Chapter Twenty – Declan
Declan
I’d never been so nervous in my entire life as I was driving to the lake house I’d rented for the weekend. What happened this weekend could change my life, and Harper’s. We’d only been dating for a couple of months, but in my heart of hearts, I knew she was the one. I think I’d known it my entire life.
“It’s such a beautiful drive up here. I always forget how beautiful it is around the lake. Promise me we’ll come back here in the fall. It’s my favorite time of year.”
“Mine too, and I’ve missed the falls up here.”
I could feel her eyes on me. “I shouldn’t say this, but I’m glad you decided to leave the Marines. It brought you back to me.”
Reaching for her hand, I brought it to my lips and gently kissed her. “I am, too, Harp. I am, too.”
“How did you find this house?” Harper asked, as she settled back into her seat, a sweet smile on her beautiful face.
“Kian told me about it.”
“Really? Did he and Cadie stay here?”
I gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter. I didn’t like lying to Harper, but I wasn’t ready to tell her the real reason we were coming here.
“I’m not sure. I think he knows the person who owns it.”
“Look at that view, Declan! It’s gorgeous. If the house has a view like that, I might not want to leave on Monday.”
I chuckled and turned at the next road. We drove up a long, narrow road until my phone told me our destination was on our left.
“Here we are.”
Turning into a driveway, I typed in a code, and the simple black iron gate swung open. The driveway was lined with trees on both sides, hiding glimpses of wide-open, green rolling hills.
“This is stunning!” Harper gasped, leaning forward and looking every which way. “The grass is so green! Look at how beautiful it is. How much land do they have?”
“Twenty-five acres. There are walking trails, so I hope you brought your sneakers. I forgot to tell you.”
Harper was looking out the passenger window. “Is that a stable?” She whipped her head around to look at me. “Do they have horses? And I did bring my sneakers. You actually told me.”
Laughing, I replied, “Good. And no, they don’t currently have any horses on the property.”
“Oh, what a bummer.”
We rounded a bend in the drive and the house came into view. It was a beautiful two-story, turn-of-the-century Colonial Revival.
“Oh my word, look at that house.” Harper hit my arm. “Look at the gardens! Declan! Look at the gardens !”
Laughing again, I said, “They’ve been meticulously maintained to be reminiscent of a Victorian garden.”
Harper gasped as we pulled up and parked in front of the house. “It’s stunning.”
“It has five bedrooms, three of them have en suite baths. There are two bedrooms that have private staircases that were used back when they had servants.”
Turning to me, Harper’s mouth dropped open. “Shut up!”
“Come on, let’s grab our bags and check it out.”
Harper moved so quickly that I thought she was going to hurt herself. We walked up the cobblestone sidewalk flanked by beautiful flower gardens on either side. The outside of the house had been updated some, but it didn’t take away from the style. The front door was painted red, and there was a small front porch. I wasn’t sure if that would be a deal breaker for Harper or not. The back porch made up for the lack in the front.
“Look at the flower boxes on the windows. I just love it!”
We walked in, and we both just stopped and looked around. “Oh my God, it’s the same inside with the Colonial Revival architecture. Look at the coffered ceilings, the wainscoting…and these hardwood floors. Declan, these look like the original floors!”
“I do believe they are the originals. It’s beautiful in here.”
Harper dropped her bag, visibly excited. “Let’s explore!”
Her enthusiasm to see the rest of the house eased some of the tightness in my chest. She grabbed my hand and pulled me along. First, we entered into a large formal dining room. A wooden table sat in the middle, with plenty of room for a buffet or some other kind of furniture on either side.
“Look at that chandelier. Oh my. And the ceiling! Oh…wow.”
“It’s gorgeous.”
“What’s in here?” Harper asked, as she opened French doors to reveal a sunroom.
“It keeps getting better!”
We made our way out of the sunroom and into the huge open kitchen. “Look! The old stove is in the corner, how precious that they left it!”
“The wood cabinets look new, but they did a good job sticking with the same style as the house.”
“Declan, look at the six-burner stove! We have to go back into town and get more food. I want to cook on that.”
All I could do was laugh.
We made our way upstairs and looked at each bedroom. The colors were beautiful, with soft, creamy yellows, blues, and whites.
“Almost every room has a lake view.” Harper shook her head. “How lovely.”
I watched her as we moved from room to room. I wondered if she could see us living in a house like this and raising our kids. When we got to the master, Harper let out a small scream. “It has a balcony! Oh, Declan, look at this view!”
We stepped out onto the large balcony and took in the view of Moose Lake. There were two oversized lounge chairs, a table that seated four, and an outdoor sofa.
“I have a feeling we’ll have our coffee out here in the morning.”
She spun around and smiled. “Did you not see that huge back porch?”
Laughing, I nodded. “I did.”
After returning downstairs, we walked through the breakfast area attached to the kitchen and out to the back porch. It was huge, and definitely made up for the lack of a front porch. Harper slowly walked to the rail and stared out at the gardens.
“Jesus,” she whispered. “I’ve never seen such beautiful gardens at a home before. This is something I would expect to see at an English estate. Declan…I’m not going to want to leave!”
“Should we go down and look at them up close?”
She jumped with excitement and started down the steps, then we walked the brick path that led to the gardens. In the middle was a beautiful water fountain. Two short benches sat on the north and south sides of the garden, with two long benches on the east and west sides.
“I’ve never seen anything so lovely,” Harper whispered, gazing beyond the gardens to the lake. “It’s beautiful. I wish this were mine!”
Standing behind her, I pulled out the ring box and lowered to my left knee. I opened it and drew in a deep breath before exhaling slowly.
“If you want it…it’s yours.”
She laughed and turned. Her eyes widened and hands flew up to her mouth as she stared at me, then down at the ring box.
“I know it hasn’t been much time since we’ve gotten together, Harp, but I think I’ve always known you were the one. If you’d do me the honor, I would love to officially make you mine…and give you this house as a wedding present.”
Her eyes filled with tears as her hands dropped to her sides. When the tears spilled over, she dropped to her knees and threw her arms around me. “Yes! Oh my gosh, yes! Yes! Yes!”
I hugged her back and we stayed that way for a few moments before she drew back and asked, “Wait. Did you say you’ll give me this house as a wedding present?”
Winking, I replied, “Or a prewedding present, depending on when you want the wedding to be.”
She looked around. “Is the house for sale?”
I nodded. “Yes. Kian told me about it. He knows the family that owns it, and they want to sell fast. There is a divorce involved and they want out from under the house. He asked them to hold off on listing it because he might know a buyer. Once he saw these gardens, he immediately thought of you.”
Harper’s eyes went wide. “We could actually own this house? Could we afford it?”
“If you want it, yes.”
She threw herself back into my arms and nearly knocked me over. Laughing, I held on to her and stood, taking her with me.
“Yes! Yes, I want it! The entire time we were walking through the house, I kept daydreaming about it being ours. And that one room with the windows would make a beautiful nursery and playroom!”
My heart tripped over itself in my chest. “I was thinking about how amazing it would be to raise a family here, as well.”
“One thing—we buy it together, but I honestly don’t have much saved up. Everything goes back into the floral shop.”
“How about we strike a deal? You let me buy the house, and you use your money to decorate or furnish how you see fit.”
Frowning, she asked, “Declan, I know you couldn’t have saved up that much money being in the Marines.”
“You’re right, under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have enough for a house like this. But my grandmother left me and Sean trust funds. We each have access to it when we turn thirty-five. With my father’s help, the funds in the trust have increased with smart investing.”
“So, even with it being a lowered price, you can still purchase it without being house poor?”
I laughed. “Exactly. So what do you say? I’ll buy the house, you decorate and furnish it to your heart’s desire.”
Her eyes widened. “I love that idea.”
“Harp?”
Her fingers ran through the hair at the base of my neck as she smiled and said, “Yeah?”
“Would you like to see the ring now?”
Gasping, she stepped back. “Oh my gosh! Yes!”
When I asked Larry and Patty for permission to marry Harper, Larry asked if I’d bought a ring yet. I told him I hadn’t, and that I figured I’d let Harper pick it out. He smiled and asked me to wait a moment while he left the room, returning with a blue jewelry box. It was his grandmother’s engagement ring. When Harper was little, she used to tell her great-grandmother that when she got married someday, she wanted to wear that ring. She’d left it to Harper, and her parents had been holding on to it…waiting.
Opening the box again, I held it out to her now.
Harper sucked in a surprised breath as she stared down at the ring. It was a vintage Old European cut diamond flanked by two sapphires, in turn framed by eighteen Old European cut diamonds, all set in a platinum band.
Harper’s eyes filled with tears again as she lifted her gaze from the ring to me. “That’s my great-grandmother’s ring. How did you…?”
“When I asked your father and mother for permission to marry you, your father told me that your great-grandmother had left the ring for you. They’ve been holding on to it, waiting for this moment.” I reached up and wiped a tear from her cheek. “If you want something different, we can go look at rings.”
She shook her head as she stared at the ring. “No, this is perfect. This is…it’s… It’s perfect.”
Taking the ring out of the box, I lifted Harper’s left hand to slip it on. It fit her like a glove.
“It’s a perfect fit, too.”
Harper held her hand out and admired the ring. “I was so little when I knew my great-grandmother, but I remember taking the ring off and trying to put it on my own finger. She told me someday the man of my dreams would put it on my hand, and I remember telling her I couldn’t wait until that happened.”
Cupping her face in my hands, I leaned down to look into her eyes. “I love you, Harper Browning. You own my heart, body, and soul, and I will be yours forever.”
“Oh, Declan. I love you, too. So much!”
I captured her mouth with mine, and we kissed for what felt like forever. We were in the garden that would soon be ours, where we would get married, make love under the stars, conceive our first child, have endless birthday parties, and renew our vows on our fortieth wedding anniversary. It was the beginning of our beautiful journey. And I knew I’d never forget this feeling of utter happiness for as long as I lived, as I kissed the one and only woman I’d ever dreamed of being mine.