Sitting down, we toasted.
“To us,” he said softly.
I took a slow sip of the bubbly drink and stared into his silver eyes, eyes that
always held so much love and affection for me. “How did you do all of this?” I
asked.
Jack just grinned at me before his eyes narrowed. “Caitlyn, we’ve spent time
together and I couldn’t be more delighted to see the person you’re growing in to.
You’re getting stronger each day. I once told you I couldn’t promise we would take this relationship to another level.” He stood. “But, I’ve been thinking hard about us. If I am reading things correctly, we have reached the end of the line.”
Is he breaking up with me over champagne and a candlelit dinner?
Kneeling before me, he reached into his pocket. “Caitlyn, it’s time to start a
new chapter. I know this is quick, but I want to be with you every day for as long as I’m still breathing. I can’t imagine a world without you by my side.”
He held a box with a yellow cut diamond encircled by beaded diamonds.
“Caitlyn Chase, I want you to be my forever. I want to be the man you love for
the rest of your life. Will you marry me?”
I stared at the ring, my eyes welling with tears. “No,” I murmured.
Jack was on bended knee before me. A moment I had longed for…hoped for
and the only word I could say was no?
“I understand,” he said, beginning to stand.
Pushing my chair back, I knelt in front of him. “No, I don’t mean, ‘no, I won’t marry you’. Yes, Jack, I’ll marry you.”
“Why did you say no?” he asked.
“I was tongue-tied. Ask me again, I’ll do it right this time.”
“You did it perfectly the first time, Caitlyn.” He slipped the ring onto my finger, and then kissed my hand. “I want to apologize you’re not having the fancy meal I promised.”
I took his face in my hands and kissed him. He returned my kiss with a soft,
slow, breath-stealing one. A warm feeling grew inside me.
Whispering between kisses, I said, “I want you, Jack. I want you to show me
what love is.”
Jack scooped me up but quickly set me down. Frantically, he began to blow
out the candles.
Laughing, I helped. “Always the safety man.”
When he blew out the last flame, he picked me back up and kissed me. “Now
where did I leave off?”
Our eyes met, and I saw all the unspoken words. The love he had for me.
“Oh yeah,” Jack’s voice grew husky. “Above all, I promise you will always
know you’re loved.”
In a log cabin high on a mountain in the middle of Montana, for the first time
in my life, I found out what it truly meant to not only be made love to but to be loved.
Epilogue
“Grammie, Grammie, we are home!” the small boy yelled, running
into the kitchen.
Picking up the child, Vivian said in a singsong voice, “Oh,
