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I walked to the back of the house and followed the path down though the bush to the waterfall. As I neared the end of the path, I could see a small table set up by the water. It had a crisp white tablecloth, fine white china, and sparkling glassware all arranged neatly in a place setting set for two.
Nathan was sitting in one of the chairs watching me walk towards him. He looked so handsome and Sam was right, there was something different in the way he looked. There was a look of ease in his eyes, like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. I thought that he actually looked happy.
“Nathan, what is this? What’s going on?” I asked as I got closer to him. I was still surprised at how he could make my heart skip a beat with just one look from his dark brown eyes.
“Rose, I’m glad you came. Come, sit down. I’ve got us some lunch.” Nathan got up from the chair and walked over to me. He softly took me by the hand and led me over to the table, where beautiful looking gourmet food was set up on white serving plates.
I pulled my hand away from his and frowned. “Nathan, what is going on? Why am I here? I hope that you didn’t just bring me out all this way to have lunch with you, because I told you last night that I couldn’t do this anymore. I can’t be around you and have you treat me like one of your many women, it’s too hard for me. You know that I want more than that from you.” I was beginning to feel teary. It was painful being around someone that didn’t feel the same about you, especially when those feelings were so strong.
“Do you love me, Rose?” Nathan asked softly, his dark eyes studying my face.
I sighed a long, frustrated sigh. “Is that what this is all about? You can’t go on knowing there’s a woman out there who loves you and you might miss another opportunity to rub it in my face that you don’t love me and don’t want a relationship with me?”
“That’s not what this is about at all. I want to know if you love me, Rose? I need to know,” Nathan pleaded.
I walked away from Nathan and went to stand by the edge of the water. I remembered the first time we’d come here. Things had been easier then, because although I had been attracted to Nathan, I hadn’t been in love with him like I was now. I had felt a hatred towards him then that had made it a little easier to turn off my feelings. I didn’t hate him now though and that was the problem.
I sighed. “Yes Nathan, I think I do love you.” I turned to look at him and I know that Nathan could see the pained expression on my face. “Are you happy now? Here is another woman you can add to your list, another woman whose heart you’ve broken in an attempt to get one back at your ex-fiancée.”
A surprised look flashed across Nathan’s face and this time he didn’t try to hide what he was feeling. “That’s not what this is about, Rose. I’ll admit in the beginning it was all about payback, payback for Kylie, for your sharp tongue, and for your brother, but now...” he trailed off and came and stood right beside me so he could look right into my eyes. “Last night you told me that you wanted me to be your partner and that if I couldn’t, you wanted me completely out of your life. I sat there after you left and thought about everything you said and the words ‘completely out of your life’ just keep going around and around in my head. I started to feel sick and I realised that I couldn’t live with you not in my life. I realised that I didn’t want to live without you,” Nathan sighed and he looked off into the distance, like he was having trouble explaining himself. “I thought about this all night and I now know that I don’t want to be your friend or your partner.”
“What are you trying to say, Nathan?”
Nathan looked down at his feet and sighed. When he looked back up at me a small smile crossed his lips. “I haven’t been able to function this last week without you. What I’m trying to say, angel, is that I love you and I want you in my life. I want you to be my wife. You’re right, I have been wasting my life away. I do want to get married, I do want to have children, and I want to do it all with you.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a beautiful diamond ring.
“Rose, will you marry me?” Nathan asked as he slipped the ring onto my finger.
I smiled, it was typical of Nathan to put the ring on my finger without waiting for an answer, but I didn’t care. I had never felt this happy in my entire life. I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Of course, I’ll marry you, Nathan.”
Nathan leaned down and kissed me. “I want to commit to you for the rest of my life. I want to be with you for the rest of our lives.”
I smiled cheekily. “Well, now that I’ve got you to finally commit to me, how about you take me back to that cabin of yours and show me exactly what I’ve got to look forward to for the rest of our lives?”
A low groan escaped Nathan’s mouth and he pulled me against him, showing me he was already ready to go. “With pleasure, my angel.”
Epilogue
