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Please don’t leave, I ask silently.
“Just listen to him,” Karlene says.
Bless her.
Ada turns to me as the door closes behind her friend, who gently pulls my lioness toward me. And that’s exactly what she looks like right now, her eyes flashing with anger for having been deceived.
But there’s something else there too. Something that gives me hope.
“Ada, please. Just give me a few minutes. Henry’s waiting outside if you want to leave after we talk. He’ll take you back home. Or wherever else you and Karlene want to go. But please just give me ten minutes. That’s all I’m asking.”
She takes a few steps toward me, then stops.
“How did you . . . how did Karlene . . .”
“I called her at work and begged her to help me.”
“To help you?” she repeats.
God, she’s lovely. I’m so in love with her, and I very well might lose her today.
But not without a fight.
“Just a few minutes. Please,” I beg, holding out my hand. I’m achingly aware that I’m not just begging for her to talk to me, but to love me. To become my wife.
She takes my hand despite the fact that she’s nervous. Kind of like that day when she picked me up at my hotel, before we got to Skaneateles. Nervous because she’s torn between doing what she wants and what she thinks is right.
Her hand fits perfectly in mine as I lead her to the table where we had lunch that fateful day.
As we approach it, I grab the black velvet box from the table and don’t waste even a second.
Bending to one knee, I let go of her hand, hold up the box, and pop it open. I waffled between simplicity and extravagance, wanting to do her justice but also to let Ada know all of what I had would now be hers. But the ring’s design that I’d stressed over doesn’t matter now. Nothing does but her answer to my question.
“You already know I love you, Ada, but I’m not sure I made it clear how much. I believe we’re meant for each other. And I don’t want to wait two years. I told you I didn’t care about anything as much as being with you, and this time I’ll say it more clearly. I want you to tell Eleanor about us. I want us to be out in the open. I want it more than anything in the world. Ada, please believe me.”
I can’t read her the way I usually can, but I forge on anyway.
“I want you to be my wife. Ada, will you marry me?”
I can’t feel my fingers or toes. Everything is numb. I hold my breath, waiting for her answer.
Trust yourself, I say silently.Trust me.
“Your company,” she says finally, tears in her eyes.
“Will be fine. I promise.”
37
Ada
I promise.
Iwant to sag down to my feet. Hayden will not break his promise to me, I know it as well as my own name. He truly believes it will work out.
He believes in me.
Just like I believe in him.
