AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I sat down in the recliner beside Jensen’s bed and watched him sleep for a few minutes before pulling out the box of love letters from my bag. I’d read every single one.
Carefully, I stacked them into a pile and pulled them out, setting them on my lap so I could reread them. My phone started to ring and I gasped, the sound so loud it echoed through the room. It was disappointing that Jensen didn’t stir slightly, but I had to stop the ringing before it woke up every patient on the floor. Unfortunately, my phone was in my purse across the room.
I quickly jumped up and stumbled over my feet, knocking the box and the letters to the floor.
“Dammit,” I hissed, seeing the carnage. The letters were scattered everywhere, and the box looked as if it’d been broken. Frustration coursed through me, and I huffed as I fished my phone out of my purse. The words that flashed across my screen said “Potential Spam”. I turned off the ringer and ignored the call.
When I turned back to the floor, my heart hurt at the sight before me. Kneeling on the floor, I scooped up all the letters and set them on the bed with Jensen while I inspected the box. The hinges were still intact, and the lid opened and closed normally. However, there was something broken inside. The wood had cracked on the bottom of the box, but as I inspected it further, I found it was thinner than the outside; it was like a thin piece of plywood placed as a barrier. When I touched it, it lifted to reveal a piece of paper beneath. My heart stopped and the breath caught in my lungs. Was it seriously another secret compartment?
I lifted one side of the broken wood and pulled it out of the box. The paper underneath was brown with age, and I could see something written on the other side. I turned it around and there were three sets of numbers: 34.214924 and -77.828454, and 24 9 12. The first two were a set of coordinates, but I had no clue what the third set of numbers could be.
Curiosity got the best of me, so I looked up the latitude and longitude on my phone, and it turned out to be a spot inside Airlie Gardens in Wilmington. There were so many questions running through my mind. Why was there a hidden note with coordinates to Airlie Gardens?
My mom and grandmother had taken me there many times when I was a little girl. Jensen and I had even gone with our friends in high school.
Looking at the map, the coordinates pinpointed a specific place in the gardens; it had to be a clue to something. It was one of the first places I wanted to go when Jensen got better.
I placed the paper back in its secret hiding spot and covered it with the broken wood before setting all the letters inside. With everything I’d found over the past few weeks, it was utterly mind-boggling.
After putting the box on the floor, I reached for Jensen’s hand and held it to my cheek. His skin was warm, and I kept hoping he’d squeeze my hand, but he didn’t. Instead, I stared at him for what had to be an hour, waiting to see his eyes flutter or catch a hint of movement in his body.
“I have so much to tell you when you wake up,” I said, whispering the words. Sheepishly, I bit my lip. “And I also have a confession to make.” I lowered his hand to the bed and kept hold of it. “I promise I wasn’t snooping,” I confessed, “but I found something in your sock drawer. Did I look at it? No, and it killed me not to. What woman wouldn’t want to peek inside a box that was the perfect size for a ring? Not to mention, I’ve spent the past few years thinking it wasn’t even possible that I’d ever get the chance to be married.” Shaking my head, I laughed. “I’m seriously jumping to conclusions, aren’t I? It’s probably earrings or something like that.” I moved closer to the bed, reaching out to run a hand gently through his hair. “But if it’s an engagement ring waiting for me, I hope you don’t wait forever and a day to ask me to marry you.” I laughed again. “Not that I want to rush you, but I’m dying to take that next step.” Closing my eyes, I rested my head on our clasped hands. “I don’t want to waste any more time.”
“Then we won’t.” His voice cut through the silence and I gasped, jerking my head up to look at him. Jensen was awake, his grayish-blue eyes full of love. A wave of joyous relief washed through me and my heart soared.
Letting his hand go, I brought my face to his, holding him tight as I pressed my lips to his. “You’re awake,” I cried.
His arms encircled me and he chuckled. “I am.”
I kissed him over and over, and then I pulled back so I could look at him. “How long were you awake?” I asked, watching his grin grow wider.
He shrugged and gave me a wink. “Long enough.” His gaze searched mine. “I know this isn’t what I had in mind as far as a proposal goes, but you were right. We’ve wasted too much time.” His eyes began to water and seeing that made more tears fall down my cheeks. “I was going to take you out on the boat and ask you to marry me at sunset,” he admitted. “I wanted it to be perfect.”
I shook my head. “Right now is perfect.”
Jensen reached for my hands and brought them to his lips, kissing each one. “You said you didn’t want me to wait forever and a day to ask you and believe me, I don’t want to. You’re not the only one ready to take that next step.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Will you marry me, Everleigh? I know I don’t have the ring with me, but I’ll put it on you as soon as we get out of here. That way, everyone will know you’re mine.”
Tears welled in my eyes, and a smile spread across my face. “Everyone already knows I’m yours.”
Jensen smirked. “So, is that a yes?”
I nodded so fast it made me dizzy. “Yes!” I exclaimed happily. “When do you want to do it?”
He chuckled. “As soon as you want. Although, I figured you’d want to wait until you find a job and move back here for good.”
“Well,” I said, climbing onto the bed beside him. “I was going to surprise you in a couple of weeks, but I’m pretty much here for good. I have a few surgeries I need to fly up to Boston for, and I just need to move my things out of the apartment, but other than that, you have me all to yourself.”
Jensen wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me in closer. “You know, I had a feeling you were keeping something from me,” he said, laughing.
I rested my head on his chest, listening to the sound of his heartbeat. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
He ran his fingers soothingly down my arm. “I’m alive because of you, Everleigh. I know you’re the one who saved me.”
“How?” I asked, whispering the words.
“Because I heard your voice,” he confessed.
My heart stopped and I held my breath. “What did I say?”
