More Than One Night
Page 25
“Charlie, will you marry me? Will you let me make you and The Bean happy for the rest of our lives?” Rhys’s voice was husky with emotion and she could see the nervousness and hope behind his eyes.
Everyone was silent, barely daring to breathe as they waited for her response, but her mind was one big echo chamber, empty of thought.
She looked at Rhys and saw his handsome face and broad shoulders and felt the powerful pull of his personality. She loved him so much it scared her. The sound of his voice, his little gestures and habits, the way he laughed, his energy, his drive. His essential goodness. His integrity. The way he made her feel. The future he offered her—a life filled with laughter and challenge and love.
He was a dream. A fantasy. Too good to be true. Yet he was on his knee in front of her, and he’d asked her to marry him.
This was happening. To her.
The shuffling of feet sounded and a motorbike drove by on the street—and still Rhys held her gaze, waiting patiently. Allowing her to get to where she needed to be in her own time.
I want this so badly.
Her life had been full of compromise and disappointment. Everything she’d ever had she’d earned three times over. She didn’t feel as though she’d earned Rhys and The Bean. They’d simply happened, a gift from the gods, and the cautious, wary part of her was afraid to trust that they were real.
It feels real. And I want it so badly.
She stared into Rhys’s dark, unwavering eyes and the answer rose up inside her.
If you want it, reach out and take it. Be brave. Not just for The Bean, but for you and Rhys, too.
She opened her mouth. “Yes.”
He smiled. It was only then that she could see that he’d been deeply unsure what her answer might be. And still, he’d knelt before her and laid himself on the line in front of their friends and family. On impulse, she stepped down to the patio, and before he could stand she joined him on her knees.
“I would very much like to be your wife,” she said.
She reached out and cupped his jaw in her hand and drew him close for a kiss. A cheer went up and she heard a champagne cork pop, closely followed by another. Rhys smiled against her lips and she started to laugh. He wrapped his arms around her and she splayed her hands over his back and held him tight.
“I love you,” she whispered.
He pulled back from her and brushed her cheekbone with his thumb. Then he plucked a velvet box from his pocket. She smiled, understanding why he’d been so intent on her reaction this morning when he’d given her the earrings.
“It should fit, but if it doesn’t we can easily get it adjusted,” he said as he pulled out a delicate filigree ring studded with what looked like hundreds of tiny white diamonds.
“Good God,” she said, shocked by how beautiful it was.
He grinned and slid the ring on to the fourth finger of her left hand. It was a little loose, but she closed her hand to prevent it from sliding off.
“We’ll get it fixed,” he assured her.
“Rhys, it’s absolutely stunning.”
Everyone wanted to congratulate them then. She was pulled to her feet and hugged by Holly, then Becky and Gina and Meg. The rest of Rhys’s family got in on the act next, then her army buddies. Charlie felt dizzy from all the attention, and before long her face started to ache from smiling so much. Everyone was so excited, all talking at once. Rhys was on the other side of the patio being thumped on the back by his brothers. She kept searching him out, as though some part of her was afraid that she’d imagined the past ten minutes.
She glanced at her ring. It was so beautiful it took her breath away. Rhys had obviously put a lot of time and effort into finding it, and the thought of him searching for just the right ring for her made her chest ache with emotion.
Suddenly she felt a little breathless and on the verge of tears. This was all so lovely, but it was overwhelming, too. So much happiness. So much expectation.
Waiting for a break in the conversation, she excused herself and slipped into the house. The bathroom was located behind the living room and she shut the door and felt her shoulders drop a notch. She sat on the edge of the tub and clasped her hands in her lap.
She would give herself five minutes then she would go back out again. She wanted to stow away as many memories as she could. After all, she would remember this day for the rest of her life.
The day Rhys asked her to marry him—and the day she’d had the courage to say yes.
Sitting alone, the sound of the party a distant rise and fall in the background, she acknowledged that her answer would have been very different if he’d asked her the same question even a month ago. A month ago, she hadn’t been ready to believe all this could be hers. She’d been so determined not to be caught short if something went wrong. So determined to keep one eye on the exit, in case he changed his mind or got sick of her or decided that she wasn’t any of the things he seemed to believe about her.
Somehow, slowly but surely, she’d started to accept that what Rhys felt for her was real. That he wasn’t going away. That this wasn’t some cosmic screwup that would correct itself just when she’d allowed herself to believe.
Rhys loved her. A part of her still reeled in stunned surprise every time he articulated as much to her, but at some point she had decided to accept him at face value.
She’d decided to trust the warmth she saw in his eyes and the passion of his lovemaking and the reverence of his touch. She’d decided to choose happiness. To allow herself to believe that she was loved. That she was worth it. That she mattered.
She spread her hands over the mound of her belly, thinking about the future that she and Rhys and The Bean could build together. For a moment, she felt as though she could almost split in two with happiness. That there wasn’t enough of her to contain it all, it was so big and deep and complete.
A tap sounded on the bathroom door. “Charlie?”
She smiled. “Come in.”
Rhys slipped inside, shutting the door behind him. “Too much?” he asked as he perched beside her on the tub.
“It’s lovely.”
“But loud.”
“It’s perfect.”
“So you’re not angry with me for ambushing you?”
“No.”
“I wanted to make a statement. I wanted you to know how loved you are. How proud I am of you.”
“I know.”
“Do you?” He reached out and traced first one eyebrow, then the other. “I don’t know what I did without you, Charlie. I can’t even remember what my life was like.”
“I can. My life, I mean,” she said. “I can remember looking at the world from the outside. Always from the outside. But you brought me inside.”
He’d given her a family. He’d given her unconditional love. He’d soothed her fears and been patient with her anxieties and, even though she’d pushed him away, he’d hung in there.
Because she was worth it.
What a revolutionary concept. One he’d helped her believe in. She smiled.
Rhys cocked his head to the right. “What?”
“I was just thinking we should write to that condom company and thank them for their inferior product.”
“You’re right, we should.”
“Dear Sir/Madam. I’d like to thank you for helping me make the most magnificent, amazing, beautiful mistake of my life—”
“Without your faulty latex, I might never have met the woman of my dreams. And I might never know what it’s like to finally feel comfortable in my own skin.”
“I think that’s my line, not yours,” she said.
“It’s mine, too.”
They both smiled.
“We can share it,” she sug
gested.
“Along with everything else.”
“Yes.”
They kissed. The too-happy feeling filled her again, but this time she didn’t feel overwhelmed. Rhys was with her. He had her. He wouldn’t let her down. And she wouldn’t let him down, either.
They were a team, he and her and The Bean.
Finally, she understood that.
* * * * *
ISBN: 9781459223646
Copyright © 2012 by Small Cow Productions Pty Ltd.
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