by Alex Strong
He took her other hand.
“I heard you come to my bedroom door that night,” he said. “You turned the handle even. But you didn’t come in.”
“I was confused,” she whispered.
“About what?”
“About you. About what I was starting to feel for you.”
“I’m in love with you, Karina,” he said. “I think I have been since the moment I laid eyes on you. And it terrifies me. I’ve never felt this way. I couldn’t even recognize it at first. Not until you told me you wanted to go home early. When you told me that…well, it was a pain I never imagined.”
Damien lifted both her hands to his lips, and Karina felt her eyes water.
“I was a fool for letting you walk out the door.”
“You were an asshole,” she laughed, and a tear slid down her cheek.
“I was,” he said, wiping the tear away. “I don’t deserve you. But that doesn’t mean I’ll stop trying to prove how much you mean to me. I love you, Karina. Please come home with me. Please go to school in Miami.” He took a deep breath. “I don’t want to remember what my life was like without you. Let me show you how much I love you. Amorecito, me cielo. You are my world.”
“Is that what that means?”
He nodded. “Technically it translates to ‘my sky,’ but same thing.” He pressed his forehead to hers. “You are my sky, my sun, my everything. And I’m sorry it took me so long to say it to you.”
“Did you just apologize to me?” she asked with a smile.
“I did,” he said, smiling back. “I think I owe you some music, don’t I?”
She nodded.
“Does that mean you’ll come with me?”
“Yes,” she said, and Damien pressed his lips to hers as he lifted her off the ground and spun her in a circle.
“I love you,” he said, setting her feet back on the floor. “I’ll say it a hundred times every day if I have to. Anything to have you at my side.”
“I love you too,” she said. “And I’ll say it back a hundred times if I have to for you to remember it.”
Epilogue
Karina and Ginny stood in the foyer talking to her parents.
“So are you going to start the job hunt soon?” her mother asked.
“Not just yet,” Karina said cryptically.
“Just because your boyfriend’s a billionaire doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use that new fancy degree of yours,” Ginny said.
“I’m sure that’s not what Karina is implying,” her father said before narrowing his eyes at her. “Right?”
She shrugged and was spared having to say anything else by a waiter coming around with a tray of champagne.
“For the toast,” he told them.
She looked at him in confusion until Damien walked up, already carrying his own glass.
“May I borrow Karina for a moment?” he asked, and everyone nodded.
“What’s going on?” she asked as she let him lead her over to the stairs.
“What kind of host would I be if I didn’t congratulate the graduate,” he said. They walked up a couple of steps, just enough so that everyone’s face was in view.
“Don’t embarrass me,” she said with a nervous smile.
“I’ll try not to,” he said, kissing her cheek before turning to the crowd in his home. “May I have everyone’s attention?”
All the guests looked in their direction, and Karina could feel herself blushing already.
“I want to thank you all for coming tonight,” he said, “to help celebrate Karina’s achievement. I’ve never seen anyone work as hard as she has these past two years. Especially the last couple of months, where as part of her capstone project, she has been helping me establish the Bishop Community Health Center, something I think we’re both very proud of,” he said, putting an arm around her.
“Despite all the speculation,” he continued, “I’ve yet to name a director for the program. What Karina didn’t know until this morning was that I’d been hoping she would fill that role. And I am thrilled to announce that she has accepted.”
Everyone clapped, and Karina could see a couple heads nodding as though they knew it. Tom gave her a wink from the crowd. How he managed to keep it from her, she’d never know.
“If I could have your attention just a little bit longer,” Damien said, and everyone quieted again. “What Karina doesn’t know is that I still have one more important question.”
Karina looked out at Tom, who looked just as baffled as her, and then to Damien, who was getting down on one knee, pulling a little blue box from his pocket, and she gasped.
“Karina Watson, will you marry me?”
“Oh my god, Damien,” she whispered. “Yes. Yes, yes, yes!”
The guests all cheered as he stood and slipped the diamond ring on her finger.
“Before you,” he said quietly enough so that only she could hear, “I thought true love was impossible, a charade. Now I can’t imagine spending a day without you. I love you, Karina, with all my heart.”
“I love you, Damien, with all of mine.”
He pulled her into him, enveloping her in his arms, and in a kiss. The rest of the crowd melted away from her thoughts, and Karina knew she was right where she belonged.
The most important sentiment my father drilled in to me was thank you. No matter what, you always say thank you. So thank you to Tama, Andrea, Liz, and Cattigan for beta-reading this project that I have been beyond excited about since day one. Thank you to my editor Carrie for helping me polish it. Thank you to my husband for his support and for picking up take-out because I couldn’t—didn’t want to stop working. And a big thank you to my readers for giving me a reason to keep doing this. I know I’d probably be doing it anyway, but thank you for making it feel worthwhile. Your love and support makes my heart swell.
As a kid, I wanted to be a lot of things when I grew up. Strangely enough, being a writer wasn’t one of them, no matter how much I was doing it in my spare time. I never did decide what I wanted to do, and for that I am grateful because I might not being doing this now if I were too busy with a “real” job. I’ve managed to experience a lot in my lifetime, both good and bad, and I love drawing from it all to create my stories. So while the tales you read are completely made up, my heart and soul are still sprinkled among the pages.
If you’re like to know more about me, come find me on social media!
Fb.com/AlexStrongWrites
Twitter and Instagram: @TheAlex_Strong