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“Careful. You’ve got precious cargo on board.” He rested a hand on the curve of my belly. His thumb traced a gentle path back and forth.Gently. Reverently.
I was barely showing at four months, but if you were looking, you could definitely tell I was pregnant. I thrilled with every new change in my body because it was evidence of the amazing little person we had created.
Together.
“I was so tired that I wanted to take a nap before you were due home. But I must have slept longer than I meant to.”
He kissed my forehead softly. “Is my daughter wearing you out?”
I grinned. We’d had a running feud for the past month about the sex of the baby. Neither of us wanted to find out beforehand, happy to leave it as a surprise. Rafe, however, was convinced it was a girl. Mainly because he said the universe loved to challenge him.
“Oursonis doing just fine. I was craving sauerkraut yesterday, but I managed to survive it.”
I cringed just thinking of it. Jonas had been a great sport and gone out to buy me some. It had been delicious while I was eating it, but thinking back on it made me gag a little. It was so strange how I could crave things so intensely and then as soon as I had them, revert back to thinking they were gross.
“Do I owe the guys a favor? You didn’t make them watch you eat ice cream and pickles, did you?”
“That is a stereotype. I have never eaten anything weird with my ice cream.” Ihadeaten the sauerkraut and then eaten a cherry Popsicle right afterward, but he didn’t need to know that.
When I tried to stand, Rafe put a hand up to keep me from rising. Before I could ask what he was doing, he reached into his pocket and pulled out something that I couldn’t see. My heart started beating wildly for some reason, but I wasn’t sure why. I just had a sudden feeling that Rafe was up to something.
Then he opened his hand.
I put a hand over my heart. “Is that… is that really…”
“The Jewel of the Sea,” Rafe finished for me. “Yes, it is. I thought long and hard about what I could possibly buy for you that would express my feelings. Diamonds are traditional, of course, but you and I have never been the traditional sorts. Starting our lives together shouldn’t be traditional either. So when I give you a gift, I need it to be something more. Something meaningful.”
“So you found my mother’s stone for me?” I almost couldn’t speak over the lump in my throat.
I’d long ago reconciled myself to the reality that the Jewel of the Sea was lost forever. It had been stolen, sold, and likely crossed many paths on the black market since. Something that valuable wasn’t going to be easy to find. Then I’d found peace with it. My connection to the stone had nothing to do with its value but its legacy. My fingers trembled as I reached out and touched the cool surface of the jewel.
This was the only thing I had left of my mother.
The authorities had seized my family estate in Austria, and we’d gotten word that it had been looted shortly after that. Probably payback from my brothers’ many enemies. It made me sad to think of my mother’s things being carted off by criminals, but again, I’d made peace with it. I’d had no plans to go back there anyway.
My life was here now. My life was Rafe now.
“Do I even want to know what you had to do to get this back?”
Rafe suddenly looked cautious. “Probably not. But I wanted you to have it because it was your mother’s.”
I would never stop marveling at his kindness. If asked to describe himself, Rafe would undoubtedly use words likestoic,determined,andrelentless. But I saw an entirely different side to him. I saw attentiveness and a sweetness that should have been impossible in someone who’d been through the things he had. Quite simply, he’d shown me what it was like to be loved unconditionally and completely.
I pulled him in for a soft kiss before turning my attention to the stone in his hand.
“I never expected to see this again. My mother told me when I was a little girl that the Jewel of the Sea had been handed down from mother to daughter for more than ten generations. It’s supposed to carry good fortune. Not that it worked for my mother.” I smiled sadly.
“Well, you don’t need it for good fortune, but I figured this was as good an engagement gift as any.”
My eyes shot wide open when I realized what was happening. We’d discussed marriage of course, but Rafe had always talked like it was a done deal. I hadn’t expected to get a proposal.
“I love you.”
My eyes watered at the heartfelt declaration. “I love you, too.”
“Which is still a revelation to me.” Rafe laughed. “From the moment I saw you looking all dirty and defiant, I knew that my life would never be the same. Happiness wasn’t something I thought was possible for me. But somehow that’s what you do. You make me happy. I want us to always be together, getting in and out of trouble and fighting our demons together. There’s nothing in this world that I want more. Larissa Diana Vandergraff, will you marry me?”
The words were barely out of his mouth before I was screaming, “Yes!”
Laughing, Rafe wiped the tears from my cheeks. “Thank God. This jewel really is lucky. I just got the most beautiful woman in the world to agree to be my wife. I’ll get you a real ring later, but I figured I’d better bring my A-game to this proposal.”
“You didn’t need any help. Just you.” I closed my eyes. “I’m so excited for all this. Our whole lives.”
“Me too. Because I can’t do this without you,” Rafe said.
“You’ll never have to. I’m in too deep to get out now, Rafael DeMarco.”
Which was exactly where I wanted to be.
* * *
