“I’m done with her,” he said.“With Suzanne.With everything she’s used to keep me in her grip.I moved out.Packed my bags.I’m living in a hotel near the pier.I have a real estate agent looking for a property for me to buy.”
Nicole’s breath caught.
Paige had been right.He’d moved out and completely separated himself from his mother.
“I resigned from the firm,” he went on, his voice steady, resolute.“She tried to talk me out of it, threatened, begged.I didn’t care.I walked away.For the first time in my life, I am not living under her shadow.And I’m not going back.”
He was proving, in the only way that mattered, that they were more important.Hope swelled in her chest, fierce and trembling.This, this was what she had longed for, what she had prayed for.
Maybe, finally, they had a real chance.
Nicole’s chest ached, hope clawing its way into her heart, but fear sat heavier.“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I need you to know,” he said, his eyes blazing.“I need you to know I’m not the same boy who let her tear us apart.You don’t know how much I regret not finding you and talking to you before I signed those papers.But I promise you, I will fight with everything I have.For you.For us.”
“I have the same feelings.I wish I had spoken to you.But I was so young and so angry and hurt.”
Tears burned her eyes.“Tripp?—”
He shook his head, leaning closer.“No, listen.I’m not asking you to forgive overnight.I’m not asking you to forget twenty years of pain.But I am asking you to believe me when I say I choose you.I’ll always choose you.I don’t care if she never speaks to me again.I don’t care if she disowns me, sells the house, or burns the firm to the ground.None of it matters if I don’t have you.And I choose you.”
Nicole’s tears spilled, hot and unstoppable.
Tripp’s voice broke then, softer but fierce.“We lost half our lives because of them.I don’t want to lose another day.I want you, Nic.Just you.Marry me again.This time, no secrets.No parents.No interference.Just us.”
Her breath hitched, her heart torn between terror and longing.“Tripp… I choose you.But Suzanne said she’ll never accept me.That our children—” Her voice broke.“That our children would never be loved.”
“Our children will be very loved by us.I can’t wait for us to have babies.”His jaw clenched.“We don’t give her the chance.She’ll never touch our children.She’ll never touch you.Not again.I won’t let her.”
Nicole stared at him, her whole body trembling.She wanted to believe.God, she wanted to.And she knew that no matter what, she would always love him.It would always be Tripp.
Tripp reached across the table, took her hand, and pressed it to his chest.His heartbeat thundered beneath her palm.“Do you feel that?That’s yours.It’s always been yours.”
The music swelled in the background, couples laughing and dancing, but Nicole heard only the thrum of his heart, the raw truth in his eyes.
For a long moment, she couldn’t speak.Then, through the tears, her lips curved.“You’re insane.”
He smiled, a shaky, desperate smile.“So marry me.”
Her laughter broke, half-sob, half-joy.“Tripp?—”
“Not later,” he said, standing, tugging her up with him.“Now.Tonight.Before anyone else tries to stop us.Let’s elope.”
Gasps rippled from a nearby table.Someone whistled.Nicole barely noticed.Her friends were suddenly there again, surrounding her, their faces beaming.Somehow, she got the feeling they knew about this little setup.
“Do it!”Paige whispered fiercely.
“Say yes!”Amanda squealed.
Crystal wiped at her eyes.“Go, Nicole.”
Jennifer lifted her glass in salute.“About damn time.”
Nicole looked at Tripp, at the boy she had loved, at the man who had finally broken free, and she knew this was the moment she’d been waiting for.
She nodded, tears spilling down her cheeks.“Yes.Yes, I’ll marry you.”
The room erupted in cheers, laughter, and applause, but Tripp pulled her into his arms, his mouth finding hers in a kiss that silenced everything else.
