Deliver the Moon (29 page)

“I’m sure there are…” The soft clicking of a computer keyboard came over the line. “Let’s see, there’s one leaving…right about now, actually.”

Louisa blew out a loud breath. That had to be the one Gabe was on. “You mean, right
now
, right now? As in there’s no hope of having one of its passengers paged?”

“Sorry. I would imagine they’re on the runway already. Is this an emergency?”

Yes!
“No, it isn’t.” She tapped her fingers against her forehead. “Are there any others leaving tonight or first thing tomorrow with an available seat?”

She waited another few moments. “I can get you a First Class seat on a 9:25 flight. If you go ticketless and don’t need to check luggage, you might be able to make it.”

“First Class?”
Gulp
. “How much?” Louisa grimaced when she heard the amount. Evan always flew First Class. He could afford it. She, on the other hand, could not. “Okay. I’ll take it.”

A few minutes later, she sat on the edge of the bed, her excitement returning. She was going after him. This time she would fight for him. She grinned. That should prove to him how much she loved him.

She called a cab to take her to the airport and made a mental note to call Jody Woods, her boss, when she got to Chicago. Not that it mattered. Her walking papers would surely be on her drafting table once Evan spoke to his sister. Amazingly, Louisa wasn’t upset about that. She was a good designer. She’d find another job. Maybe one without so much pressure, leaving her more time for her art.

A glance at her watch told her she didn’t have much time to get ready. She quickly packed a small suitcase and an overnight bag. She threw on a pair of jeans, a T-shirt and a yellow blazer, and shoved her feet into canvas slip-ons. A swipe of lipstick and a flick of mascara, and her make-up job was complete. She brushed her hair back into a low ponytail and pulled on a yellow baseball cap.

Her gaze went to her jewelry box. Opening it, she pulled out her wedding ring from Gabe. She slipped it onto her right ring finger. She wouldn’t wear it on her left hand. Yet.

Fifteen minutes until her cab arrived. She hoisted her purse and overnight bag onto her shoulder, and picked up the suitcase. She looked around her small place and gave a sigh of satisfaction.

Time to do one last thing.

****

She expected to find her parents straightening up after the party, but instead they were seated at the kitchen table, cups of steaming tea before them. They both looked up, startled, as she burst into the room.

Their eyes immediately focused on her luggage. “Louisa,” Arthur said. “What are you doing with—?”

She held up her hand. “Dad, Mother, I have something to say, and I don’t have a lot of time to say it in. My cab is going to be here in a few minutes to take me to the airport.”

“Airport?” Beverly said. “Where are you going?”

“Chicago.”

“But Louisa—”

“For God’s sake! For once will you please let me speak without jumping in to criticize?”

That silenced them. Arthur set his mug down, and Beverly sat back in her seat, looking sufficiently put in her place.

Louisa deposited her bags near the door then plopped into the chair across the table from her parents, only to spring right back up, too restless to sit. She paced the tiled floor in front of the table a couple of times before finally stopping with her hands on her hips.

“I’m not going to marry Evan, I love Gabriel, and I’m flying to Chicago to get him back.”
Whew
. She’d said it. A heavy weight lifted from her shoulders.

Her mother’s face turned pale, and her father’s reddened. “But Louisa,” Arthur began. “Gabe is not—”

“Dad, please.”

He raised a hand and nodded for her to go on.

“Okay,” she said, taking a deep breath. “Okay.” She paced the length of the table again then checked her watch. “I have ten minutes to get this out.” She bit her lip. “I know how much you both like Evan, but the thing is…I don’t love him. I thought I did—I never would have agreed to marry him if I hadn’t—But…”

She cleared her throat and made the snap decision not to tell them how he’d used her. Unless they put up a big stink about her decision, it really didn’t matter anymore. “I just wanted so badly to do something you both would be proud of. My being with Evan made you so happy, I guess I kind of overlooked the fact that
I
wasn’t happy with him. I never felt about him the way I did about Gabriel.” She took a deep breath. “The way I
still
feel about Gabriel.”

“Louisa, you really don’t need—” her dad started.

“Dad,
please
let me get this out.” She stared, unfocused, at her shoes, then she sat down.

Her mother peered beyond Louisa’s shoulder, as if she couldn’t bear to look her in the eye. Her face was pinched and flushed.

Louisa continued. “Letting Gabriel walk out of my life five years ago was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.” She saw the look her parents exchanged. “I know, I know. He was the one who left. But you know what? I could have stopped him. I should have. But I didn’t. I just let my stubborn pride and the fact that you never liked him get in my way. I’ve blamed him just as much as you both have. But the simple fact is, Gabriel and I were both hard headed. Both of us screwed up, it wasn’t just him.” She checked the time.
Yikes
.

She cleared her throat. “All I can say is thank God Gram had the foresight to play matchmaker. Otherwise I might never have realized—” Her voice choked up and a horn honked outside. She craned her neck and peered out the window toward the street. The top of a Yellow Cab was visible over the fence.

She wiped her eyes and sniffled. “There’s my ride.” She took another deep breath and met her parents’ eyes squarely. “Look, I know you’ve never been a big fan of Gabriel and vice versa, but I’m not going to let that bother me anymore. I’m going to Chicago to get him back. I’ll throw myself at his feet and beg if I have to, but I’m getting him back. I don’t expect you to like it, but you’d better accept it, because, frankly, you have no say in the matter. Not anymore. This is what
I
want.”

Her parents said nothing, obviously too stunned to speak.

She softened her tone. “I’m sorry if I’ve disappointed you, but I have to do this for me. I hope someday you’ll understand and that you’ll welcome Gabriel into this house with open arms.” She wiped her eyes again, but the tears kept coming. The cab honked again. “I have to go.” She sniffed. “You know, he’s on a plane right now, thinking I’m going to marry Evan.” She laughed through her tears. “I can’t wait to set him straight and tell him I want to spend the rest of my life with
him
.”

Two strong hands grasped her shoulders from behind. “You just did.” Gabe’s soft, deep voice whispered in her ear, his warm breath stirring her hair.

Louisa spun around in her chair, its legs scraping against the tiles like fingers on a chalkboard. “Gabriel! What are you—? Why—?” No coherent sentence occupied her brain at the moment. She leapt up and searched his eyes. They looked weary and a bit bloodshot, but the moisture rimming them made his dark eyes sparkle like freshly polished mahogany.

She touched his cheek tentatively, as if to make sure he really was standing in front of her. “I thought you were gone,” she said. “I thought you’d given up on me.”

Gabe turned her hand and kissed her palm, holding it against his mouth a moment. “I had. I even had my flight arranged, I’d packed my bags…” His voice caught in his throat. “Then it dawned on me I was doing the exact same thing I did five years ago. I was leaving you without a fight.”

Her whole body trembled. He glanced over her shoulder at her parents before locking his dark gaze on hers again.

“All along I’ve known our biggest problem was that your folks and I didn’t get along. I knew how much it meant to you, yet I never went out of my way to do anything about it. You asked me time and time again to make more of an effort, but I always figured it was pointless.”

He reached for her other hand. “I’m lying on my bed at the hotel, feeling sorry for myself and it hits me what a jerk I’ve been. So, I pulled my sorry ass off that bed and headed here to tell your mom and dad I was going to do everything in my power to win you back and maybe even convince them that I could make you happy.”

Louisa knew how hard that must have been for him to do. That he opened his heart to her right now and in front of her parents caused her heart to race at Nascar speed. Tears filled her eyes. “I thought you didn’t want to push me, Gabriel,” she said with a sniffle and a smile.

He smirked. “I think that was just my way of being a chicken, not fighting for what I wanted.” He lifted her hands to his mouth and kissed her fingers. “You’d really take me back?”

She took a tiny step closer to him. “I could ask you the same thing.”

“Oh, sweetheart. Nothing would make me happier.” Gabe closed his eyes, overcome with emotion.
He yearned to take her in his arms and kiss her, but he didn’t want to push his luck with her parents sitting right there. She’d taken a huge step in speaking her mind in front of them, but he couldn’t expect that she’d—

Louisa slid her arms around his neck and pulled his head down. Pressing her body against his, she kissed him with all the passion and love he felt inside. After a moment, he forgot they had an audience.

Heavy pounding came from the direction of the front door. Louisa pulled away from Gabe with a startled laugh. “Oh, no. The cab.”

Beverly turned to her husband. “Go pay for the cab, Arthur, and send him on his way.”

As Arthur headed out of the room, he touched Louisa’s arm. He didn’t quite smile at Gabe, but neither did he glare. It was a start.

Beverly’s hands gripped her coffee cup so tightly her knuckles turned white. Her face looked older than usual, the fine lines around her eyes more pronounced.

“Mother? Are you okay?”

Beverly looked up and smiled. It was a genuine smile, unlike the forced ones she often wore. “You are in love and are happy,” she said softly. “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

****

Once they were alone inside her apartment, she and Gabe just peered at one another for countless moments. Finally they came together, not to kiss but to hold each other.

Louisa was so happy she wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, she wanted to dance. Her parents hadn’t actually given her their blessing, but neither would they stand in her way. Not that she would have let them this time. But everything was turning out better than she’d hoped.

“I’m giving notice at the college,” Gabe murmured against her hair. “And I’m turning down the Japan assignment.”

She tilted her head to look at him. “What? Why?”

He smiled and kissed the top of her nose. “Because I don’t want to be away from you right now and because I’m moving back here. I don’t want to take you away from your family any more than I’d want them to take you away from me.”

“Really? You mean that?” Could this day get any better?

“I’m not saying I want to be neighbors with your folks or anything.” He gave her a mock stern look. “But I was thinking…maybe Port Townsend or something. We could get you the old house you’ve always wanted with plenty of room for our kids.”

Louisa laughed and cried at the same time. “Yes,” she said. “I can see that.” She took a deep breath and sobered. “Gabriel?”

His eyebrows lifted.

“Do you remember how I always accused you of forcing me to choose between my family and you?”

He held up a hand. “Lou. I won’t ask you to—”

She silenced him with two gentle fingers over his mouth. “If I
had
to choose,” she said, her gaze unwavering. “I’d choose you. In a heartbeat.”

Epilogue

Two Days Later

The last time they’d been to the cemetery, it had been raining. Today, a morning drizzle had been replaced by a sun which shone brightly overhead, casting warming fingers upon everything in its path.

Neither Gabe nor Louisa spoke as they wound their way through the wet, glistening grass toward Joey’s grave.

She bent down and placed a bouquet of wildflowers onto the stone. “Happy birthday, sweetheart,” she said softly, kissing her fingers then placing them on the water-speckled gravestone.

Gabe knelt beside her. She turned a tear-stained face to him, then suspended her breath. Tears fell freely from his eyes. He was crying. In front of her.

With one arm around her shoulders, his other hand pressed against the stone. “Happy birthday, son. We love you.”

They rose together and hugged. His gentle sobs shook her, and she held him as tightly as he held her. He’d never let her comfort him like this before. Now they comforted each other. They’d come a long way since the last time he’d cried here, Louisa thought with a bittersweet ache in her heart.

When they finally pulled apart, Gabe leaned in for a long, sweet kiss, telling her without words they would always have each other, good times and bad.

They passed that old rhododendron on their way out. “Gabriel, look!” Louisa pointed to a white blossom at perfect eye-level on the otherwise flower-bare bush.

Gabe’s hand brushed lightly across the petals. “I thought this plant bore red flowers.”

“It does,” she whispered. “Rhododendrons also bloom in the spring, not in July.”

They stared at it together. “It’s a sign, Lou,” he finally said. “It’s Joey’s way of telling us we made the right decision.”

Gabe’s fingers intertwined with hers, and hand in hand, they walked away. Louisa glanced back as they reached the wrought iron entrance gates. A rainbow sprung from the rhododendron and arched magnificently through the sky. She squeezed Gabe’s hand.