Chapter 3 #2
“Then I’ll kiss your sweet bald head and teach you how to shave.”
“Adam…I’m serious.”
“So am I. Do you think I care if something you can’t help happens to you? Do you think I’ll love you only when you’re young and beautiful?”
“I could get really heavy.” She’d put on a few pounds in the last year that he knew she was stressed about.
“That’s just more of you to love.”
“You say that now…”
“I say that forever. In fact, we’re getting married New Year’s Eve.” He decided that as he said the words. “No more delays, no more waffling, no more of anything other than you and me married. You’ve got your dress, and everyone will be home for the holidays. It’s on.”
“Adam, you’re just saying that—”
“Because I want to be married to you more than I want anything in this world.”
“You’re awfully rude this morning.”
“Likewise, my love. It’s awfully rude of you to think I’m going to run for the hills at the first sign of trouble.”
“This isn’t just trouble. It’s a life sentence.”
“If that’s how you’d like to view our marriage…”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”
“I do know, and a far worse life sentence for me would be life without you. So don’t condemn me to that by thinking I can’t handle what’s ahead, no matter what it may be. I can handle it as long as I have you and we have each other. Everything else is secondary to that.”
She released a deep, shuddering breath marked by the hitches that came from hours of crying. “You’re sure about this?”
He kissed her again. “I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life. Ever. Remember that first week we spent together?”
“As if I could ever forget it.” She traced the outline of the Gansett Island tattoo on his bicep.
“And when we were apart, when I was back in New York for those interminable weeks…I thought I’d die from missing you.
I couldn’t wait to get everything wrapped up there so I could come home to you.
I still feel that way, every day when I go to work on someone’s malfunctioning computer.
Every minute I’m away from you, I’m counting down until I can get home to you.
There is nothing, and I do mean nothing, that could make me not want to go home to you, Abs.
Not even something I can hardly pronounce. ”
“Polycystic ovary syndrome.”
“Not even that.” He kissed her again, lingering when she responded enthusiastically, the way she usually did.
That gave him hope that he could eventually disabuse her of the idea that he couldn’t handle this.
“So New Year’s Eve… It’s on, yes? I’ll take care of everything.
All you’ll have to do is show up looking gorgeous as usual. ”
“Okay.”
If her one-word response lacked enthusiasm, well, he had eleven days to work on that before they exchanged vows. He was determined to be everything she needed and to stand by her no matter what might come their way.
In Nashville, Tennessee, Evan McCarthy woke to the supreme pleasure of his fiancée, Grace, in his arms after she’d surprised him on the final night of his three-week tour with superstar Buddy Longstreet.
Evan’s single, “My Amazing Grace,” written to honor the love of his life, was charting in the top three on all the industry lists, which was a surprise to no one but him, apparently.
Buddy said he’d known the song would be a smash hit the first time he heard it, and last night, after their show, Buddy had taken him aside with yet another plea to continue pursuing music.
“You’d be a fool to go back to your studio on the island when you have a song in the top three, Evan,” Buddy had said in his typically blunt way. “This is your moment. Carpe diem.”
Buddy’s words had upended his plans to rush home to Grace and Island Breeze Records the minute the last show ended.
And then Grace had further upended his plans, in the best possible way, by being naked in his bed when he returned to the hotel.
Best. Surprise. Ever. He’d missed her so much, even though he’d talked to her several times a day, FaceTimed with her every night and engaged in an unseemly amount of phone sex.
There was nothing, absolutely nothing, like the real thing when it came to his amazing Grace.
He was a little ashamed of how rough he’d been with her last night after missing her so desperately while he was away.
But she’d been right there with him, encouraging him to take anything and everything he needed from her.
He ran his hand over the soft skin on her back, touching her because he could.
If you’d told him a couple of years ago that he’d be so in love with one woman that he’d turn his back on stardom, he might’ve suggested you have your head examined.
But now that he had her, everything else had taken a backseat to their life together.
And it would continue to, he decided right in that moment.
Even Buddy’s promises of stardom like he’d once dreamed of weren’t enough to lure him away from Grace or the home they’d made together on the island.
It wasn’t enough to turn his back on a year of hard work building the studio or getting it up and running.
The weeks on stage had reminded him of a time in his life when everything was an epic struggle.
Having Grace back in his arms was a reminder that life with her was as easy as breathing.
No comparison, no debate, no decision. She was what he wanted.
He wanted her more than he wanted bright lights and big cities.
He wanted her more than he wanted fame or fortune or anything that didn’t include being with her every day.
As he had that thought, one of her big brown eyes popped open. When she saw him there, her smile lit up her face. “Favorite face to wake up to.”