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“So, why are you here?” she asks, not looking at me as she grabs the bra.
“I…my parents tried to set me up with someone.” I’m zipping myself up as I talk.
She continues wiggling into her tight jeans. “And?” she asks.
I sigh, the ugly feeling in my chest growing. “And…I didn’t meet her, but I knew I wouldn’t like her.” I stretch my arm over the back of the seat, turning to face her. “Because she’s not you.”
She’s leaning back, looking out the window as people start to filter into their cars.
I reach down to grab her ankle, placing her foot on my knee. Her shoes don’t look comfortable, so I fasten the strap across the top loosely.
“Aren’t you afraid of what your parents think of me?” Her voice is small as she slowly faces me.
I pause, the other heel in my hand. “They’re…they aren’t horrible people. But they’re wrong about you. I can’t fathom how you felt, facing their judgment. I’m so sorry you had to deal with that. I swear I didn’t know they said anything.”
I start to strap the other shoe on, holding her feet on my lap. Guilt twinges inside me.
“I…I knew what they’d think, seeing you. This is horrible to say, Harley, and I hate myself for it. I judged you when I first met you, too, unfairly, and I’ll never be able to tell you how sorry I am.”
My hands are wrapped around her ankles, my thumb caressing the skin.
I can’t look at her face as I continue, “You’re nothing like what I first thought. I’d been taught…I’ve always thought beautiful girls like you were just a stumbling block. A seductress trying to pull me under dark waters into sin. And I have stumbled…but it’s not your fault. You can’t help that I’m enraptured by you. I’ll never only want you for one thing—I swear that to you. And if you give me the chance, I’ll spend the rest of my life proving that your worth is so much more than skin deep.”
Her eyes have been studying me in the shadows. “Your mom…thinks I’m a harlot,” she says, and I’m not surprised.
I grip the edge of the seat, taking calming breaths. “We…I talked to them. I told them we were together. They don’t…approve. But they don’t really know you. They don’t deserve to.”
I finally tilt my head up to face her. Her eyes are shining in the headlights of the line of cars pulling out. She licks her swollen lips, eyelids drooping down.
“Well…nobody’s perfect…” She leans her head to the side, resting it on my arm stretched over the seat. “I just…I can’t take you from your family like that.” She turns her face to kiss my forearm. “I also can’t let you go.”
Her legs are still stretched over my lap, but I nudge her closer.
“I can’t let you go either,” I whisper as my hand comes up to cradle her cheek. “Don’t make me…stay with me. Forgive me, forgive them. I don’t have to work on the farm if I can’t have you. We don’t even have to go see them for holidays. I want you to be my family.”
She whimpers, a tear threatening to spill over. “But I’ve been horrible to you.” Her voice cracks.
“You can never do anything to make me stop loving you. Ever,” I quickly reassure her, drawing her even closer. She’s nearly in my lap now.
“I know you’re in pain. I know you’ve lost the only family you ever had. You aren’t going to lose me.” I struggle to find the words to say, hoping she’ll understand my ramblings.
“My world was shattered when I met you. You made me…weak. From that first moment, I was gone for you. Your smile makes me feel like…like existing without you would be worse than death. The draw I felt toward you scared me more than anything. But now that you’re mine, I’ll never be able to move on from you. I know that for a fact. I’d give up anything to make you love me even a tenth of how much I love you.” I heave out a sigh, relieved to have finally spilled my guts to her. “Giving up my family, the farm—none of it means anything in comparison to what it would do to me to give you up.”
Staring at her while I tear my heart from my chest and hand it to her, she doesn’t move. Then, she’s leaning forward, pressing a wet kiss to my lips.
“In that case…I guess they’re gonna have to get used to having me around.” She smiles, and it’s the brightest, most stunning sight in the world.
Epilogue
Adam
Four Months Later
The sky is my favorite shade of blue, reflecting my love’s eyes. She’s clinging to my arm as the first warm breeze of the spring floats into the open windows of my truck. She’s got a smile on her face, lashes resting on her cheeks. We’re cruising down an old country dirt road about an hour north of Ole Tex.
When the signs for Oak Hill, Texas, start to flash by, I nudge her with a kiss. “We’re here.”
She wasn’t really asleep. She sits up, observing the luscious fields of emerald and violet.
