She was getting ahead of herself.Advancing their relationship much further than it ought to be, she knew.But the touch of his hands was like the promise of forever, and she couldn’t shut off the scroll of emotion unfurling inside her.
He kissed her, and she was drowning.Her heart beating hard.
As the rain poured down outside, and the thunder rolled, she knew she was right where she needed to be.
He slid his hands down her waist, gripped her hips.Her stomach went tight.
She wasn’t afraid.
He moved away from her, went and opened up a cabinet in the bathroom.
He returned a few moments later with a box of condoms, taking the time to protect them both before he returned to the bed.
Then as he kissed her, he thrust deep inside her.The closeness, the intensity of it took her breath away.
It was perfect.And so was he.
As he began to move, she clung to his shoulders, the wave of desire between them building and building.
And then when it hit, she cried out his name, clinging to his shoulders and arching against him, her release going on and on.
She’d had sex before.But it was never this.
Never brought this soul-crushing intensity.Never this beautiful, bright and shining triumph.
It was never something that made her feel complete.But he did.
He really, really did.
“Oh, Ellie,” he said.
“I know,” she replied.
“We should’ve done that a long time ago.”
“I know,” she said.“I wanted to.Honestly.I knew back in high school.But I thought it was like … you know, the teenage urge to rebel.And then when Melanie actually did it, I … I was sure it was wrong.I was sure there was something inside me that was primed for rebellion.Against all that ruthless perfection in our house.But I didn’t want to end up like her.”
“Everything that has been between us got caught up in Melanie and Ty.There was no way to get around that,” he said.“Not for a long time.”
“It was just really difficult.”
“Yes,” he agreed.“It was.Ellie, I’ve wanted you for years.I’ve loved you for years.”
“What?”
“I do.I love you.I want to make a family with you.I understand that all of this is crazy.We have a baby to care for.And all of this baggage.Maybe I’m trying to make something perfect out of something imperfect, but I don’t think so.Because it’s always been you.I asked myself repeatedly who I was building this house for.I didn’t have an answer.And yet, here it is, ready for a family.Ready for something that I didn’t even have the faintest glimmer of.Then there was Marjorie.And you walked into the hospital.I knew you’d be there.Because in these situations you always were.All those times we met up.In the worst places.The worst bars, the seediest motels.It was all leading up to that meeting.And that’s the one that brought us here.”
He touched her face.“I needed to make a success of myself.I thought I wanted to show the town.I thought, sometimes, I wantedto show you.It wasn’t about showing you, though.It was about becoming the right man for you.It was about becoming good enough to be your husband.”
Her heart fluttered.“My husband?”
“Yes.God, it’s always been you.It’s never going to be anybody else.I realize that I’m moving quickly.You don’t have to say yes to me right now.I realize the idea of getting married is a little bit out there, but we can wait.I just need you to know that’s where I see it going.That’s where I want it to go.”
What more did she want?
She’d dated men who hadn’t really understood her.Clark understood her.He knew her family.He knew everything she’d been through.He understood what it meant to love a sibling who was lost to the throes of addiction.To try to put boundaries on that person, but never to abandon them.
He was there for Marjorie.He knew she was a priority.He’d faced her mother down and hadn’t flinched.
