Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 234281 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1171(@200wpm)___ 937(@250wpm)___ 781(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 234281 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1171(@200wpm)___ 937(@250wpm)___ 781(@300wpm)
Now, he understood why Diana had been looking at him the way she had been doing so all this time. From the very start, she had come here, prepared for him to cut ties with her, and she would have accepted it. Maybe she had expected it even. God knew, the way Esther had brought her up, Diana had foolishly come to believe that she would never be worthy of people's love.
When she finally finished talking, he could only look at her for one long moment, wondering how it was that he had missed it. Sometime between the past and the present, Diana had grown from being the little girl he knew and turned into the woman she was now.
Someone who loved like he did, loved so damn fiercely that she had the strength and courage to throw everything away, just to be with the man she had entrusted her heart with.
Looking at her, he said quietly, "I don't think you came here to ask for my permission for anything."
Diana couldn't stop crying, couldn't do anything but just look at him and wish...oh God, she wished...she wished...
"Because it seems to me that you've already made up your mind."
The tears fell faster, and her heart started breaking.
"And that you're just here to tell us we have a new member to welcome to our family."
She stared at him in shock.
And then she threw herself in his arms. "Damen. Damen. Damen." She started sobbing against his chest. She had so many things to say, but in the end, it was just his name that she could utter, just like how it had been before, and she had been a little girl asking for her big brother's help.
And he had always been there for her.
Always.
"Sssh. I know." Damen kissed the top of her head. "And I'm proud of you, baby." His voice turned rough with emotion. "You've got this. We've got this."
Together
Marry You by The Acoustikats
ON DIANA'S FLIGHT BACK to Contini, she did her best to analyze and even (knowingly) over-analyze her feelings, feeling obliged to come up with all the reasons she should forget about the professor.
How sure am I that I'm not just going back out of pity?
Do I really understand what I'm getting myself into, what it really means to be in a relationship with someone with HIV?
And is it really possible for a person to love another, despite not having the length and depth of time to validate such feelings?
She asked herself these questions again and again, but every single time, she could only remember this one line from the Bible that spoke of people whose relationships were so close...
The wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul...
It was as if their souls were one.
And every time this line went through her head, she just couldn't stop thinking, 'That's us.'
Not just lust, not just love, but her soul rejoicing in finding its mate, the moment Matthijs de Graaf saved her from a wagon full of daisies.
And that was her answer, Diana realized with painfully bittersweet joy.
He was her answer, whether it was right or wrong, whether he thought either of them was ready, whether he liked it or not.
Their souls left them no choice, but when she thought of explaining this to him, Diana could only choke back a teary laugh, knowing that the concept of soulmates was unlikely to sit well with someone as determinedly methodical as the professor.
So calling him first and explaining her change of heart over the phone was definitely out, Diana decided as she came out of the airport. Instead, she needed a plan. Better yet, an accomplice (the more, the merrier), and an idea slowly took form in her mind.
Gears were eventually set in motion, and it was how that afternoon the professor came to expect an express package from Mrs. Montez.
With his entire staff out on some domestic staff union meeting, it was left to Matthijs to open the door when the doorbell rang. But instead of a courier service, he got a dark-haired whirlwind flying straight towards him.
Diana?
She slammed into him with such force he almost toppled backwards. He cursed under his breath, but she only laughed, all the while wrapping herself around his body, her arms looping over his shoulders and her legs encircling his waist.
The last time they had seen each other, it had been at the restaurant, and he had to tell her about his mistress of six years. The last time they spoke, he had to tell her about his illness.
After that - nothing.
No texts. No calls. And certainly no fucking visits. She had even missed his class this morning.
All he had been able to do was cling to dreams and memories, his life completely turned upside down by her coming and going. The real world no longer held any appeal, and Matthijs only went through the motions of living while his mind doggedly relived the past.