AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes. You did. And you spent so much of your life giving things up for me. I want you to have it all. You deserve it. Now, I’ll go entertain the guests while you talk to Dad. I’ll see you down there.” She gave me a kiss and headed out the door. My heart swelled, knowing I’d made the right choice in raising her the way I had. She’d turned out just perfect.
As I paced back and forth in the room waiting for Tom, I jumped when three raps on the door broke the silence.
“Sylvie?” his deep voice echoed through the door. “Are you in there?”
“Yes.” I hurried over, pressing my hands to the door, feeling so desperate to touch him after a month apart that I almost broke it down. “I’m here.”
“Thank God you made it back safe. They told me you were here, but I don’t think I’ll believe it until I’ve got you safely in my arms again.”
“Soon,” I said to him, leaning against the door, closing my eyes, and pretending it was him, I pressed again. “I’ll be back in them soon. And I can’t wait.”
“Good, because I’m a little worried you’ve got me here to talk to you about something before the wedding. You’re not running out on me again, are you?”
“No!” I answered quickly. “Never. I love you, Tom. Always have, and always will.”
“Good, because I don’t want to have to kidnap you and hold you hostage to keep you in my life. But dammit, woman. I will. I let you go once, and to hell, if I’m doing it again.”
I sighed and pressed my cheek to the cool wood. “I’m yours now and always, Tom.”
His voice softened. “And I’m yours.”
I inhaled a happy breath, then remembered why I’d called him here. “I do need to tell you something before the wedding because I want to make sure you’re marrying me with all the facts.”
“You’d better not be pregnant with someone else’s baby,” he joked, making me laugh.
“Shut up, Tom.” I chuckled.
I heard his laugh then he cleared his throat. “What is it, baby?”
“You know how I moved in with you after we reconnected, and I was putting my house up for sale?”
“Yeah.”
“I can’t sell it. And I don’t want to live with you in Valley Hills. I want us to move back to Wilder Lane so I can live by my widows again. They all want to move home too. We miss each other too much. When I’m with you, I miss them. And when I’m with them, I miss you. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in a constant state of missing someone. I want you all. And the only way to do that is to move back to Wilder Lane. With you.”
“Is that it?” he asked, and I furrowed my brow.
“What do you mean ‘Is that it?’”
“Moving to your house on Wilder Lane is the big ask of me?”
“Well, yeah. I didn’t know how you’d feel about leaving your home, and I don’t want to marry you andthendrop that bomb on you.”
His voice softened. “Baby, I’ll follow you anywhere.You’remy home now. Not the house I live in.”
My heart lifted so high I felt it leave my body. “You’d move to Wilder Lane with me? Just like that?”
“Of course, I would, woman. I love you. If you want to move to Mexico, I’ll make margaritas. You want to move to France? I’ll get a beret. Want to move to the moon? I’ll buy a fucking space suit. Anywhere, Sylvie. I will follow you anywhere. And if Wilder Lane is where you’ll be happy, then that’s where we’ll go.”
Tears streamed down my face as I pressed my hands to the door. I tried to answer, but a lump in my throat put a cork in any words.
“Sylvie? You there, baby?”
After a heavy breath, with a smile, I nodded. “Yes. Yes, I’m here. And thank you, Tom. I love you so much. You have no idea how happy you’ve made me.”
“Good. Because you make me happy every minute of every day. I’m only repaying the kindness. And I intend to spend the rest of my life finding ways to make you happy, too. Now, if that’s all there is to this discussion, then hurry up and get your ass down the aisle. I’ve been waiting forty years to call you my wife.”
“Yes. Okay. I’m coming. I’ll be there in a few.”
