argued with Cord but eventually I saw his point. You had everything growing up except for your mom and you were always getting your way until he said no to you working at the mine. If we had gotten married back then we would have fought about it constantly and that would have hurt us.”
“So, you two plotted against me? You knew I wanted you to stand up and tell my dad the truth. Knew that if I heard you lie to him about seeing someone else, I’d transfer to another school to finish my degree because I’d already given you the ultimatum…you set me up.”
“We wanted you to go somewhere new to see if you really wanted this life. We never thought you’d leave and not come back.”
