“Mon, you don’t have to—”
“I do.” When he turned back to face her, she had a determined look on her face. “You don’t want my money, so it’s important that I give it away. And I can’t think of a better set of charities than the ones in my new hometown.”
“Your…”
“Mine.” She nodded definitively. “I mean, eventually. After you ask me to stay.”
“I—” He cut himself off. “Why aren’t you in Italy?”
“I told you. I missed you. I’ll fly back next week for Amira’s wedding, but I don’t need to be there for all the pre-wedding nonsense. And don’t worry about the carbon footprint. I’ve offset that. And I promise this will be the last trip I take for a while, after I move everything here. Although that may have to happen in stages, because you don’t have room for even a tenth of my wardrobe.”
“Monica!”
She stopped. Blinked at him. And burst into tears.
30
“I’m sorry,”she blubbered against his shirt as he scooped her off the top of the slide and hauled her into his chest. “I’m extra emotional this week. I thought this would be romantic.”
“It is,” he promised. His heart was galloping against his ribs, and he was slow to react. “I’m just shocked.”
Fuck, he’d made her cry.
This was their chance to get it right. Their moment, that they’d tell their kids and grandkids about. And he’d been so shocked, he’d ruined her big grand gesture.
He started to laugh.
It had all clicked into place for him this week. Their history faded away. And he’d seen her, really and truly. Her love, her hope, and her faith—in him. Inthem.
But he hadn’t considered for a second that she might come back for him.
“I was going to come to you in Italy,” he murmured into her hair. “I’m being a big idiot right now because I can’t believe you’re actually here.”
“You were going to…” She drew back and looked up at him, shock written all over her face. “What?”
“I woke up this morning and I couldn’t handle the thought of not seeing you for another week, not being able to tell you that I still love you. I couldn’t get a flight out tonight, so I…” He trailed off. “Wait. They knew.”
“Who knew?”
“Monica.”
She gave him a shy smile. “The sisters-in-law? Yeah, they knew. I told them yesterday I was coming back for the auction, and they should find a way to get you into it.”
“Catie didn’t even try.”
“I liked what they did.”
“January was there when I decided I needed to go to Italy. She re-directed me and promised she’d help me find a flight tomorrow.”
“I owe her a drink.” She wound her arms around his neck. “You love me?”
“I love you.”
“You didn’t want to love me.”
“That was fear talking.” He couldn’t believe she was right here, in his arms. “I love you so much it fucking hurts. And when you showed up here, that was confusing. Because it hurt, and it was hard. But I’m never again going to mistake this ache as anything other than the rawest need for you. You know what it tells me?”
“What?”
