Can't Get Enough (Skyland, #3)(139)

In a moment like this, I expected to feel elation, of course. The love and the passion and the joy of a proposal. All those things, yes. But this peace that washes over me? It’s unexpected. Knowing I won’t face the dark days alone? That this man, this remarkable man, who loves me so outrageously, will walk with me through storms? Will shelter me when life leaves me vulnerable and exposed? That gives me peace. Seated on a bench that bears my parents’ initials, surrounded by the flowers that symbolize their lifelong love, I’m reminded that I wasn’t sure I could ever have that. That I’d ever find a man I could trust with my heart, with my goals and dreams; whom I could respect with the assurance that he respects me in return. Maybe I’d subconsciously resigned myself to a life alone, or if I found someone, to a shadow of the love I’ve seen in those closest to me, but this isn’t a shadow of anything. This is blinding light. This is the heat and passion of a thousand suns.

God, this is love.

So when that man I hadn’t dared to dream of reaches up to cup my face, looks into my tearful gaze and says…

“Marry me, Hendrix.”

There is no hesitation. No reservation. The answer booms loud in my heart. It comes soft in the hand I lay over his. It comes sure when I nod my head, my reply a mere whisper in Mama’s garden.

“Yes.”