Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Summer
Two days later, my mom leaves. She’ll be gone for nine months this time.
I don’t tell her there’s a chance she might be a grandma when she gets back. One thing at a time. I’ll send her a Christmas photo from Henry’s apartment.
Our apartment. I can’t wait to decorate for Christmas. A tree. Stockings.
But first I need to move back there. As soon as she’s gone, I text him, and he’s pulling into the parking lot of the dorm a half an hour later.
Middle of the day. He closed the shop for this.
I fly into his arms, and he twirls me around.
“You need to study hard,” he lectures me.
I bounce in excitement. “I will. Cross my heart and swear to God.”
“No funny stuff during the day.”
I wink at him. “Of course not, Henry. Funny stuff is strictly an all-night-long deal. Now take me home.”
A few days later, I’m in the library after my final class when I recognize a fellow student. Lily, who I met over the summer when she was still pregnant. Now she’s searching for a book in the same aisle I’m in. On her chest is a sleeping baby, wrapped tight to her body with long swaths of cotton.
The baby looks brand new.
“Excuse me,” I say quietly, almost in a whisper, because I don’t want to wake the kid up. “I just want to get past you to those.” I point to the shelf she’s in front of. “And I thought I’d say hi? It’s—”
She blinks at me blankly for a split second, then a bright smile splits across her face. “Summer! Hi.” She shifts back. “Sorry. I think I zoned out there a little.” She rubs the baby’s back through the wrap. “I’m sleep-deprived. Starting my studies this fall was maybe a bit premature.”
“I’m impressed. I’m struggling, too, and I don’t have a baby.” But oh, I want one.
I’m not surprised at the deep pang inside me, the whole-bodied longing for Henry to make a wee little person with me. It’s been on my mind all week.
I could bring her to school with me, just like Lily is.
But she just said it’s hard.
She did. But she’s smiling, too. “How are you finding your classes?”
“Good. I like English Lit and Sociology the most.”
“I’m taking those, too.”
“I’m surprised I haven’t noticed you and this little one.”
“So far, I’m still catching up virtually.” She pointed to the baby. “Because of him. Not sleeping through the night yet. But my husband is helping, and we’re getting there. I should be in class next week.”
“I’ll save you a seat.”
She gives me an earnest smile. “Thank you. I’ll be studying in a little bit after my husband picks this one up for a walk. If you want a study buddy?”
Henry would understand if I texted him that I would be late. But he told me he’s making a special dinner tonight.
He also told you to make more friends.
“I just need to call my—”
The baby cries, waking up with an angry start. She sighs and shrugs. “Or maybe we can have a rain check? I’ll need to nurse him now, and that’s easier in my husband’s office.”
“Does he work here on campus?” I’m way too curious about what that suggests. “Is he a professor?”
“He’s in the administration. He got hired after I was accepted as a student, so it’s known to the powers that be.” She looks like she’s choosing her words carefully. “He’s older than me, but when it comes to parenting stuff, he has more energy than I do.”
“Really?” I lean in. “My boyfriend is almost forty. I just moved in with him, actually. You’re the first person I’ve told about him, other than my mother. Which didn’t go that well? It’s a long story. I mean, it’s fine, but. . . I think babies are in our future.”
Her eyes sparkle in delight. “My husband is almost forty-two. I want to hear your story someday.”
“I’ll buy you coffee, and we can compare notes.”
The baby on her chest lets out another cry, and she bounces him up and down. “I think that’s my cue to go, but it was so nice bumping into you again.”
“Same. See you soon.”
The shop is closed when I get there, so I use my key and let myself in, then carefully lock up behind me.
It’s quiet and dark, so I tiptoe up the stairs.
Henry may have fallen asleep after work. It’s been a long week.
But when I step into the kitchen, I see him standing at the counter, looking intently at something in his hands.
“Henry?”
He spins around and moves his arm at the same time, maybe meaning to put the thing he’s holding down, but I’ve startled him, and he’s a big man with a lot of power in his muscles when spooked.
The thing goes flying across the island, across the dining room table, and under the couch.
“What was that?” I laugh at the shocked look on his face. “And why are all the lights off? It’s kind of gloomy in here.”
I cross to the couch and drop to my knees. In the late afternoon light, with no lights on in the apartment, it’s hard to see anything, and when I feel around, I touch something fuzzy.
Shrieking, I pull my hand back.
Henry is beside me now, and he’s muttering something about letting things go.
That is not my style. Never has been, never will be.
“I’ll get it,” he barks.
I straighten up. “What is it?”
“Just let me get it.” He holds out his hand to help me up.
I roll my eyes and drop to my stomach, so I can eyeball the fuzzy thing under the couch better.
But once I’m there, and I can see it, I freeze.
Henry clears his throat.
I mean, maybe it’s not what I think it is.
“I should leave it?” I ask him, not looking up.
“Sweetheart, why do you never leave anything alone?”
A better question is, why is he endlessly tolerant of my persistent curiosity? Even now, when I wouldn’t listen to him. He sounds amused, not annoyed.
The ring box is fuzzy velvet on the outside, now slightly dusty on the corners. When I wrap my shaking fingers around it, I take a deep breath, pull my hand back, and scramble to my feet.
By the time I’m standing, Henry is kneeling in front of me.
“This isn’t how I planned it,” he says gently, with a little laugh in his voice.
“But it’s perfect. I was looking at that when you came home.
Thinking about what I would say tonight after we made dinner and had a little wine.
I thought about giving it to you over dessert, or maybe in bed.
But here works. By the couch where I slept for weeks, fighting against myself because there was no way on God’s green earth that an otherworldly creature like you would even want an ordinary man like me.
And then when you did want me, when I couldn’t deny that anymore, I was convinced surely it was just experimentation.
Learning about all the ways two people could be together.
And I still grabbed on to it with two hands, Summer.
I wanted you however I could have you, even when I thought my love for you would forever be one-sided. ”
“But I’ve always—” I cut myself off.
“I know.” He takes a deep breath, his whole chest moving with it.
I realize he’s wearing a really nice sweater and a buttoned-down shirt.
He dressed up for this, and I lay on the floor and got dusty.
“Henry, I. . .” Tears form, and I can’t continue.
“Hey, I’m trying to do something here.” He stands up and gathers me into his chest, then picks me up and carries me to his armchair. “Shhh, pretty girl. No tears. I think this is a happy occasion. God, I hope it is.”
That just makes me cry harder, and I wrap my arms around his neck. “It is,” I whisper between tremulous gasps. “These are happy tears.”
He smoothes a hand over my hair, then gently wipes my tears off my cheeks with his thumb.
“Nothing makes me happier than holding you in my arms. The first time you were on my lap, and we got carried away. . . that was the happiest I had ever been in my whole damn life. And it just got better from there. You have made me so happy every single day, and I want to make you a promise.”
I’ve stopped breathing. Which means I’ve stopped crying, too. All I can see is his handsome face as his gaze locks on mine.
“I want to spend the rest of my life making you as happy as you make me. Being your partner in joy, and love, and life.” He opens the ring box, and a diamond ring sparkles up at me. “Will you marry me, Summer? Will you be my wife?”
I nod, then I laugh. “Yes. Oh, yes, Henry. Yes, yes, yes.” I’m babbling, and I rub my head on his shoulder, sinking into the cuddle.
He lifts the ring out of the box and slides it onto my finger. Then he kisses my fingertips, one by one. When he gets to my pinky, he locks his gaze on mine again.
“It’s a promise to always be your lover, too. Your Daddy, whenever you want.”
The answer to that is always.
I hope you enjoyed this visit to Conception Ridge!