They fill my foyer, cover the floor, pour from Mirabelle’s arms, dapple the first few steps of the staircase leading to the second story. Color explodes before me, arrangement after arrangement overburdened with blooms. My lips part.
Mirabelle, face as red as the roses in her arms, offers me the bouquet.
I don’t take it. “What…is all this?”
“I’m grand gesturing,” she says.
“Grand gesturing?” I echo, struck by how pretty she looks in this field of petals. They match her lacy hair scarf and the designs on her apron. She’s as lovely and delicate as any one of these arrangements. Settled among them, she’s a picture of ravishing, heavenly beauty.
I have never wanted to kiss her more in my life.
She says, “In books, alotof the time, a couple will get together, something will go wrong, they’ll break up, and then the guy will grand gesture to get the girl back.”
Tense, I say, “We haven’t broken up, have we?”
She shakes her head.
“Then…”
“I like you,” she blurts.
My heartthumps.
“I like you a lot. I might even—” She swallows, and her cheeks become deeper in shade than the roses she tries to hide behind. “I might even be at risk of loving you.”
My breath holds.
“I have never witnessed someone so full of determined care before. I have never dared to believe that anyone would put the kind of time and effort and sincerity that you have into me. Ihave dreamed of falling in love and getting married my entire life. I have wanted, desperately, to connect with someone on a level half so profound. I’ve tried, and failed, and given up, and regained hope many times. I’ve fixed myself, or done my best to. I’ve curled up and cried myself to sleep more nights than I can count, wondering what’s wrong with me.” Tears fill her eyes, settling on her lashes when they flutter. “You have seen me. From the first moment. You have wanted me, just the way I am. The more of me you’ve seen, the more you’ve wanted. The less agreeable I’ve become, the happier you’ve been. You wrote,She hits now, a swear word and then,I love it. I love how real she is when she’s upset. I love that for the first time ever I don’t have to search for her. She’s right here. Right in front me. Almost close enough to hold.You put the books I read to shame, Damion. You’ve redefined yearning for me. You’ve redefined effort. You’ve redefined love. And so…” She offers me the bouquet again. “I’m grand gesturing. When things get hard, when life is inevitably life, when something happens that scares me, when I shut down or try to run away, it’s too late. The grand gesture meant to fix whatever goes wrong has happened. You, Damion Anders, are stuck with me.” She smiles, as a tear caresses her cheek, and my heart seizes. “From now, until forever.”
Taking the flowers, I relocate them as quickly as possible in order that I might wrap her up in my arms. With the scent of a thousand blooms swirling around us, I bury her against me. Warm. Safe. Close.Mine. “I love you,” I whisper, voice raw, breaking. “Iloveyou.”
Hands gripping against my back, Mirabelle laughs, and whispers, “As you should.”
As I should.
My heart bursts with joy, and a smile consumes me as I keep her as close as I possibly can, let the warmth of this momentfill me to bursting. She is everything I have ever dreamed of. Everything I could ever want. And, from now until forever, she is to bemine.
“Damion?” Her breath siphons through my shirt to hit my chest.
“Yes?”
“I have two things I’d like to mention,” she whispers. “No, wait. Three.”
Three things. “Yes, precious? Anything.”
“First, weneedto decorate for Christmasinsidetoday. I took a day off from work for the occasion.”
I snort, laughing.
“Second, June is going to come quick, so we really need to start planning our wedding.”
My heart convulses, and I scoop her up. “Really?”
Seated on my forearm, she flushes and refuses to meet my eyes. “Yes. Now. The third thing. The big one. Are you ready?”
“I am.”
She exhales, bracing herself against my shoulders as her lips purse. “You know how I’m….fun?”
