"Yeah, but what if you do?"
"I won't, Danny."
"No, I know that, but what if you do?"
Abe huffed. "If, and I'm saying if because I know it will never happen, but if I change my mind, you can keep the ring."
I shook my head. "I don't want to keep the ring if you change your mind."
I could tell Abe was growing frustrated with me when the man's jaw clenched, but this was what he was signing up for. I was a paranoid geek with social anxiety. I was smarter than most people, didn't like to leave my house, and had commitment issues because no one had ever followed through on the promise they made me.
"Danny, I love you. I fell in love with you the moment I saw you and I have done everything I can since that moment trying to meet you and be with you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, even if it means we never leave your bunker."
My eyes rounded as they flooded with tears. "You love me?"
No one had ever told me they loved me, not even my parents.
Abe's face softened as he smiled at me. "Yes, Danny. I love you."
I sniffled as I held my hand out. "Okay."
Abe lifted an eyebrow. "Okay?"
I nodded through my tears. "I'll wear your ring."
Chapter Eleven
It had been several hours since Abe slid the engagement ring onto my finger, and I still couldn't stop smiling every time I looked down at it. I had insisted he wear the gold band he'd gotten until I could find him an engagement ring.
I was practically giddy, an emotion I had never felt before in my life. Abe not only loved me, he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. I was still having a hard time accepting that, but I wasn't stupid enough to tell the man no. Not when he was handing me every Christmas wish I'd ever made since I understood what love meant.
I still wasn't sure he was going to stick around, but I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. If he didn't keep his promise to me, I'd deal with that when it happened. I couldn't hide anymore, not when everything I'd ever wanted was being handed to me on a silver platter.
I just needed to get him home so I could cuddle in his arms and feel my world settle.
There was a definite hop in my step as I walked with Judge down the corridor to the elevators. We'd gone up to the cafeteria to get something to eat, and we were currently carrying our bounty back to Abe's room.
Once he had answered a series of questions for the doctor and gotten another CAT scan, Abe had been deemed healthy enough to move to a regular room. They still wanted to keep an eye on him for another day, which was why we were still here and not home cuddling. With any luck, they'd let us go home tomorrow morning.
I was so ready to go home.
When we rounded the corner, the doors to the elevator we needed were just starting to close. I raced for them, sticking my hand in-between the two doors before they could close all the way. When they automatically slid open again, I quickly stepped inside the elevator then held them open for Judge. The two of us squeezed into one side of the small elevator. The rest of the elevator was taken up by an orderly, with a gurney between us.
I winced as I glanced at the orderly who stood there glaring at me from the other side of a hospital gurney. "Sorry."
My stomach rolled a bit when I looked down and realized there was a body under the sheet. I thought they were only supposed to move bodies using the service elevator, but maybe it was broken or something.
I shivered and glanced away. My eyes fell on the buttons for the different floors. I didn't realize I had bumped the gurney when I reached out to press the button for Abe's floor until an arm fell out from under the sheet.
It just dangled there.
"Um…" I swallowed tightly as I pushed myself back into the corner of the small cubicle pushing against Judge. "Sir, his arm…"
That was so gro—
Was that a gold ring?
When the orderly leaned across the body and grabbed the arm, he lifted the edge of the sheet and tucked it back under before dropping the sheet once again.
