Epilogue #2
Her expression sharpens, hurt turning into confusion again, confusion turning quickly into anger. “Your resignation?”
“Yes.”
“As my bodyguard.”
“Yes.”
She stares at me for one long second.
Then she looks down at the paper again, as if it has personally betrayed her.
“Are you out of your mind?”
“Not currently.”
“Not currently?” Her voice rises. “Adrian, I am standing here heavily pregnant with your child, in the garden where you almost died protecting me, and you are handing me resignation paperwork?”
“Yes.”
“That is your answer?”
“It’s the accurate one.”
Her eyes flash. “I swear to God, I will throw you into those roses.”
“You shouldn’t lift anything heavy.”
“I hate you.”
“You love me.”
“I thought I did. I must’ve been out of my mind.” She folds her arms over her chest, the paper still held in one hand. “Adrian, you haven’t been my personal protection detail for months.”
Caterina angry is easier than Caterina hurt, and she is both right now.
Then she waves the paper at me. “Explain.”
“When I came here, I had more than one intention,” I say.
Her face registers confusion again. She was obviously not expecting this.
“I took the job because I wanted an excuse to check on Teresa,” I continue. “She went missing, and I wanted to make sure she was… well, not being held against her will.”
Caterina smiles at that.
“Of course, I intended to protect you. I do not take a job unless I mean to do it properly. But at the start, that’s what it was. Just a job.”
Her eyes search mine.
“That lasted until the moment I saw you.”
Her lips part.
I take a step closer.
“The second you opened your front door and looked at me like I was the enemy, it stopped being simple.”
A small laugh escapes her.
“I did not understand that right away,” I say. “Or maybe I did and chose to ignore it because I used to be better at lying to myself.”
“Used to be?” she whispers.
“I still have areas that need work.”
Her mouth trembles.
I reach for the paper and take it gently from her hand.
“This was never just a job after that. You were never just a principal. Not to me. You became the most important thing in my life before I had any right to admit it.”
Her eyes shine now.
“Adrian.”
“I still protect you,” I say. “I will always protect you. You, our child, this house, the life you want. That does not change.”
I fold the paper once, slowly.
“But I cannot be your bodyguard anymore.”
Her face tightens again, fear moving through the emotion. “Why?”
“Because the line is gone.”
She says nothing.
“It was gone before I touched you. It was gone before you came to my room. It was gone before I almost died here. I kept calling it duty because duty was safer than admitting the truth.”
Her hand settles over her stomach again.
I look at it.
Then back at her.
“You are not my job, Caterina.”
Her eyes spill over.
“You are my life.”
She presses one hand to her mouth.
I step closer.
“And I think there is another title that suits me better.”
Her breath catches.
I reach into my jacket again. This time, I pull out the ring.
She goes completely still.
The ring is not subtle, but it is not ridiculous either. Caterina would hate ridiculous. A deep oval diamond in a gold setting, elegant and strong, with two smaller stones on either side.
Perfectly suited to her.
I lower myself to one knee carefully.
There’s a small ache in my side.
Her eyes widen. “Adrian.”
“I’m fine.”
“You are proposing and still lying to me about your side?”
“Habit.”
A startled laugh breaks out of her.
I take her hand, and she goes silent.
It is warm in mine, trembling slightly.
For once, Caterina Conti has nothing to say.
“I love you,” I tell her. “I love your mind. Your temper. Your courage. Your stubborn refusal to do what I say, even when I am clearly right.”
She makes a choked sound.
“I love the way you built yourself into something no one in your family could afford to overlook anymore. I love that you made me want things I used to think were impossible for me.”
Her tears fall freely now.
I tighten my hand around hers.
“I do not want to stand beside you because you pay me to be there. I do not want a contract between us unless it’s a marriage contract.
I want vows. I want your name next to mine.
I already consider this house home, and I want to live in it with you and raise our child.
I want every ordinary morning and every difficult night.
I want the family dinners and the security arguments and the part where you pretend you are not working too much and I pretend I believe you because I can get away with more that way. ”
She laughs through her tears.
“I want it all,” I say. “And I want it for the rest of my life.”
I hold up the ring.
“Marry me, Caterina.”
She looks at me for one endless second.
Her face is beautiful in the soft light, streaked with tears and flushed with emotion. She is the strongest person I know. She is the best person I know.
I would die for her.
More importantly, I will live for her.
Her hand tightens on mine.
“You are impossible,” she whispers.
“I have been told that.”
“You drive me completely insane.”
“Is that a yes?” I ask, grinning.
Then she laughs, full and bright and utterly free.
“Yes, you impossible man. Of course it’s a yes,” she says, her voice rich with love. “Yes, Adrian, I will marry you.”
Relief so profound I feel it in my bones washes through me. I slide the ring onto her finger. It fits perfectly. I measured one of her rings while she was sleeping one night. A risk, but one that paid off.
She stares at it for a second, then reaches for me with both hands.
“Get up before you hurt yourself.”
“I am trying to have a moment.”
“You can have a moment standing.”
I rise carefully.
“For various reasons, I can’t pick you up,” I say, making her laugh.
“Shut up and kiss me.”
I happily oblige.
The kiss is salty from her tears, soft at first, then not soft at all.
I wrap one arm around her waist and one hand over her stomach, holding both of them against me as the last of the evening light moves over the garden.
When she pulls back, her eyes are still wet, but her smile is bright enough to make my chest ache.
She takes my hand and presses it to her stomach. There’s a firm little kick against my palm.
It never gets old. It’s never not amazing.
I have no words for this.
After months, I still have no words.
For a moment, we stand in the garden where I almost died and feel our child move between us.
The place does not feel like death now.
Behind us, a speaker crackles.
“First vehicle at the gate,” Andrew says.
“Clear them through,” I say absently.
“My family is going to freak,” she says.
I groan, thinking of Teresa’s reaction.
The speaker crackles again.
Then Andrew says, “Also, congratulations.”
I look toward the nearest camera.
Caterina turns too.
Her mouth falls open, and her face turns red. “I forgot about the cameras. Oh, my God, how many people saw that?”
I smile and take her hand to start walking her back inside.
“If everyone hasn’t seen it yet, they will,” I say.
She smacks my chest with the back of her hand. “Adrian.”
I catch her hand and bring it to my mouth, kissing the ring now on her finger.
She groans. “My family is going to be unbearable.”
I look at her and find that she’s smiling.
It hits me again that I get this. Her. The baby. This house. The noise about to arrive through the front door.
I bend and kiss her once more.
“Come on,” I say. “Your family is arriving.”
“Our family,” she corrects.
The words catch me off guard.
I nod.
“Our family.”
She slips her hand into mine, the ring catching the garden lights as we walk back toward the house.
I still notice every camera.
Every angle.
Every shadow.
I always will.
But tonight, I am not standing outside the room or around the edges of it.
I am walking into it with Caterina beside me, our child between us, and a future I never thought I would have waiting on the other side of the door.
THE END