Nighttime Sweethearts
Page 16
"So, if you were able to think just of me, you wouldn't be here," she reiterated calmly. "But if you were thinking of yourself, then what?"
"If I was thinking only of myself, I couldn't leave you," he said hoarsely, and then some part of him surrendered and he laid his head in the hollow where her neck joined her shoulder.
Her mother had put her own needs first, always, above her daughter's.
Rick was trying to put Cynthia's needs first, instead of his own.
Only he had a limited understanding of what those needs were.
He had a limited understanding of himself.
"You are not the boy you once were," she said to him softly.
"That's what I'm trying to tell you," he said. "Maybe that's even part of why I didn't want you to see me, to recognize me. Because you might expect me to be what I was before, and I'm not."
"Have you considered the possibility you might be better?" she asked.
"No." He said it harshly and quickly.
"Oh, yes," she said firmly. "I remember that boy. I loved him, too, but not the way I love you. You are deeper and wiser and stronger than that boy was, Rick. And I am deeper and wiser and stronger than that girl was. I am going to marry you," she told him decisively, "and we are going to become deeper and wiser and stronger together, forever."
He pulled back from her.
"Do I have any say in this?" he asked, a trace of a smile beginning to tickle his lips.
"Mmm-hmm. You can say yes."
"No other options?"
"No."
"Cynthia—"
"Just say what your heart wants to say," she told him. "And let me look after my own heart. I know exactly what I need."
"What is your mother going to say about all this?"
"When I was a child, I listened to my mother. In the last few days, I have become the woman I have always wanted to be. And now I listen to my heart."
"Tell me what your heart is telling you," he demanded, one last attempt to chase her away with his harshness.
Solidly, she said, "You are not who you used to be. And I am not who I used to be. The changes in you and in me are not bad. Love is asking us to be more than we were before, Rick. It is lifting us up to that place that is beyond the scars and hurts of this world. We can go to a place of the supernatural, if we accept this challenge."
He studied her for a moment longer, and the smile that had tickled his mouth widened.
And then he threw back his head and laughed.
He let out a whoop of pure joy and celebration, picked her up and whirled her around, danced her around the clearing until they were both breathless from it.
His light and his dark melted together and one did not destroy the other.
Instead, he was made whole.
He waltzed her to the edge of the cliff and called over it, for the whole world to hear, "Rick Barnett loves Cynthia Forsythe. Forever!"
Merry's head lifted at the sound of that joyous masculine voice drifting over La Torchere.
She was out on her very private patio, an ice pack on her head.
He called it again, his declaration of love.
It was so strong, his voice, as if it had never been damaged. She suspected his spirit would be like that, too, made stronger by adversity, not weakened by it.
She wanted to believe in the message that love could make all well with the world.
But could it really?
She stared down at the wrinkles on her hands and knew she faced adversity beyond what she could have ever imagined.
Last night, Alex had been waiting for her outside her room when she got in from her lonely vigil on the beach. He had a touching way of caring about her, an annoying way of ignoring her dismissals, forgetting his place.
Of course, she had soon found out why!
He had given her the shocking news that he was not just a handyman.
He was the owner of the resort!
But what did it matter? Even if she were ever restored to her old self, she was betrothed to another.
And why had he told her his secret? Why had he felt as if it was so important that she know?
He had told her he respected her too much to live a lie in her presence, to spend one more day deceiving her.
Once upon a time, when she was young, she had thought, arrogantly, that she knew everything, and that she had all the answers, for everyone.
But no one had ever respected her. Or at least not for herself. They might have respected her because of her position and her family, out of fear or tradition, but not because of who she was.
But what was that? Who was she? Who had she been then? And who was she now?
Merry felt a dismaying sense of having no answer, and no idea what was right or what was wrong, what was good or what was bad.
What a terrible price she had paid to learn this lesson of humility.
Even with the help of magic, she was not in control of the universe.
Even her own life was out of control. Word had come to her this morning that the Phipps-Stovers had officially separated. Would they divorce?
She had considered interfering, of course, but she had stopped herself. Would she wish them lives of misery, just so that she could go back to being who she once was? Once she would have, unhesitatingly. Now, she wasn't so sure.
His voice came again, beautiful, wild, free, as if his spirit had joined the spirit of his brother, the bear.
"Rick Barnett loves Cynthia Forsythe forever."
All the magic in the world really couldn't make that kind of miracle happen.
Despite herself, she let the strength of Rick's voice wash over her. She felt the power in it.
And despite the fact that it felt weak and foolish to do so, for one shining moment, she allowed herself to believe that maybe, just maybe, there were powers greater than hers looking after the order of things.
Maybe, just maybe, her own story was going to have a happy ending after all.
Don't miss the conclusion of IN A FAIRYTALE WORLD… Six reluctant couples.
Five classic love stories. One matchmaking princess.
And time is running out!
TWICE A PRINCESS by Susan Meier
Silhouette Romance #1758 Available March 2005