Lifting his hand, he cupped my cheek.
“Ask me tomorrow,” he said softly.
And Edward fell to one knee before me.
I stared down at him, my mouth wide with shock. “What are you doing?”
“What I should have done long ago.” He looked up at me in the small, shadowy attic bedroom. “You know I want to marry you, Diana. I’m asking you one last time. With everything I’ve got,” he said quietly. “All I want is to make you happy.” He drew a black velvet box from his jeans pocket and held it up in the flickering candlelight. “Will you give me the chance?”
Looking down at him, I couldn’t move or breathe. I suddenly knew that whatever happiness or misery came to me—and my daughter—would all stem from the choice I made in this moment.
“Diana...” Edward opened the black velvet box. “Will you marry me?”
I saw the enormous diamond ring and covered my mouth with my hands. I blinked hard, unable to believe my eyes. “Is that thing real?” I breathed. “It’s the size of an iceberg—”
“You deserve the best,” he said quietly.
I’d spent years in Hollywood. So I’d seen big diamonds before. Madison had worn lots of big diamonds to awards shows—gorgeous borrowed jewels to go with her gorgeous borrowed gowns. But even in Hollywood, the million-dollar jewelry was an illusion. When the event was over, the jewelry had to be returned. Faster than you can say glass slipper.
But this wasn’t borrowed. This was meant to last.
Edward meant this to last.
“Don’t do this to me,” I whispered, stricken. “We don’t need to get married. We can live apart, but still raise her together....”
“That’s not what I want,” he said quietly, still on one knee. “What is your answer?”
I looked down at him. Looked at the rose petals, the candlelight. I took a deep breath. “You’ll change your mind....”
“I won’t.” He hesitated. “But if you love someone else...”
I shook my head.
“Then what?” he asked gently.
I took a deep breath, and met his eyes.
“I’m scared. I loved you once, and it nearly destroyed me.”
His hand seemed to tighten on the black velvet box. His voice was low. “You don’t have to love me.”
Marriage without love? The thought was a jarring one. I licked my lips. “I’m afraid if I say yes, you’ll soon regret it. You’ll wish you could be single again, and date all those women....”
“I’ll only regret it,” he said, “if you say no.”
“Where would we live?” A hysterical laugh bubbled to my lips. “You don’t want to spend your life waiting for me, as I film commercials... Sooner or later you’ll have to get back to work.”
He looked up at me, his dark eyes inscrutable in the fading twilight. “You’re right.”
“I won’t live in London. We were so unhappy there. Both of us.”
“There are other choices,” he said quietly.
“Like what?”
“The whole world.” Rising to his feet, he pulled my left hand against his chest, over his heart. “Just let me give it to you.”
I could feel his heart pounding beneath my hand. The strong rapid beat matched my own. My fingers curled against his warm skin.
“I won’t let you break my heart again,” I choked out.
“I’ll never hurt you, Diana. Ever.” Dropping the rose and the black velvet box to the end table, Edward pulled me into his arms. His hands stroked back my hair, down my bare back that was only covered with the crisscross lines of my sundress. “Let me show you....”
Lowering his head to mine, he kissed me.