Chapter Twenty-five – Life With You
Chapter Twenty-five
Beckett
LIFE WITH YOU
Performed by Kelsey Hart
FOUR YEARS AGO
HIM: I don’t get it.
HER: What?
HIM: I’m watching Neil get married, and I can’t for the life of me understand why anyone would spend tens of thousands of dollars on a few hours, when you can say I do in front of a judge and then spend the money building your future—if you even have a future, because we all know there’s more than a fifty-percent chance someone is going to cheat, and they’ll be getting a divorce before they hit their ten-year anniversary.
HER: Do you even have a romantic bone in your body, Fireball?
HIM: I haven’t had a single complaint from anyone I’ve kissed.
HER: Sex isn’t romance. You’d know that if you read one of my books.
PRESENT DAY
As I watched Maisey’s face, the laughter and tease and even the heat from our kiss disappeared behind her blank wall. I’d mentioned the ring, and she’d gone cold.
My vulnerable heart, so recently exposed, took a hit. Did she not want this? Did she not want me? Had I somehow cleared my way through the smoke only to find my house really was on fire?
No. Screw that. Maisey had feelings for me.
I’d even go as far as to say she loved me.
Not as a friend, but as something more. It was part of the reason I’d worked so hard to keep us in the friend zone.
I hadn’t wanted to mislead her. Hadn’t wanted her to end up like Delilah with blood coating her wrists.
But maybe I’d pushed her away for so long that she’d gotten as good as I had at denying us. Denying the feelings that had always been there. Because that was the simple truth—I’d always loved her. Fate was laughing at me. My disbelief in soulmates was having a good chuckle.
We were fated soulmates, but we were also so much more.
I needed to tell her. I knew it was important for her to hear the words so she’d understand exactly how far of a leap I’d taken, but would she believe it? Would she believe it after the years where I’d scorned love and happily ever afters?
Words were cheap. If I’d learned anything from reading romance novels, it was just that. The hero had to show his heroine what he meant. A grand gesture.
I could do that. I could give her that tonight and turn an evening that would have already been special into something truly magical.
Maisey moved away from me, glancing at the clock with a frown. “Let me just text Fallon. I don’t know why she’s not here yet.”
“I told her not to come. That I was taking you.”
She gave me that look—the one that said I’d overstepped—but it only made me smirk. “I know, I know. I’m taking the protective-hero thing too far again. But the truth is, I’m not ready to let you out of my sight. Last night, when I got the call you’d been attacked…”
I couldn’t finish. I tugged her hand into mine, squeezing it, while I took several long, slow breaths. Finally, I choked out, “Keeping you close today is more for me than you.”
Maybe the stupid-ass tears that had welled had done the trick, because she simply gave in.
And a few hours later, when she began apologizing for taking so long picking out a dress, all I could do was remind her that I’d signed up for the trip.
Still, a flicker of anxiety was starting to creep in, because by the time lunchtime came around, she’d barely managed to find a dress and a pair of shoes—an outfit she hadn’t even allowed me to see or let me pay for—and we hadn’t even begun looking for the most important thing on the list, the ring.
When she suggested we stop for a bite at one of the mall’s restaurants, I insisted we didn’t have time for a sit-down meal.
Even though the food court felt like the wrong place to take the woman you loved on the day you bought her an engagement ring, we were pressed for time if she still wanted to hit up the lingerie store before we went to the jeweler’s.
But once we were in the lingerie shop, all thoughts of hurrying flew right out the window.
As I watched her pick through lace bras and barely-there thongs, I remembered her words from this morning and knew she was right.
I was going to beg her to take off whatever dress she bought simply to see her in that sheer excuse of a bra and panty set she’d picked up.
While she was in the dressing room, I texted her, telling her exactly what I wanted to do to her in and out of the underwear she was trying on, and she came out with a delightful pink coating her cheeks.
“You’re a menace,” she said.
“Darlin’, it’s your own fault. You can’t bring me to a place like this and expect me not to have those kinds of thoughts.”
“You’re the one who demanded to come along.”
I stroked her cheek while we waited in line. “Can we go to the jewelry store now?”
She studied me for a long moment, and something in her look caused the ugly worry I’d had this morning to return.
“What’s wrong?” I demanded.
“I just…don’t want you to buy a ring for something that…”
She faded off. I grabbed her chin, forced her to look at me, and held her gaze with a steely one.
“This isn’t temporary.” For a second, she looked panicked before she shut down again, showing me that blank expression I wanted to remove permanently.
“I told you I wanted to explore whatever this was between us, but that wasn’t exactly true, my Maisey-girl.
I want more with you than I’ve ever wanted before. Than I ever thought I could want.”
Before she could respond, the clerk called, “Next,” and we had to move up to the register.
I cursed the timing. But I promised myself that, after tonight, she’d never doubt us again.
Maisey paid, and I grabbed the bag, adding it to the pile I was already carting.
“I can carry some of those, you know,” she said.
“You can, but you won’t. You’re already doing too much today.
You should be resting after the hit you took yesterday.
” She grimaced, and I kicked myself for bringing it up, hurrying to cover it up with a wink and a taunt.
“It’s going to be a long night, and I wouldn’t want you to fall asleep before it’s over. ”
Her brows rose, lips quirking. “If I fall asleep, you won’t get that medal you want.”
A chuckle escaped me.
And finally, with an enormous sense of relief, I was able to guide her toward the jewelry store I’d picked out.
While she’d been trying on dresses, I’d researched for the best stores in the area, intending to leave the mall behind and take her to an upscale shop.
But I’d been surprised to find a mom-and-pop store with an almost perfect rating right there in the shopping center.
“Where are we going?” she asked as we passed several chain jewelry stores.
“Someplace better.”
Tucked in a corner, the shop had a stained-glass sign and the atmosphere of a museum. It was hushed, almost church-like. The carpeting was deep and luxurious, the wallpaper had a satin sheen, and the display cases were all antiques with wood waxed to a shine.
The rightness of the place only added to the feelings I’d felt since last night. Maisey and I were forever. We weren’t fake or pretend or going to end. We could actually do this thing called love and survive it—together.
A bald man with a white goatee greeted us. His suit and bow tie were almost as old as he was, yet they fit the sophistication of the store.
“Good afternoon, lovebirds. Let me guess, you’re here for a ring?” His eyes twinkled.
Maisey let out a little laugh. “Are we that obvious?”
“True love always is.”
Maisey tugged at her hair, but his words reassured me.
He waved us over to a display case filled with rings. Maisey and I looked inside, and my stomach clenched. Not because I was buying her a ring, or even because I had no idea of the price of them, but because, at first glance, nothing seemed as right as I’d hoped.
“Nina!” the man called toward the back, and a moment later, a young woman our age, in a black dress and heels, joined him.
“Yes, Papa?”
He waved at Maisey. “Size this young lady’s ring finger and see what she thinks of our collection while this gentleman—” He waited for me to supply my name, which I did, and he continued, “While Beckett and I head over here to chat.”
The young woman brought out a measuring device and took Maisey’s hand in hers. They were talking about sizes and ring styles as I followed the man over to a corner case.
“Is there a price we need to consider?” the man asked, pulling a pair of glasses from his front pocket and sliding them on.
“She can have whatever she wants,” I said, meaning it. I had savings, but I also wasn’t an overly wealthy man by any means. “I can’t afford for it to be the price of a house, but I want her to have something special. Something deserving of her.”
He nodded, turning away from the counter to a case behind it. He brought out a covered tray and set it in front of me, with the jewelry underneath hidden.
“Have you ever heard of the toi et moi style ring?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Honestly, I never thought I’d be buying one at all.”
He nodded knowingly. “Love is even more beautiful when it hits you in the chest like that. I knew as soon as you walked in, the two of you were perfect for each other.”
I laughed. “You’re already going to make a sale, so you don’t need to butter me up.”
He winked. “I can see how you’d think that, but I always speak the truth.
And your truth radiated from you, which brings me back to toi et moi.
It means ‘you and me’ in French. In my opinion, it is one of the most romantic ring designs because it reflects the unity of two people becoming one.
It embodies the bond between you, symbolizing two separate entities being made into one by love. ”
He pulled a ring from under the velvet. It was simple and yet not.
One side was a platinum band that ended in a pear-shaped white diamond.
That first stone nestled against a similarly shaped yellow one, attached to a gold band.
The two different bands twisted into a graceful swoop at the back.
While the ring was truly beautiful, it was his words, even more than the ring itself, that sold me because Maisey and I were one.
“That’s it,” I said, taking a huge, smoke-free breath and reveling in it. “That’s the perfect ring.”
His face brightened. “I’ve been saving this for a special couple.” He glanced over to where Maisey and his assistant were still chatting happily. “Let me just make sure I’ve got the sizing right and get you a box.”
I took out my wallet and slid the credit card over the counter. I had no idea how much it was going to cost me. I didn’t even know if my credit limit would be enough, but it didn’t matter. That was Maisey’s ring.
He took it, discreetly pocketing it before stepping over to the women. He said something quietly to his assistant, she nodded, and then he disappeared into the back room.
I joined Maisey, sliding my arm around her waist and rejoicing in my ability to do just that, wondering why it had taken me so long to get here. Why I’d let fear and the past and other people stop me from being with the one woman who’d always shown me unconditional love.
“I’m being difficult.” Maisey’s voice held a tone of remorse as she tipped her head back against my shoulder.
“No, you’re not. Picking out something you’re going to wear every day should take time.
And if we don’t find what you want now, we’ll figure out something to tell everyone tonight.
” We wouldn’t have to. I had the ring and a tentative plan I’d formed this morning. But I also didn’t want her to worry.
“What do you think of this one?” Maisey asked, holding up a simple solitaire on white gold. It was probably the least expensive ring in the case.
“No.”
She looked up at me with a laugh. “No? Just no?”
“Just no. Try again.”
“Fine. How about this one?” she asked, picking up a ring with a square-cut emerald and two small diamonds on either side of it.
It was completely different from the first one, but it was equally bland.
It was nothing special. Nothing that screamed of a bond between two people, and I was even more sure I’d made the right choice.
“No.”
“You’re going to be even harder to please than me.” She laughed again, nervously tugging at her hair.
The jeweler came out of the back and tilted his head, waving me over to the side. I reluctantly let Maisey go to join him. He slid my credit card back as discreetly as he’d accepted it, followed by a sage-green velvet box that was nearly the same color as Maisey’s eyes.
“Thank you,” I said, my voice full of all the emotions I’d been so desperate to hide for years as I slyly added the box to the single shopping bag in the bunch that was mine. “She’s going to be upset about not having something on her hand right now.”
“Ah. Let me handle it,” the man said, striding back over to Maisey. He put a hand over the rings on display. “These are not right for you.” Maisey startled, darting a worried glance at me. “I have a shipment coming in. If you come back on Sunday, I will show you the perfect ring.”
I saw her hesitation, and I twined our hands.
“Sunday, my Maisey-girl. I’d rather wait and give you the perfect ring than rush and have something on your hand for the next sixty years that neither of us likes.”
Her mouth popped open. “What?”
“You’re right. Sixty years means we’ll only be in our eighties. Make it a hundred years.”
She let out a small giggle. “You’re ridiculous.”
I gathered all the bags and then grabbed her hand again. I met the jeweler’s eyes, mouthed thank you, and he winked.
As we stepped outside the store, she turned a worried face to me. “What are we going to do now? You’re the one who insisted we needed a ring to prove to everyone this was real. What if they don’t believe us?”
“They will,” I said confidently. My plan would ensure it. More, I hoped it would convince Maisey this wasn’t fake for me. That I truly wanted her to marry me.
I almost did a victory dance right there in the mall when that thought didn’t choke me or bring back images of wrists covered in blood.
Instead, it made me think of all the times I’d had Maisey tucked up against me.
All the times I’d already kissed her. And better yet, all the future kisses we had yet to experience.
But my happy thoughts were interrupted by a sharp laugh and a voice that caused the hair on my neck to rise, saying, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”