Grace Under Fire (Buchanan-Renard 14)

Suddenly wide awake, she bolted upright. “Why didn’t I... why didn’t... ,” she sputtered. “You were supposed to call me. Why didn’t you?”

Michael sat up in bed and leaned back against the padded headboard. “I was helping out a friend with a legal matter. It was a real mess,” he admitted. “I should have called you then. God knows I thought about you all the time.”

“You did?”

“Yes,” he said. He reached over and turned the bedside lamp off. The bedroom was cast in shadows from the streetlights below.

“I did think you needed time to figure out what you wanted and hopefully that your future would include me, but then I realized it didn’t matter, because I was never going to let you go.”

She laid her head on his shoulder. “I didn’t need any time to know that I loved you.”

“I wanted to tell you how I felt in person, not over the phone. I was in San Diego winding things up with the Navy, but then a friend with PTSD disappeared. His wife needed help finding him. She contacted me and the others who were part of his team in Afghanistan. Fortunately, we found him before he did anything too crazy. He’s in the hospital now, getting the help he needs.”

“Are you having second thoughts about leaving the SEALs?”

“No, I think, with my law degree and my training, I can do more in the FBI.”

He started talking about what he hoped to accomplish and the path he had taken that led him to his decision. For over an hour he opened up and told her about his successes and failures and his future goals. He never mentioned the SEALs or talked about his time with them, and she knew not to ask.

It was almost three in the morning by the time he finished expressing all he wanted to do with his life and what was in his heart. She came first, he told her. Always.

Then it was her turn. He asked her what she planned to do about Xavier. “Are you going to tour with him?” He felt her shiver. “So that’s a no?”

“I’ll tell him I’ll do one concert with him this year, and I’ll record a few songs with him, but that’s all. I’ll continue to write songs because that’s what I love to do, and Xavier will have first choice to buy or pass on every song. You like Xavier, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do,” he said. He yawned as he added, “But I’m going to have a little talk with him.”

“About what?”

“I’m going to explain that if he ever kisses you again the way he did onstage, I’m going to put my fist through his face.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, I would.” He kissed her bare shoulder, then her neck, then her earlobe, and whispered, “I want you to marry me.”

When she didn’t immediately agree, he nudged her. “Marry me,” he insisted. “You do want to marry me, don’t you?”

The worry she heard in his voice surprised her. “This is not the proposal story I want to tell our children.”

“What’s wrong with this proposal?”

“Children, your father and I were naked in bed...”

He laughed. “Okay, I’ll propose when we’re dressed and I have a ring. But know this. You are going to marry me. I love you, Isabel, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

She fell asleep smiling. Bonehead loved her.