Jordan’s smile bubbled up from a well of pure happiness gathering inside her. Over the past two days he
had
done a lot of thinking—but instead of deciding she couldn’t give him what he truly wanted, he’d come to embrace what they could give one another.
Jordan didn’t need any time at all to think things over; at this moment her heart told her all she needed to know.
“But I can’t help feeling it’s so unfair to you,” she added as a last, half-hearted protest.
“No one ever promised me life was going to be perfect,” Clay said. “The day I lost my father I figured out life isn’t fair. But any family I have with you will be perfect. A dream come true for me.” He stroked her cheek with his palm, and though she was still weak, a delicious warm shiver coursed through her. “There’s nothing I could wish for that could be more perfect than lying next to you like this with the warm sunshine lighting up your hair against the pillow—nothing more ideal than waking up to your smile every morning for the rest of my life.”
Trembling with exhilaration, Jordan couldn’t speak. It was exactly the same thing she’d wished for on a star that night so many years ago, but had never believed she could have.
She kissed him fervently, joyously. Then she glanced down again at the ring in the palm of her hand.
“Giving this back to you was the hardest thing I ever did,” she said. “You know, I never let go of the hope, however slight, that someday you’d give it back to me. Even though I was sure you’d have gotten rid of it.”
“Maybe it was fate.” Clay raised her other hand to his lips, kissing each finger lightly. “I don’t know what else to call it. If you hadn’t taken over your uncle’s bookstore, if Alice and Molly hadn’t ended up in the same class, if Sheryl hadn’t been as nosy as she is, we wouldn’t be here together now. But there’s one thing I need to know.”
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Do you love me?”
Her trembling lips forming a smile, Jordan choked out her answer. “With all my heart.”
“So tell me then, Jordan Lewis, will you be my wife?” he asked again.
She slid the ring onto her finger, finding it to still be a perfect fit. Her shaky smile widened. “Clay McAdam, I will.”
###
Other books by Susan R. Hughes:
Divided Hearts
Wine & Roses
Secret Vow
Healing Anna’s Heart