“So,” he whispered, “there’s hope?”
He took another step toward me and I didn’t retreat. “There’s hope.” The smile he gave me shattered what there was of my shield and the tears came faster.
“Emilia, you matter more to me than anything in this world. All I want to do is to make you happy and share my life with you.” He paused to scan my face. “If you’ll let me.”
I bit my bottom lip and nodded silently, because I didn’t trust my voice.
“Oh, thank god,” he murmured.
Drew’s entire body sagged with relief, then he pulled me close and wrapped his arms around me.
I nuzzled against his chest and relished the feeling of the soft cotton against my cheek. He’d worn it forme.
Hell, he’d done it all for me. To make me feel seen. Cared for. Loved.
I lifted my head to look him in the eye. “This can’t happen again. If there’s problems, we talk about them. If something isn’t working, we figure out what we need to do to make it work.”
“Agreed.”
Drew stroked my back as we both basked in our new reality. Then it struck me that he’d bared his soul to me while I hadn’t.
“Thank you,” I began. “For all of this.”
Drew looked down at me wearing a little smile. “You’re worth it. More precious than any blossom in the place.”
I shook my head. “No, not just for all of this. Thank you for finally hearing me. For understanding what I need. I’m just …”
“Happy?” Drew asked.
I smiled back at him and nodded despite my brimming eyes. “Definitely happy.”
He leaned down to press his lips to mine. I had to fight against the drive to deepen the kiss, given that we were in public. The minute we were alone I was going to show Drewexactlyhow happy I was.
“Good.” He moved to whisper in my ear. “But there’s one more thing I need to tell you.”
I froze. Was this where everything fell apart? Because what was happening felt almost too good to be true. Were there cameras? I knew I wouldn’t survive that emotionally.
Drew gazed into my eyes like he was gathering the courage to keep going.
“I’m so fucking in love with you, Emilia. All I can think of is you. Even when I’m asleep, I’m dreaming of you. You own my heart,” he murmured.
My nose started running in a very un-cute way but I didn’t care. He had just told me that he loved me, which meant that my snotty face probably didn’t matter to him.
“Oh my god, Drew, I love you too!” I sobbed.
I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed him so hard that he let out a shockedwunf.
“I just want to make you happy,” he whispered against my temple. “Every damn day for the rest of our lives.”
“Oh, trust me, I am,” I answered.
I knew that we’d eventually have to pull apart and go share some cakewith Poppy and the residents, but I was reluctant to walk away from the magical moment Drew had created for us.
We remained in the garden with the twinkly lights and soft music for a long time, the two of us, basking in the happily ever after we’d just created.
We had forever, we could take our time.
33
