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I didn’t think I could find my words to give him my answer, so I nodded my head furiously as tears rolled down my cheeks. Somehow, I managed to squeak, “Yes.”
Jack slid the ring on my finger, studied it for a moment, and stood to kiss me. I threw my arms over his shoulders, and he lifted me up. My legs went around his waist as the two of us stayed there, kissing each other and holding on tight.
When we broke the connection between our mouths, I rasped, “I love you so much. I’m so grateful I moved to this little town, found this cabin, and met you. Most of all, I’m thankful for the fact that you didn’t give up on me when I didn’t make it easy on you in the beginning. Thank you for being the wonderful man that you are.”
With his arm still clamped around my waist, holding me tight to him while his other hand supported me under my ass, a look of contentment washed over him. “I love you more than anything in this world, Dakota.”
There was nothing else I could say to him.
We’d already said all the words.
So, I did the only thing that seemed right and felt appropriate in that moment. I leaned forward and kissed him again.
Then, Jack carried me the rest of the way back to my cabin, where we really celebrated our engagement. It was, by far, the best day of my entire life.
“I love him for you.”
Nothing could have wiped the smile from my face. Waverly could have arrived here today, met Jack, and told me she hated him, and while that would have upset me, I still wouldn’t have stopped smiling, because I was the happiest I’d ever been in my life.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to worry about that, because Waverly arrived, met Jack, and she absolutely adored him and the way he treated me. She knew what I’d endured in my former relationship, and she knew that even on the best days in the most perfect of circumstances, it still didn’t compare.
“Isn’t he the best?” I countered.
My friend’s face lit up. “He’s amazing. And I can’t believe you’re engaged already. How insane is that?”
It was kind of insane when I took some time to think about it. I hadn’t even been divorced for a full year, and I was already engaged to another man.
But I guess this spoke to the notion of just knowing when it was right and that you’d found the one.
Plus, the simple fact remained that I’d had years with Tom before we got engaged and then married, and in the end, time hadn’t helped us. If anything, it got worse as things went along. I never felt the same feelings with Tom that I felt with Jack.
With Jack, it was so different. It was beyond wonderful at the start, which did give me reason for pause, because I knew it could take a quick turn in the wrong direction, but it never did.
He just wasn’t that man.
He appreciated me. He loved me.
And I was head over heels in love with him.
I shook my head. “I don’t know how it’s possible, but I know I owe a lot of this to you.”
“What? No. I didn’t do anything.”
She was wrong about that.
“You did,” I insisted. “You pushed me to do something for myself that I was struggling to do by myself. I might have followed through with the divorce on my own, but I never would have moved here if it hadn’t been for you.”
Her features softened. “I was worried if it was the best thing for you,” she admitted. “In fact, I kind of came up with the idea on a whim, even if I seemed to be confident when I told you that you had two choices then. And when you moved here, I was concerned that maybe I’d urged you to do something that wasn’t smart.”
“Really? Why?”
She shrugged. “You were isolating yourself, and I could hear the overwhelming sadness in your voice every time I talked to you. And I know you were trying to hide it from me by pretending to be happy doing all of these news things here. But you were miserable, and I blamed myself, so I couldn’t be happier to see that you managed to not only get out of that funk but also snagged a really great guy.”
God, I loved her.
I’d learned a lot over the last several months, and part of that was recognizing that good people had been in short supply in my life. But the ones that I had were the best there were, and it would be through them that I’d get what I needed.
“Thank you, Waverly, for being by my side all this time,” I said, feeling grateful for her.
