“I knew you wouldn’t care, but I did. I didn’t want to bring that kind of humiliation into your life, or your family’s. None of you needed or deserved that.”
“How about next time, you let me decide what I need?”
She nodded into his chest. “The thing is, even though he didn’t hit me when I was younger, he made sure I knew my place. That I wasn’t worth a damned thing, and those feelings came flooding back. I just wanted to fix it myself and make him go away. But when I got to the pawnshop, I couldn’t do it.”
Ian stilled. “But your father had the necklace in his hand. I just assumed you were giving it to him to sell.”
She lifted herself up and straddled his waist. “No. I was going to pawn the necklace and give him the money at some point in the future. But I changed my mind. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t give in to him one more time in my life, and I really couldn’t part with the necklace you’d given me.”
She reached up, her expression crestfallen when she realized the pendant was no longer there.
He could fix that, but he wanted her to finish unburdening herself first.
“I stood in the pawnshop and decided right then to go to you, so we could figure out what to do together. But when I walked out, my father was there, demanding the cash, and you know the rest.”
Yeah. He knew. “Riley, you have to know you’re worth everything to me. You make me a better man. And I’m so damned sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me afterwards.”
Her eyes filled, and his heart squeezed tightly. He hated causing her any kind of pain.
“You’re here now.”
“And I’m not going anywhere ever.” He’d been without her, and he wasn’t going back to that empty place again. “Which reminds me. The reason I called you in here in the first place. Scoot over.”
She slid off him, and he headed to his desk, coming back with two boxes. He handed her the long one first.
She opened it and squealed with delight. “My necklace!”
“I called the police and managed to convince them to return it to me after your father pleaded guilty.”
“The district attorney called me to approve the deal.”
“You’re okay with the five years?”
She nodded. “As long as he’s behind bars and I get a restraining order when he gets out, I’m okay.”
Ian wouldn’t let the man anywhere near her, but it was a discussion for far in the future.
He was more interested in focusing on the present. He lifted the necklace, and she raised her hair so he could replace it on her neck, where it belonged.
“I had the clasp fixed, and they cleaned it too.”
She turned and kissed him. “Thank you.” She touched the pendant. “I feel like you’re always with me when I wear it.”
“Then I hope you’ll feel the same way about its mate.”
She narrowed her gaze, wrinkling her nose in curiosity as he handed her the small box. “Ian?” she asked, her voice trembling.
He understood because his insides were a quaking mess.
Her hands shook as she lifted the top off the box, revealing the match to the pendant in ring form. A pear-shaped diamond that was too big, he knew, but he didn’t care.
Corny as it was, he dropped to one knee. “Marry me,” he said as she stared open-mouthed at the ring.
“Was that a question or a demand?” she asked, half laughing, half crying.
He grinned. “Still working on that part of me.”
She met his gaze, her expression solemn. “I don’t want to change you completely. I just need—”