Chapter Twenty-One
Dominic
She’s so beautiful. Dark hair falling in long, loose waves over her shoulders. A slim dress the same dark green of the pine forest. How did I ever think that alone was better? That avoiding pain was worth sacrificing the happiness I’ve experienced with her?
Her hands are at her sides, but I can still glimpse the rings on her left hand. Relief floods me. Perhaps it’s not too late.
“You’re here.”
“I am.”
Her eyes are shining, luminous. “How?”
“Well, my plane departed at—”
“No.” She shakes her head. “I saw you on TV two minutes ago.”
“Prerecorded conference. It was filmed yesterday.”
“And now you’re here.”
“And now I’m here.”
The words barely leave my mouth before she launches herself at me, wrapping her arms around my neck as I grab on to her. I hold her tight. She’s here. Real. In my arms.
“I’m sorry, Dominic,” she murmurs against my neck. “I’m so—”
I cut her off with a kiss. She tastes like home.
Finally, I raise my head. “I pulled away first. And I pushed you even further away.”
She leans her head against my chest. “I missed you.”
“And I missed you.”
I glance around the hall. “Would you walk in the garden with me?”
“I’d like that.”
I grab her hand in mine, hold on tight as we walk down the hall. I glance at the library doors. Her mother is standing there, a stunning smile on her face and tears in her eyes. She nods to me before stepping back into the library and closing the door.
We walk out into the quiet coolness of an autumn morning.
“When I left, I thought it was best if we had some time apart.” I glance down at her. “I never intended to let you shut me out. I’m sorry I left in the first place.”
She shakes her head. “I told myself it was because I was protecting you. But I was being selfish. I was protecting you as much as I was protecting myself. I was so convinced that you would eventually hate me that I didn’t even give you a chance.”
“I know what that’s like.” I stop, turn her toward me, and cradle her face in my hands.
“I kept myself distant from you for weeks. Months. You’re not the only one who’s made mistakes.
I should have given you more time. And I shouldn’t have pulled away so abruptly.
I wasn’t the only one affected by that article.
” I release her face only to reach down and grab her hands, bringing her fingers up to my lips and kissing them.
“I told you about my childhood. But I didn’t tell you about John. ”
She frowns. “You told me some.”
“Some. What I didn’t tell you was that he offered me unconditional love.
The kind that I had once dreamed of having from a father.
He wasn’t just a mentor or supporter. He came to love each one of us.
” My voice tightens. “But I resisted. I treated him with respect, and I convinced myself that it was enough. Every time I thought about telling him just a little bit more, I stopped myself. Told myself it would be a sign of weakness, just opening the door to more pain. And then I left on deployment. I’d been gone for four months. I got the word he had passed.”
“Dominic…”
“I can’t say that I never had the chance to tell him how I felt, because I had plenty of chances.
And after that, I convinced myself that the hurt I felt was just another example of why I needed to keep people at arm’s length, when in reality, I had sentenced myself to that kind of pain.
” I lean down, lay my forehead against hers.
“I don’t want to make that mistake again.
Especially not with the woman I’ve fallen in love with. ”
The smile she gives me is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. “You love me.”
“Deeply and completely. I think I first started to fall in love with you when I walked into the room and you gave me that haughty glance.”
She grins at me. “I thought you were the sexiest man I’d ever seen. I admired you. Respected you, even though you infuriated me every time you stood up to me. You treated me from the beginning like a woman, an individual. You saw past the crown before I even saw myself.”
I give into desire, lower my head and kiss her again.
“I meant what I said at the press conference. I told myself that I knew what I was getting into. But I need you to know it’s not a matter of putting up with the spotlight or enduring it for your sake or the sake of our child.
” I thread my fingers through her hair, savor the soft silk against my skin.
“I choose this life with you because I can’t imagine a life without you in it.
And if that means reporters, balls and galas and charity events, and even a meeting with the Minister of the Interior, then I will do it all.
Not because I have to, but because I want to. ”
Tears glimmer in her eyes. “I thought I had to do it alone. I didn’t want to cause a scene, wanted to stay true to my duty.
But not setting boundaries, not even attempting to reach out to others, soured me on being a royal.
All I could see was the bad. But you reminded me of the good.
No, I may never get to be a doctor or a nurse.
But there’s still so much that I can do.
Not just for myself, but for this country.
And I want to do that with you by my side. ”
“Well then.”
I kneel, savor the widening of her eyes. “Your Royal Highness, Crown Princess Sophaya of Siravelle, will you do me the honor of remaining my wife?”
She laughs even as tears spill down her cheeks. “Yes.”
“Then will you accept this ring?”
She glances down, her mouth dropping open as I hold up her engagement ring. “How did you…?” She stares down at her ring finger. “How did you do that?”
“I may or may not retain some skills from my earlier days.”
She throws back her head and laughs as I slide the ring back onto her finger. “Okay, you have to teach me how to do that.”
Laughing, I stand and sweep her into my arms, sealing my new future with the woman I love.