by Judy Duarte
Okay. Something seemed a little off. But maybe it’s because she hadn’t ever seen Javier’s father so happy. Had he and Javier received good news?
She made her way to the elevator, then took it up to the third floor.
But when she entered 310, the room he’d been assigned last night, she found his bed empty. So she went to the nurses’ station, where Brenna sat.
“Where’s Javier?” she asked.
Brenna burst into a grin nearly as bright as the one Luis had worn. “Dr. Fortune took him outside in a wheelchair. And they said to tell you, if you came looking for him, that you’d find him in the rose garden.”
After thanking Brenna, Leah made her way to the garden.
She only walked a short way before spotting Javier sitting on one of the benches, his cane resting beside him. In his hands, he held his guitar.
Is that why Luis had been smiling? Because Javier had asked for his guitar?
That seemed like an odd request, especially since he was supposed to be going home today, but she decided not to dwell on it. Instead, she approached the bench on which Javier sat.
She hadn’t seen it at first, but a glass vase filled with red roses sat at his feet.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
He strummed a couple of chords, then asked her to take a seat. As she did so, he began to play a familiar tune—Anne Murray’s “Could I Have This Dance.”
She’d always loved that song and had heard it used at several weddings. As Javier sang the words as though they’d been written especially for her, asking her to dance with him for the rest of his life, her heart swelled to the point that she thought she might float away.
And she found herself falling in love with him all over again.
When he’d sung his heart out, when the beautiful words had rung true, her eyes filled with tears.
“I’d wanted to wait to ask you to be my wife until I was back to fighting weight. And Jeremy assures me that I’ll be as good as new by fall. So I was wondering how you’d feel about a September wedding?”
She couldn’t believe he was doing this for her, sharing his talent, touching her heart.
“I think that would be perfect. Do you have a day in mind?”
“No, I’ll let you settle on one. And while you’re at it, why don’t you see if you can take a couple weeks off for a honeymoon.”
“I’m sure that I can. I’ve got a lot of time on the books.” Up until this point, she’d been so focused on work that she had a lot of vacations she’d failed to take.
“Then marry me, Leah. Be my friend, my lover, my wife.”
The tears welled in her eyes, and as she nodded her answer, one droplet slid down her cheek, followed by another. “Yes,” she finally managed to say. “I’ll marry you, Javier.”
He placed the guitar to the side, then wrapped her in his arms and kissed her with all the love in his heart.
When the kiss ended, when they came up for air in the garden where Leah had first dreamed of having a home and family of her own, she realized that Javier had just made her dreams come true—and in such a wonderful, romantic way.
“I love you,” she said. “More than you’ll ever know.”
“I’ve got a pretty good idea, honey. Because I love you more than I ever thought possible.” He glanced at his watch. “Come on, we’d better get home before the phone starts ringing.”
“Are you expecting a call?”
“A whole slew of them. You see, my dad brought my guitar and the bouquet of roses to me this morning.”
“So he knows about this, about us?”
“Yes, and he’s probably spread the news to everyone in the family by now.”
“I hope they’ll be happy.”
“They’ll be thrilled,” he said. “And they’ll probably start gearing up for our big day in September. So I hope you like big weddings.”
“I’ll like ours.”
Then right there, in the center of the hospital rose garden, with new blooms bursting with new life, Javier kissed Leah again. When their kiss ended, Leah said, “Come on. Let’s go home.”
“There’s nothing I’d like better.” As he reached for his cane, he wobbled a bit. She stood by to grab him if he needed her to, but she didn’t make an issue of it.
“You know,” Javier said, as they started down the walkway. “Jeremy mentioned that my survival after that tornado had been nothing short of a miracle.”
“That’s true,” she said.
“And he implied that miracles are often a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. But next time I see him, I’m going to tell him he’s wrong.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because I’ve been more fortunate than most people ever are. I’ve experienced two of them within the past three months. And falling in love with you and having you love me back is the biggest miracle of all.”
He was right about that.
Leah slipped her free hand into Javier’s and walked toward the parking lot where she’d left her car.
She’d been blessed beyond measure, too.
What they’d found in each other’s arms was nothing short of miraculous. And she planned to love and cherish him for the rest of her life.
* * * * *
ISBN: 9781459223134
Copyright © 2012 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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