Norah laughed. Her hand found his face, tracing gentle fingers across his cheek and down his jaw. “I was so afraid that I was going to lose you.”
“I’m here,” he whispered. “And I’ll never leave you.”
Norah swallowed. “Thank you for believing me. For believinginme.”
“Always.”
“I suppose now you’ll ask me to dance at the church social again?” She gave him a grin.
“Well . . . I was hoping I might have every dance from now on.” His eyes held hers, and Norah’s heart skipped forward.
“Would you marry me, Norah Parker? I can’t promise to be perfect, and I tend to be a bit overbearing, but I will be yours until the end. I’ll devote myself to you, and to our family if we’re so blessed.” Stuart watched her with the most earnest expression.
Norah had been wrong.Thiswas the happiest she’d ever felt. “Yes. Yes, yes, I will!” She couldn’t say the words fast enough.
Stuart gave her a broad grin. “Now will you do me one more favor?”
“You’d like me to play you a tune on the piano? I know an entire selection I like to call ‘Buzzing Insects.’” She bit her lip, trying to contain the laughter that threatened to bubble up.
“Oh, please, no,” Stuart said with a feigned expression of pain. “I was hoping you might lean down here and kiss me. Considering I fear I’d tear open stitches if I were to sit up and—”
He didn’t need to say another word, because Norah had already pressed her lips to his. His hand tightened on her back, and she sighed. It was everything she had hoped for—and it was more than worth the wait.
She moved to pull back, but he pressed her to him again, and Norah laughed against Stuart’s lips. She closed her eyes and lost herself in him. When he deepened the kiss, she lost all sense of who she was or where they were. There was only Stuart, and she didn’t want it any other way.
When they both finally parted to catch their breaths, Norah rested her cheek against his chest. He held her close, and she could feel his chest rise and fall.
Nothing could be more perfect than this—to feel so complete with one person.
She closed her eyes and breathed in his scent as she imagined their future together. There was so much to come, and whatever life handed them, she knew that together, she and Stuart would relish the good and come together to work through the bad.
As long as they were together, all would be well.
Epilogue
AFEW MONTHS LATER. . .
