Declan ruefully shakes his head, and I roll my lips in because an overpowering smile wants to beam on my face. Declan is here in front of me.
He waits a few moments until Connor starts the engine before he focuses on me again. “Hi.” He sounds tender and near shy. Ooh, timid is a side of him I haven’t yet seen, and I’m here for it.
“Hi,” I softly answer.
“Give me two minutes. I was supposed to be waiting out back, but then I saw you were kidnapped and had to intervene.”
“Chivalrous,” I state, one-toned. “I’ll wait,” I reassure him.
He offers me an appreciative smile and jogs back to the backyard.
For the next two minutes, I nervously wait outside, kicking a few pebbles and breathing to myself until I look at my watch and there is no more stalling.
My walk isn’t slow as I circle around his house, and then my heart falls… so hard.
A path of flowers lead to the treehouse. Not just flowers, but paper flowers.
Different colors, mostly purple. One flower after another. I chuckle because he’s lucky it isn’t windy today.
I follow the line of flowers until I reach the steps of the treehouse. My face turns puzzled, as the structure looks different, refreshed, upgraded, and a far cry from what it was when we first saw this house.
Climbing the few steps, I enter the treehouse to find more paper flowers all leading to a bowl on a new rug in the middle of the room. Declan is leaning against the wall with one ankle crossed over the other and his hands in his pockets, a man confident with his move, maybe even calm.
Our eyes meet, and my chest is visibly moving.
One step, and another.
He tips his head to indicate that I should investigate something on the floor. My eyes peer down to find our names on two pieces of paper in the bowl. They’re not new, they’re the originals… from that night.
“I kept them,” he states softly.
“Why?” I can’t tear my eyes away from what started this all.
Declan walks to me and places his hand on my shoulder, and the fingers on his other hand hook under my chin to guide my eyes to his. “Life’s always been a game to me. Turns out, the championship game that I’ve been after is the one that I have with you. I always win, which means I’ve been waiting to score, with you and the life we can have.”
Am I floating? Is this real?
He continues to speak, with every word wrapping around me. “I knew you would be something, and I didn’t want to forget our night together. I held onto paper, for crying out loud.”
I shrug and smile. “You do a lot of things with paper,” I tease him.
He smiles as he steps closer, threading his fingers into my hair to ensure I can’t escape, even though I wouldn’t want to. “But only you get paper flowers.”
I glance around before returning to meet his eyes and smile, with emotion taking over. “Aren’t paper flowers for forever?”
Declan’s eyes stayed locked with mine. “That’s the point.”
“What are you saying?” I try not to sound like I’m going to jump into his arms.
“It’s only you, Violet. I’m not going to let you go, and I refuse to break your heart, so I had to be sure. It turns out, the things you want are what I want, as long it’s with you and only you, because I love you.”
I step closer then stall. “I should be angry at you, not give in so easily when you do something as perfect as this. But is it wrong that I just want to walk into your arms, because then the last few weeks become history and my misery is over?”
He nods once. “I can’t answer because I’ll be biased.”
Slowly, I step into his embrace and loop my arms around his neck. “Are you sure about us?”
He snorts a laugh. “I fixed up a treehouse, and other than right now, I don’t intend to be in here again, so I’m going to assume this is for our next generation.”
