She doesn’t question me. We both get out of the car and get into the back. I bring her to my chest to hold, kissing her forehead. She wraps her arms around my middle, squeezing tight.
“I love you, Elle. Always will,” I whisper.
“I do too, which is why this is hard.” She glances up at me, and we kiss softly.
This is our last hour together like this, and we know it.
“I need you to promise me that we will put the baby first. Our hearts know the deal, and we accept that. It’s the only way we can move forward with this. We eliminate the what-ifs and do exactly what this baby needs. Can we promise that?” she pleads softly.
I’m beginning to feel that her fear of a broken heart runs deeper than I ever imagined, and she has no idea my heart broke already an hour ago. Even if I have no intention of letting her go, right now she needs me to be the strong one. She probably barely slept last night, and her body is changing. Hell, it’s her life that is about to be upended more than mine. I get my hockey career, and she will be delivering a baby when she should be at a lecture. I have to do right by her. If she wants me to promise, then I have no other option, it’s the best way to support her.
And if I’m being honest with myself, I would go insane waiting for us. Doesn’t mean the idea of a different path won’t be lingering inside me somewhere.
She looks exhausted, and with her face puffy from her crying, her eyes are so innocent and vulnerable. I kiss her forehead, nose, cheek, jaw, before placing a firm kiss against her mouth.
“I promise,” I murmur against her lips, and she sighs with what might be relief, sinking deeper into my arms.
A man can tell a lie if his intentions are pure, right?
5
FORD
I’ve never forgotten that day. I’m sure we both think about it at some point between waking up and falling asleep, and here we are ten years later.
I can tell she wants to kill me. But she won’t. Brielle is the type of woman who makes you pull over to save a squirrel. Except, right now? Well, she may just flip.
Her eyes don’t tear away from the ring in the box that I’m holding in my hand.
This is unconventional, I know, but the opportunity has arisen.
“What the hell, Ford? Why is there a ring in your hand?” She quickly looks around the quiet lake, then her sight lands back on the ring before darting up to meet my eyes which are dead serious. “Unbelievable,” she whispers. “You trapped me in the middle of the lake so I can’t escape.”
“Maybe.” I smirk. “Get comfortable, we need to talk.”
I’ve been thinking about how I want this all to play out since I saw her the other week. Hell, this whole situation has been years in the making.
My feelings for her have always been constant, and I’ve done my best to keep the promise I made to her, but now I’ve hit my breaking point, and I’m not going to let us keep simmering under the surface.
“The r-ring, why?” she stammers softly.
I sit up and close the box then toss it between my palms, examining it. “Okay, so here’s the deal. Tomorrow Margo is expecting us, and she might be under the impression that you and are back together—”
“What?” she nearly spits out.
My shoulder slants up toward my ear. “She hasn’t been feeling her best lately, and she’s anxious about her move,” I remind her.
“I know, that’s why I promised to see her, but how does this—” she motions between us “—come into play.”
“She mentioned on the phone that she always wished to see us together and hoped it would be soon.” It’s the plain truth.
Brielle hums a sound before leaning back on the boat to get more comfortable on the slab of a seat. “Sounds like something she would say.” A gentle smile of fondness displays on her lips. “She always sends me a Christmas card, not so subtly mentioning how Connor is the perfect image of two parents’ love.” She looks up at me. “But how does a ring come into it?”
I inhale a deep breath because maybe she will find this humorous… or not. “She told me her birthday wish, and it blurted out of my mouth that she didn’t need to wait.”
Brielle’s beautiful mouth gapes open. “You lied to her?”
“Is it a lie? It will make her happy.”
