“Well, she may not have had to dig too deeply. Apparently Lisa’s got a kinky fetish not many people know about.”
“Then how do you know?” Eric asked.
Raina chuckled. “I overhear things. Rick’s not the only one drawing the same conclusion about Lisa. It seems Mildred in the post office got tipped off immediately since she’s been putting those smutty lingerie catalogues in Lisa’s mail for years. Those are Mildred’s words, you understand.”
“I certainly do. You’re searching for information to redeem yourself with Rick.” He shook his head, clucking his tongue at the same time. “Raina, Raina. When are you going to take my advice and get more involved in your own life than in your sons’?”
She sighed. “Not this again. You know good and well I read to kids at the hospital children’s ward once a week, I exercise when I’m not in fear of being caught, and I see you whenever you aren’t working. My life’s very full and rewarding.” Very rewarding indeed, she thought, staring into his dark eyes.
“Is it now? Then how about making it even richer?” He reached over to the lamp table beside the sofa and picked up a small box she hadn’t noticed earlier.
Coming up on sixty in a few years, she’d been around and Raina had a hunch she knew exactly what kind of jewelry sat in that box. As her pulse rate tripled, she thanked God she didn’t really have a heart condition or she’d find herself prostrate on the floor right now. As he held out the box, she accepted it with shaking hands.
“It’s different when the surprise is on you, isn’t it?” he murmured.
She met his amused gaze. “I’m not sure what to say.”
“That’s a first,” he said wryly. “Then don’t speak. Just open it.”
The smooth material glided against her skin as she lifted the box top and revealed a round sapphire blue ring that sparkled in a traditional platinum-looking setting. “It’s . . . it’s spectacular.” She blinked back tears, knowing she didn’t deserve anything so beautiful or precious.
“I thought since this is the second time for us both we could dispense with the expected and go with the more personal touch. The sapphire reminds me of your blue eyes,” he said, his voice suddenly gruff and husky. Unexpectedly he dropped to his knees. “Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
The beauty of both the ring and the gesture took her off guard and emotion swelled inside her chest making it difficult to breathe or talk.
“You’re silent.” Eric waited a beat, then took her hand, anxiety obvious in his eyes. “Can I take that as a stunned yes?”
Somehow, she managed a shaky nod. “Yes. Yes.” Before she could act on her feelings and throw her arms around him in a hug, the doorbell rang, interrupting the moment.
He sat back on his heels. “Timing,” he muttered. “That must be my kids.”
“We can’t tell them just yet.” She held the box reverently in her hands, staring at the ring that represented the start of a whole new life. A happy life as a couple, the wife of a man she loved.
“Not until we tell our children together. We could plan a dinner, perhaps.”
Warmth suffused her at the notion. “Oh, a family dinner. I could cook and have everyone over . . .” After Chase found out about her perfect health. “But I need some time. Until Rick and Chase get themselves settled first. Please, Eric. I need my boys happy before I can completely be the same.”
The doorbell rang once more.
“Hang on,” Eric called. “We’ll be right there.”
He glanced at her and narrowed his gaze. “I’ll tell you what? I’ll wait until Rick and Kendall have gotten themselves settled one way or another. Good or bad. And then, regardless, we’re announcing this.”
She’d known she’d have to bargain him down and was grateful he understood her need to wait at all. But he also understood the compulsion to assure herself her boys weren’t depriving themselves of the best things in life.
Grandchildren, she assumed, would come soon after. She hoped. She treated him to a beaming smile. “I love you for accepting me.”
He brushed a soft, endearing kiss over her lips and her stomach fluttered with a combination of newness and familiarity at the same time, then sat back and smiled. “Accepting is the least I can do since you’ll become familiar with my faults in good time.” He laughed, his smile wide and pleased. “Besides, I do love you, Raina.”
She sighed, her heart full with more happiness than any one person had a right to in this lifetime. And she’d found it twice. “I love you too. Now let your daughter and her family off the front porch.”
He rose from his knees, grimacing.
“Don’t worry, darling. I’ll keep you young.”
He chuckled, then snatched the velvet box out of her hands. “And I’ll keep this until you’re ready to divulge our little secret.” He slipped it into his pocket. “Added incentive for you to up the time frame.” He winked and strode for the door.
“I don’t even know if it fits,” she thought aloud and allowed herself a moment to pout. But she knew she’d given him no choice. Having seen the ring and the love in Eric’s eyes, she wanted so badly to wear it and let the world know she was fortunate enough to have this man love her.
A tremor of awareness rippled through her along with an idea. He wanted her to up the time frame and she would. By pushing Rick and Kendall in the right direction.
* * *
Kendall ripped the real estate broker’s card in shreds and let the tiny pieces cascade into the trash. She wasn’t moving, wasn’t leaving Yorkshire Falls, wasn’t going to run. Arizona would just be running away and her future was here. For the first time in her life she was facing her fears and reaching for her unspoken dreams. And
