“It scares me, Kiah, loving you this way. You’ll never lose my friendship, but we could be so much more, and I can get past the fear because I know our lives would be better, together. I want you for my own, to help you raise Charm, even if we never have any children of our own, since that’s not something you want. Be there for you through good times and bad, just like we’ve always been there for each other since that first day in Mrs. Nowac’s class. All I want, all I need, is you.”
He still hadn’t moved, or spoken, so Mina rubbed his cheek lightly, savoring the warmth of his skin on her palm, then she pulled away.
“Or I can go back to Toronto, and we salvage what we can, from a distance.”
It was up to him now, but she thought her heart would break when she turned to leave, and he didn’t call her back.
Kiah tried to take in all the things Mina had said, as he watched her walk away, but her words swirled in his head, until he could hardly make sense of them anymore. His heart pounded, and his chest felt tight, so he could only draw shallow draughts of air into his lungs.
This was what love did to a man. Tied him in knots, scrambled his brains, left him without the wherewithal to know his head from his butt.
She’d always had this effect on him. Even when they were bantering back and forth, he’d been awestruck that Mina was his friend, that she actually liked him enough to stick around.
And from the first day they’d met, he would have done anything for her, up to and including laying down his own life.
She’d said she loved him, wanted to be with him, and then, in almost the same breath, said she was willing to leave and go back to Toronto.
The memory of her saying it slashed through the fog filling his head, even as his stomach twisted with emotions too numerous to categorize.
She’d said she was willing to give up on her dream of having a family of her own, just to be with him, but did she really mean it? He’d heard what she said—about his temper, about him not being like his mother—but did he believe it?
He wasn’t sure he was willing to take the chance to find out. It terrified him to imagine himself turning into the monster he knew he was capable of becoming.
Yet, as he’d told Charm, Mina never said anything she didn’t mean. She knew him, better than sometimes he knew himself. Was it possible to believe in himself the way she did?
Moreover, could he stand to lose her?
Let her go back to Toronto, taking the light and love and happiness she’d given him back with her?
Now he felt almost physically ill, and had to swallow against the burning lump that formed in his throat, and that sensation swamped all other emotions.
She was right, as she usually was. He’d let his fears rule his life, clung to the painful past instead of letting it go and living. But the fear of losing her was greater than any other, and he knew he couldn’t do it.
And something else she’d said was true, too: they were better, together. Always had been, since he was twelve years old, and had first looked into those sparkling brown eyes.
She’d been there for him during the best and worst times of his life, steadfast and strong, cheering him on, lifting him up.
Mina was everything to him. She brought peace and joy into his heart, and comfort to his ragged and battered soul. He loved her more than he thought he could ever love.
Thank goodness he’d finally found the sense, and the courage, to admit it.
And he’d let her walk away thinking he didn’t care enough to try to stop her.
Cursing himself for a fool, he took off after her, and finally caught up just as she was about to get into Mr. Brown’s taxi, in front of the hospital’s main doors.
There was so much he wanted to say, to tell her, but all he could do at that moment was call her name.
Mina turned, her eyes widening as she realized what he was about to do.
But she didn’t resist when he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, as though he never planned to stop.
“Woo-ee! Wait ’til Miss Pearl hear ’bout this!”
It was the sound of Mr. Brown’s hooting that finally had them breaking the kiss, but Kiah didn’t let her go. Instead, he spent a moment just staring into her eyes, soaking up the love shining there.
Then he bent his head to whisper into her ear. “Now we’re going to have to listen to Granny crow. She’s been angling for us to get together for years.”
She giggled, burying her face in his shoulder as Mr. Brown continued to tell everyone who passed by how Dr. K “grab up Dr. Mina and kiss her.”
“Tell me you love me again, Mina.”
He needed to hear it, even though she was trembling in his arms and holding him so tight he knew it would be forever.
“I love you, Kiah. And I always will.”
“Ah, sweet girl, I love you, too.”
“You all goin’ have to get married, you know.” When they both looked around, Mr. Brown was frowning, and had his hands on his hips. The stance and expression made him look remarkably like Granny, despite his being at least twenty years her junior. “Or Miss Pearl goin’ beat you.”
Kiah looked down into Mina’s shining face and couldn’t help grinning.
“What you say, sweet girl? We have to keep Granny happy.”
She gave him a scowl, which was belied by the gleam in her eyes. “Hezekiah Langdon, if you think I’m taking that secondhand proposal, you clearly don’t know me as well as you should, after all these years. Do it right, and I might say yes.”
“Might? Just might?”
“If
