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“I do,” she whispered. “It’s okay. It was awful, but I understand what happened.” She brushed her cheeks before smiling at him. “We need to work on our communication skills.”
He grinned. “Yes, we do. How about this? I’m not going back to LA without you. In fact, I’m not going anywhere without you. I’ll work around your school schedule. You’re the only woman in my life, and that’s how it’s going to stay.”
Wow. Just wow. “So you’re staying in Wishing Tree?”
“I’m staying wherever you are, if that’s all right.” He took both her hands in his. “I love you, Dena Somerville. Now and for the rest of my life.”
“I love you, too.”
He went still. “You do?”
She nodded. “I couldn’t seem to stop myself from loving you.”
He kissed her again. “Did you really give away my room?”
Oh, no! “I did. I didn’t think you were coming back, and the Pinkertons have been phoning every week to ask if there was a cancellation.”
He surprised her by smiling. “I deserved that. I’ll call Steve and see if I can bunk with him.”
She reminded herself he’d said he loved her and she believed him. “Did you want to stay with me?”
His eyes darkened. “Are you ready for that? I’ll wait if you’re not. No matter how long it takes.”
“You can stay with me.” She felt herself flush. “I’d like that a lot.”
He stroked her cheek. “We’ll have to remember to be quiet, what with the Pinkertons downstairs.”
“That’s never been a problem for me before. This should be interesting.”
His smile faded. “I meant what I said, Dena. I love you and I want us to be together. I know it’s too soon to talk about getting married, but I want you to know I’m excited about the baby. I look forward to it being the three of us, then the four of us. I’m in this for the rest of our lives.”
Happiness filled all the empty spaces. “I am, too.”
He kissed her. “I was thinking I’d go say hi to Reggie, and then you and I could go back to your place. Unless you think she’ll need you.”
She wanted to point out it was barely noon, but then decided she wasn’t willing to wait, either.
“She doesn’t need me.”
“Good. Later I’m going to call a local real estate agent and see if any of the Victorian houses will be coming on the market. You’d be close to the B and B, and we’d have a great house for our family.”
“You’re a man of action.”
“I’m motivated.” He grinned. “I’m the guy who got the girl.”
He put his arm around her and led her to the stairs. “You think Dolly Parton would consider doing a duet with me?”
“You should call her and ask.”
“I just might do that.”
The morning of her parents’ wedding, Reggie stared at her reflection and knew that the green-yellow of her black eye was actually the least of her problems. The makeup Paisley had brought over the previous day covered pretty much everything. She would be passable in person and look fine in the pictures. Her headache was gone. The stiffness and aches from the accident were less than they had been. So her only real problem was Toby. Or the lack of Toby in her life.
She hadn’t heard from him. Oh, there’d been a text checking on her, but aside from that, there’d been nothing but crickets. She’d practically thrown herself at the man, and he had yet to respond. Which, she supposed, was an answer all in itself.
He didn’t want her.
The truth wasn’t fun, but that didn’t change the reality of the situation. She’d thought they had something. She’d thought they had, in fact, never gotten over each other. She’d thought they’d been given a second chance, but based on the silence from Toby’s end, he didn’t agree. And it was hard to be in love just by herself.
