14 Valentine Place
Page 24
“What are you asking me, Dylan?”
“To be mine.” He pulled a small box from his pocket and handed it to her. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
She opened it and inside was gold locket in the shape of a heart, bearing the inscription ML Be Mine DD. “It’s beautiful.”
“Will you be mine? And I’m not talking about a long-distance relationship, Maddie. I want us to be together. Every day. Not just on weekends.”
For an answer she kissed him tenderly, then said, “Then we’ll work it out. I have no roots here, Dylan. I love your mother as if she were my own, but my sisters don’t live here. I’d follow you wherever your work takes you.”
He kissed her back. “I don’t know if I deserve you. I hurt you that night at the hotel. I’m sorry, Maddie.”
“What happened, Dylan? We were so happy together when that evening started. Then we went to Shane’s, and the next thing I knew you were pulling away from me.”
“I was scared of what I saw when you held Tom and Judy’s baby.”
“And you started worrying that I would get pregnant?”
He shook his head. “No, the panic set in when I started fantasizing about what it would be like if you had my baby. You looked so natural, so right holding that little baby…”
“I never said I wanted to have children, Dylan.”
“Do you?”
She knew this was where the risky part came in. She needed to be honest. “Someday.”
He smiled then. “Good, because I want them, too. Spending these past six weeks here, I’ve realized that as great as it is to live on an island where the weather is always warm and the only responsibility I have in life is my work, I’ve missed being a part of this family.”
“So we can have kids someday?”
“Someday. But first, I need you to be mine and only mine.” From behind him on the desk, he reached for a box and handed it to her. Inside were the letters I LUV U in chocolate. “I promise to always be true.”
“That’s all I need…and a little chocolate now and then.”
ISBN: 978-1-4592-4355-2
14 VALENTINE PLACE
Copyright © 2002 by Pamela Muelhbauer.
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