Chapter Twenty-Four #2
“I know that you care for me, the words that came out of your mouth, the ones that you said to me last night… that you, might even love me. Well, I feel them deeply too. And…” I gulped but I didn’t want to hold the words in anymore and right now felt right.
“I love you too… this, us, it’s all just been such a rollercoaster, an incredible rollercoaster that trust me, I am so glad that I jumped on the ride of.
I appreciate the apology, I really do. But I just wanted to experience all of you, and I wanted to let you feel so open with me, that I just went into this without us putting some boundaries in place, that’s all…
.” I could tell how badly he wanted to jump in on what I was saying but I kept my finger planted firmly against his lips.
“I don’t ever want you to hide any part of yourself with me.
If this is really love between us, if what I feel is real then I want you to know that you can feel safe and open with everything around me.
” I kept my eyes locked on his as my heart pang.
My finger dropped from his lips at the same speed I watched a tear fall from his eyes.
“But last night, that is something that can never, ever happen again.”
“Trust me Molly, it won’t. And I’m not going to just say that, I will spend as long as it takes showing you that with me, you’re safe,” he said as I watched another tear fall, causing my own eyes to water before he grabbed hold of my face, my arms wrapped tightly around him, our lips pressed together.
Any time his hands were on me my whole body melted.
It melted into comfort, it melted into safety, it melted into a feeling that I had always longed for but never truly knew what it was.
Now I finally had it. And once I did, there was nothing that I wanted to have for breakfast from this moment on than the taste of him.
Our lips parted, noses still touching as Henry held me tight. “How are you feeling today?” he asked cautiously. “Are you in pain?”
I nodded as his brow creased deeper. “A little but it’s not as bad as last night,” I whispered back to him.
Henry let go of me and pointed to the far corner of the table.
I was so taken away by the amount of sweet food in front of me, that I missed the three red boxes piled up in the far corner.
Henry picked up the three boxes and set them in his lap.
“Since we’re having a morning surrounded by honesty, I need to be honest with you about something else,” he said as I stayed quiet.
“I wasn’t really working last night, well, I was, but I was working on something else, a few things that I hoped would make everything that had already happened a lot better.
Hopefully, we can finish the rest of this trip on a much better note. ”
Henry pulled open the first small red box and passed me a small unlabeled tub of cream. I held it in my hands and stared up at him confused.
“Miss Molly, I was so worried about how much I had hurt you, I wanted to tell the doctor but while he and Aaron were both here, I was so ashamed of what I had done that I didn’t know what to tell them or how to even deal with it.
I needed to do something, though, so I told Jackie, and she helped me make this cream.
It’s a sensitive healing cream. Jackie really is a wizard when it comes to this stuff.
It’s like her hidden talent. It has zinc for healing and aloe vera for soothing…
and if it doesn’t help then I want you to know that we can leave at any time and go straight to the doctor. ”
I didn’t know how I felt about him telling Jackie.
Were they that close that all this time Jackie knew about his hidden fetishes?
But I guess it made more sense now about why she was acting so weird in the kitchen last night, and why she didn’t want me to disturb Henry. She was working with him on this.
“Thank you,” I said. “Are you going to help me put it on later?” I whispered, I knew that there was absolutely nothing sexy about it, but it was the closest that we were going to get to any real intimacy until I knew that I was completely healed.
“That I can do,” he said as he handed me the next box.
“What’s this?” I asked as I sat it in my lap.
He shrugged, “I guess you’ll have to open it to find out.”
I pulled the lid of the A4-sized red box to see a bunch of papers sitting inside. Contracts and legal documents. My mind was too busy to focus on any particular word, to find out what all this was about, but then I saw my full name printed at the top of the letter head which read:
This declares Molly Margret Joplin, the head director of the new company structure for innovations, a sub company under Bentley enterprises.
I looked up at Henry, my mouth dropped open as I felt my heart begin to pound out of control inside my chest. Henry was smiling wide back at me. “Wait, what is this? Innovations?” I asked.
“It’s what we spoke about yesterday. You knew that you wanted to be in business, you knew that you wanted to change things, and you knew that you didn’t have one specific niche that you wanted to focus on.
To be honest I’ve needed something like this in my life for a long time.
It’s a part of the business that I have set up that will also allow us to move into many more markets together. ”
“Henry, this, this can’t be real,” I said. My hands began to shake as I dropped the papers back into the box.
“But it is real, I’ve made this happen. The only thing that I haven’t completely worked out yet is which office that you would like to run this from. Because I don’t know which one that you would prefer best. But it’s something that we can work out together.”
“Henry, no, you can’t just set up a whole new company for me, just to take me away from my shitty job?”
“I hope that this is more than just taking you away from your shitty job, Miss Molly. I hope that this completely fulfills you. You have no idea how much this helps me out as well. I’ve always wanted to start something up like this, but I knew I couldn’t run it myself.
I hadn’t found anyone else to do it until now.
I don’t know anyone more fitting for the job.
You see so many of the qualities that you possess that I’ve seen you at times judge yourself for them.
I’ve heard you call yourself indecisive, or not following through with the ideas that you have.
But all of those qualities are really important when it comes to innovation.
I have tunnel vision and am focused on the tech side of the company and property.
Opening up this side is going to do wonders for playing in different markets.
Your open and versatile mind is the most important thing for business and, really, this is for you to just play in whatever market that you choose.
Anything that you need, anything that you want to take a crack at, this is for you, and we can help build a team around you. ”
“Henry… I…” I was absolutely speechless. This was real. These documents were real. “I mean, Henry, this is… well, this is serious, my name is on this. This is so much more than a rose. This is a business. This is our names intertwined.”
He paused for a moment, his lips parting as his eyes looked me up and down slowly.
I felt his body tighten. “Molly,” he said clearly.
“This is not more than a rose. This is exactly what saying yes to that rose meant to me. I know that it’s not a marriage proposal.
But I can tell you that I’m not here with you to casually date.
With how deep that we’ve gone into this already, I don’t think that we can do casual. ”
I couldn’t help but laugh at his comment and he chuckled too.
But as I laughed, I felt like I was also going to cry.
Not out of sadness, but more overwhelm. I’d always hoped for this moment, when everything felt like it was going to work out for me.
And now it was, all in front of me. Henry was literally the one giving me everything that I had ever asked for and more.
“I want a life with you, Molly, I mean it. I want you to be a big part of my life, and I think that this is the next natural step for both of us. I’m in a very fortunate position, Molly, and with that, I want to be able to give you as much as you can. ”
I tried to gulp down the tears, but I couldn’t hold them back anymore, as two escaped my eyes, falling down my cheeks.
He wiped them away softly, “So this is what you were doing last night? After our conversation on the boat and after everything that happened, this is what you were working on? Making this cream and set up this company.” My voice croaked as I choked back tears.
Henry nodded. “I mean it when I say I want to create the best life for us, I want to give you everything that I possibly can.” I couldn’t take it anymore, I reached towards Henry, going to throw my arms around him, but he grabbed hold of my hands.
“Not yet,” he said, with a big smile on his face. “There’s still one more.” There was still one large red box on my lap separating us. The last thing that I needed right now was more gifts. I just wanted to wrap my arms around him, pull his lips onto mine.
I pulled the lid off the last box and my jaw hit the floor.
“Gucci hiking boots! Are you kidding me?” I squealed, they were stunning, black and gold.
Henry smiled. “That’s what you’re most excited about?”
“I mean, no, they’re great, they’re amazing, all of this is really exciting, beyond exciting.
And with these boots, I think that means I know what the plan is today!
” I said clapping my hands in front of my chest. What was my life right now?
A whirlwind didn’t even explain how I felt.
“But wait, why are these down here right now? Did you pull these from the wardrobe?”