Putting his finger to her mouth, Josh applied pressure. He couldn’t take any more.
“I love you.” It was the most honest thing he’d ever said. And as uncomfortable as the words were for him to hear, they also freed something inside of him. Something far bigger than any mountain-climbing high or multimillion dollar deal.
He hadn’t needed to hear his mother say he loved Dana to know. He’d just needed to think, if but for a second, that he’d lost her.
“I...”
“The proper response would be ‘I love you, too,’” he quipped.
When her eyes welled over, Josh took his first easy breath of the day.
“I love you, too.” Her voice broke.
“But?” He heard it there, in the tenuous threads.
“Josh, there are at least a dozen people over there, watching us.”
He glanced over his shoulder. “They’re speaking among themselves,” he said. “And you can bet every single one of them is going to be telling this story, one way or another, for the rest of their lives.”
“What story?”
“The one where the billionaire begs the most popular girl in town to forgive him for coming to the party so late and asks her to marry him.” He paused. His whole life rested on this moment. The deal he couldn’t close.
He had to wait for her to do that.
“Josh—”
“You said you love me.”
“And you lied to me.”
He’d known it was coming. And knew that if he didn’t get this right, he was going to lose her. He’d been thinking of how he was going to explain things to her for days. And had come up empty.
He was still empty. Of everything but the truth.
“I didn’t come here to fall in love, Dana. I told you from the start that I couldn’t be in a relationship with you. Or anyone. Because of the lie I was living. I had to make good with the life I’d been given. Had to find who I was without the money and privilege that had made me so insensitive to those around me.”
“Not insensitive, Josh. Just unaware,” Dana said, fresh tears in her eyes. But the hurt he’d seen there a minute ago was gone. “I know, not from what your mother told me but from what I’ve seen, that you are, as your mother said, singularly focused. And one of the most sensitive men I’ve ever known.”
He dropped to one knee. “Dana Harris? Will you marry me?”
The road was quiet as though everyone behind him had heard his question. As though they were all waiting.
“Dana?”
Getting down on her knees, she took his face between her hands and kissed him full on the mouth. Because that was reality.
And then, when she’d tasted him, her world fell into place. “Yes, Josh Redmond, I will marry you.”
Cheers broke out, and she heard the sound of voices as everyone started talking at once. L.G. barked.
It was going to be complicated.
They still had a lot of things to work out. A life in Shelter Valley that he didn’t want to leave just yet. A family in Richmond for him to meet. And a family in Boston who was going to love her.
He had to take her to see Michelle. And soon there would be a new baby to help bring into the world....
He couldn’t get enough of it—this life he and Dana were going to spend together.
“Hey, Josh! Come on, man. Share a little!”
“That’s Jon Swartz,” Dana said, and Josh remembered why the others were waiting.
Once again, he’d been focused on himself.
That wasn’t true. He’d been focused on what mattered more to him than anything. Dana. Their children. Their family.
“Josh! Sorry, buddy, but she already agreed to marry you and...”
Standing, Josh pulled Dana to her feet, but he didn’t let go of her hand when the other man threw his arms around her and hugged her as though he’d never let her go.
* * *
“JON?” CONFUSED, AND SLIGHTLY tangled up between Josh’s hold on her hand and Jon Swartz’s hug, Dana noticed that Jon’s friend Mark and Mark’s fiancée, Addy, were there, too. Behind them stood Lillie holding Abraham. She had tears in her eyes and a smile on her face.
Beyond them, a little farther in the distance, she noticed Cassie Tate Montford with a man she’d never met before. Cassie’s husband? They were each holding a puppy in their arms and were standing with the sheriff, watching intently.
“What’s going on?” Dana asked.
“I was doing some research on Mark’s scholarship,” Addy spoke up. The night air was cool, and Dana felt chilled now that the sun had gone down. “Cassie said she mentioned him to you that first day you met, when she asked you about your all-expenses-paid scholarship....”