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“No. Not at all.” I like the way she looks in it a little too much. “I’m telling you I’ll probably struggle to keep my hands to myself because you look so damn edible.”
“Oh.” She touches her bottom lip as she considers it. “I might change. Since it’s your family.”
“Fair enough.” I pick up my shirt and tug it over my head. Either way suits me fine, but she’s still not as comfortable with them as she used to be. It’ll take time that we’re all happy to give her. That I would give her over and over because I’m aware of how fucking lucky I am that she’s even here at all.
She climbs off the bed and heads into her closet to pick something out while I pat my pockets for my phone. I left it in the workout room after I finished my run. “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.” She calls out to let me know that she heard me.
It only takes me a minute to collect my phone and head back to the bedroom. By the time I’ve done that I’ve scrolled through my notifications and spotted the one from Marty in response to my earlier query asking if she’d found anything. And the answer is “not yet.”
“Rogue?” Ivy’s voice is a barely there, trembling whisper that snatches my attention from my screen.
Changed into leggings and a sweatshirt she stole from my closet, she sits on the bed. In her hands she cradles a red leather box like it’s a fragile baby bird. The lid on the box is open, revealing its contents.
Shit. Whatever words I should be saying… they don’t come to mind. Nothing comes to mind except asking her to marry me and sliding that ring on her finger for real.
“Is this really mine?” She doesn’t remove her focus from the ring nestled in the slit in the velvet cushion. “This is… it’s beautiful. But it’s soooo… over the top.”
I cup the back of my neck. What do I say? That I picked it out because I know her favorite color is the same blue as that round sapphire? Or that she is as dazzling to me as the diamonds nestled on both sides? Oh right, I’m supposed to say that it isn’t her ring. That it doesn’t belong to her because we aren’t married.
One slip of the tongue and now the lie is almost too big to take back—especially because I don’t want to take it back. I told Adira I would clean up the misunderstanding once Ivy was comfortable, but the thought of how she might react makes the organ in my chest contract painfully.
“Uh, I picked it out.” True. I spent my time choosing something she’d like but to a level that she deserved. Which is probably why she’s still staring at it like she half-expects it to bite.
I stride over to her. Perhaps I can put it back in my bedside drawer and leave this conversation to another day.
“N-no.” She moves the box from my attempted grasp and pulls the wedding band free. “I’m your wife. I should probably wear the ring.”
“You don’t need to.” The way she called herself my wife makes me feel ten feet tall as I take the slim band from between her pinched fingers. “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”
“But your family must wonder.”
They will wonder more if she shows up tonight with these rocks on her finger. I know everyone is maintaining the illusion that we’re Mr. and Mrs. because it’s probably helping keep Nicole at bay, but this isn’t costume jewelry. “They can mind their own business.”
“Okay.” She looks down and her cheeks turn pink. “I’d like to wear it.”
That takes a minute to sink in and then my lips start to turn up in the corners. She wants to see what it looks like on her. Perhaps it’s only to see if it might jog a memory, but my chest swells with warmth. “You would?”
She nods. “Please.”
I don’t hesitate to sink to my knees despite the Ataris’The Boys of Summerring tone I have for Summer reminding me that we’re running late. This vantage point is always my favorite when it comes to Ivy. Clasping her hand gently I slide the ring upon her finger.
Maybe I’m not making the right choice…the sane decision right now. No, I’m definitely not. But I’m caught up in the emotion of the moment. In the way the ring fits snuggly and the engagement ring nestles so perfectly next to it. In a fantasy that is so far from reality that I’ll eventually have to spell it out. Just not tonight.
Her gaze is shiny as she drags it away from her left hand. “I can’t believe this is my life.” A single tear slides from the corner of her eye and I brush it away with my thumb. “I love you, Ivy. No matter what. No matter whether you have my ring on your finger or not. Whether you remember us or not.”
She falls against me and sobs against my shoulder. “I can’t—"
“That’s okay. You don’t need to say it back.” I used to think love was a two-way street, but these last couple of weeks have taught me that sometimes when all seems lost you have to be able to love enough for two people. And that is something I am more than prepared to do for as long as it takes for Ivy to find her home in me. Like I found mine in her.
When she finally pulls away she’s composed herself. She wipes a shaky hand over her face to remove any traces of the tears that overwhelmed her.
I consider asking her for the rings back as I stand, but I don’t want her to cry again so soon. Instead I pretend like everything is as it should be while I check my phone to see if Summer left a message when I missed her call. “We should go before Summer sends out a search party.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ivy
