Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 25833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 129(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 86(@300wpm)
“Jason…” I don’t even know what I’m feeling now. But more emotions than I know how to handle are boiling up inside me.
“I’ll treat them just like I did your grandpa. We’ll provide care, treatment, medicine, anything they need. I’ll personally make sure all of this mess gets cleaned up. And I don’t care how much it costs me. If it bankrupts the entire company, so be it.”
There he is. The man I fell in love with. I knew it couldn’t be true. I knew he would never be behind something like this.
I nearly collapse into his arms, inhaling his scent, feeling the warmth of his body and the strength of his arms as he holds me.
“I didn’t want to believe it,” I whimper. “I didn’t want to believe it could be true.”
“Never,” he whispers back. “That’s not who I am, baby. That’s not the kind of man I am.”
The relief I feel washes over me like a golden wave. I wish I could stay here in Jason’s arms forever. I know he has more than his fair share of problems going on right now, but right here, right now, in this moment, it’s as though nothing else in the world matters.
Right now, it’s just us.
“But I can tell you this, baby,” he says, gently pulling back so he can look me in the eyes. I feel my heart flutter just looking up at him as he smiles and threads his fingers through my hair. “I can tell you what kind of man I want to be.”
“Oh, yeah?” I smile. “What’s that?”
What happens next absolutely takes my breath away.
Jason lets go of me and in one movement – one graceful, movement – reaches into his pocket and gets down on one knee before me. He produces a black velvet jewelry box and opens it, his eyes on me the entire time.
I gasp as my heart skips a beat and I find myself staring at the most beautiful ring I could have ever imagined. Even if someone had asked me to design the most perfect ring for myself, I never could have designed something so exquisite.
I clasp both hands over my mouth. Is this really happening?
“Lucy Anderson,” Jason says slowly, a smile on his face, his eyes twinkling up at me. “Will you make me the luckiest man in the world and marry me and be mine forever?”
EPILOGUE
JASON
Five years later…
I’m sitting in the front row at the David H Koch Theater in New York City, waiting for the concert to start. Beside me is my son, Jeremy, who at the moment is distracted by the little wooden puzzle block I bought for him that involves trying to move the pieces in just the right way to get to unlock the cube and get to the red ball hidden on the inside. But I imagine that will only last a few more minutes until he gets bored or annoyed and starts fidgeting around and wanting to go run around and explore the venue.
He’s a handful, but that’s what his mother and I love about him. He’s smart, curious, loveable, and always wants one of us to take him to do something or teach him something. He passes any developmental exercises his mom or I give him, and I have a feeling he’s going to grow up to be smarter than both of us.
“I got it, I got it!” he cries out, and I glance over just in time to see him slide out a long wooden block and open the box. The red ball drops into his hand, and his eyes light up as he looks at me. “Do you think it bounces!?”
He stands up and raises his hand to bounce it on the ground, but I quickly stop him. “Oh, don’t do that, Jeremy. If it does, chances are it’s gonna bounce out of sight and you’re going to lose it in here, okay? Wait until we get home to try it.”
He frowns but looks down at the ball and thinks for a moment.
“Okay,” he says. “I’ll wait.”
“Atta boy.” I smile and ruffle his hair as he sits back down in his chair beside me, and it’s at that moment that the sound of the orchestra tuning fills the hall. Jeremy looks over at me as the lights dim.
“Here we go, son,” I say, putting my arm around his shoulders. “Time to see your mom perform. Are you excited?”
I don’t even need a response. His eyes say it all. But he nods enthusiastically and looks back at the stage as the curtain slowly begins to rise.
I glance to my left and smile at Lucy’s parents, Martha and George, and seated beside them, Henry. I lean over and whisper to Martha, “Bet you never thought this day would come, eh?”
“Oh, hush, you,” she says, giving me one of her gentle Martha smacks on the hand that we both know don’t mean anything. “Do you want to get us thrown out for being too loud?”