“Is it okay? That I’m staying?”
“Okay? Of course, why would you even ask?”
“You never asked me to stay. You said you were going to marry Keso.”
Sighing, she rested her cheek against his chest, then wrapped her arms around his waist. “I couldn’t ask you to stay. To give up your life to live here.”
“Why? You did.”
She nodded, the cool cotton of his T-shirt sliding across her cheek. “But that was my decision. I couldn’t ask you to do the same.”
“You could have. You should have.” Taking her biceps in his large hands, he pushed her back until he could look into her eyes. “After you left, that life meant nothing. I would’ve given it up years ago if I’d known you were here. Any life with you, is better than one without you, Cam. I swear.”
No longer able to keep her tears at bay, they flowed freely down her cheeks. “Ian, will you stay with me? Marry me? Build a life and make babies with me?”
A grin stretched his lips, happiness reaching all the way to the laugh lines beside his smiling eyes. “We’ll fill this island with babies. Brodie and Esme won’t have anything on us.”
Laughter bubbled in her chest, spilling out and filling the smoke-tinged air. She would rebuild here. She and Ara and Ian. And this time she wouldn’t just survive, she’d thrive.