Chapter 18 #2
In the garage, he meets me at the door, laces our fingers together, and leads me into the house. He doesn’t stop until we’re in the living room, and he pulls me onto his lap. His breathing is accelerated. He’s nervous.
This is it. He’s going to end things between us.
“I saw Violet at the hospital.” He pauses, waiting for me to speak or to react, but I do neither, because I’m barely holding on. “She works there. Been there for a while,” he explains. Another pause, and I close my eyes, just listening, waiting for the words to hit me.
“I didn’t expect that I’d ever see her again. It wasn’t at all what I thought it would be. The feelings, the regret that I expected, never came.”
My heart is racing. It’s hammering against my ribs. He has to be able to hear it, right?
“Baby, can you look at me?”
I don’t want to. I don’t want to open my eyes to see his rejection, but there isn’t a single thing I wouldn’t give this man, so slowly, I peel my eyes open. He rests his palm against my cheek.
“There she is.” He smiles softly. “I love your big blue eyes,” he says, moving in to place a kiss on each brow.
The reverence in his tone makes my chest tighten.
“I love your heart,” he says, dropping his hand from my face to place it on my chest. “I love how big it is, how freely you give it without expectation.” He studies me, taking his time, letting his words take root.
I can barely breathe as he speaks, like the moment is too full, too real.
“When I’m with you,” he says, “I feel seen. I feel understood.” His voice softens, but it doesn’t waver. “For the first time in my life, I feel like I’m actually myself. Like I’m settled. Like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.”
It’s as if he’s reading me like a book—everything that’s inside my heart. It’s confusing, because it feels like he’s telling me something I’ve longed to hear, but can I dare to believe that’s what this is?
He smiles then, and it reaches his eyes, crinkling them in the corners. His words are reverent and honest. He looks at me like there’s nowhere else he’d rather be, like this moment is enough.
“Eden Miller,” he says, saying my name with quiet certainty, “I’m in love with you.”
There’s no hesitation in his voice, no doubt in his eyes as they hold mine. The words don’t feel rushed or dramatic. They feel solid, undeniable.
“Y-You love me?”
His smile grows. “Yeah, baby, I do.”
“But… what about Violet?”
“I thought I loved her once. I know that I did, but it wasn’t this kind of love, Eden.
It wasn’t the kind of love that reaches into your chest and opens you up, laying you bare to the person you’re giving it to.
I realize now that I didn’t fight for her back then because the Universe knew that I was waiting for you. ”
I try to hold back a sob, but it escapes anyway. Tears rush unchecked down my face.
“Talk to me,” he says, worry in his voice. “I hate to see these tears.”
“Good tears.” I smile, even though I’m crying.
“Even the good tears I hate from you,” he says, wiping at my cheeks with his thumbs.
“I saw you at the hospital. I heard you say her name, and I panicked. I thought you would fight for your second chance, and I was trying to prepare myself for the pain of losing you,” I confess.
“No. No, Eden, I don’t want her. I was stuck in the past, on the rejection, but you pulled me back to the present.
You brought me back to life. You accepted me in a way no one ever has.
You knew all of me and still wanted me. You don’t care about my past or my bank account.
You only want me, the man, and baby, that’s priceless. You are priceless.”
“I love you so much,” I say, my voice cracking. “I’ve loved you for so long, but I was so afraid to say it. Afraid I wasn’t enough.”
“You are enough. You are everything. You’re my everything,” he says, his tone laced with conviction.
“I love you,” I say again, leaning in for a kiss. I need to feel his lips on mine. I need to know I’m not dreaming that this moment is real.
He kisses me back. Pouring all his emotion into it, showing me with more than his words that he’s exactly where he wants to be. When I pull back, we’re both breathing heavily, and we’re wearing matching smiles.
“I want it all, Eden. I want the house, the kids, the dogs. Whatever you want, I’m all in.”
I nod, smiling and still crying. “Me, too,” I tell him. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, baby.”
He holds me, kisses me, and whispers how much he loves me, letting time pass us by. Finally, he suggests we get cleaned up so we can pick up dinner and have birthday cupcakes.
“You don’t have to. I can go back.”
“Eden, they’re our family. At least, I hope they accept me. If not, it’s going to make holidays awkward, because you’re stuck with me.”
“Our family,” I repeat, and he nods.
I didn’t expect this. I didn’t expect him. I wasn’t looking for love, but love found me. I’ll thank my lucky stars every day for bringing this man into my life. “You changed my life,” I tell him, following him upstairs to make myself look presentable from the tears.
“You changed the play, baby.”
“What?” I ask, laughing.
“You changed me, too, and how I see the world around me, the way I see friendships, and my found family. You changed me to my core, and I love you for it.”
“I love you, too.”
Together, we get ready, stealing kisses and innocent touches, before picking up more pizza than we can all eat and going back to Nick and Carrie’s to ice some birthday cupcakes, and to let my family get to know the man who has completely, irrevocably stolen my heart.