Leaning into my embrace, she says, “But what you don’t understand is, that comes with danger, maybe lots of it. It comes with her retaliation. You know now, from what Everett did to your project, that she’s guilty. I can’t let that go, and that’s something you’re going to have to ask yourself if you can live with about me. I’m going to find trouble somewhere, anywhere, every time. So, when you talk about me loving who you are, you have to do the same. If you love me, you have to love all of me—the part of me that found out your project was sabotaged, the part of me who will, one day, bring Stevie and her drugstores down. You need to walk if you can’t handle that, Rick. I mean it.”
“If you think I just told you I love you to let you go out on your own, you’re just as bad off as I am. I would never let you slay those demons without me. I love you, and that means all of you. Talia, too. If she’s ever in trouble, that’s mine, do you understand me?” I turn and grip her shoulders, searching her face, her skin sparkling in the moonlight.
Tears fill her eyes, and they glitter like glass. “Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me for loving you. I should be thanking you for giving me the chance to explain. When I left you alone at the hospital, I did to you what Renata did to me. Knowing how devastating that was, I should never have done it, and I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make that up to you. Beau said I owe a lot of people an apology, and I do. I owe him more than an apology—I owe him time. He’s been carrying the company since I got hurt, and I need to start pulling my weight. Especially since Talia’s there. He should be able to spend time with her.”
“What does that mean for you? Are we moving back to Cedar Hill?” she asks.
“No. That’s why I brought you out here. I bought this land. I’m going to build on it, but I wanted to ask what you thought. What if we built a house here?”
She turns in a tight circle. We’re surrounded by trees on all sides but one. “I heard you were going to build a lake resort.”
“I was going to, but what if we lived here instead? I could design a beautiful house for us, Devyn, with extra bedrooms. We didn’t talk about kids, and we’re getting older, but maybe one, two? It’s a lot to ask, especially after everything we just talked about, but it would mean a lot to me, if you decided to carry my babies.”
She bites her lip. “There are things I want to do first. When we have children at home who need me, I can’t be out doing the things I need to do.”
“I know, and I’m okay with it. I can wait.” I pause. “What do you think?”
“Are you asking me to marry you?” she asks as she wipes her eyes. “Because I’m really hoping you’re asking me to marry you.”
I try to joke, but all I want to do is weep from relief. “Yeah, but I can’t get down on my knees. If my hip locks on me, I might not be able to stand back up.”
With a laugh, she rushes into my arms, and I pull her close, press my lips to the top of her head, inhale the delicate scent of roses. I almost lost her because I was scared. I almost lost her because I believed the nasty things I said about myself.
“I think you should build the resort. Keep your promise to Beau and start putting in your time. If we need to split living between here and Cedar Hill, then we will, but I want to live in the lighthouse.”
“You really like it there?” I ask, surprised.
“I do. But I think there’s more to it than that. Look,” she says, pointing to the lighthouse sitting on the opposite shore. The light gleams across the water, strong and sure.
“I see it.”
“No, you don’t. You see the lighthouse, a place where you ran after the accident to get away from Cedar Hill, to get away from the people talking about you and blaming you, to get away from Renata and her leaving you. Do you know what I see?”
“No.”
“I see a place where you know you can come to rest, lick your wounds. I see a place where you will always be welcome no matter what happens. I see a place where we’ll nurture our love, our lives, and our children. Do you know what else I see when I look at the lighthouse, Rick?”
She tilts her head to look at me.
“No.” My throat is scratchy and closed with tears. She knows so much about me; I will always have her to tell me the truth. That I’m worth her love, and she’ll tell me over and over again.
“I see the light. Whenever you lose your way, look to the light and it will guide you back to me.”
I hold her for a long time, our eyes on the white beam warning weary travelers of the dangers of the shore.
Devyn’s right, but she’s also wrong. That’s not the light that will show me the way. That light lives within her pure heart, and it doesn’t matter where we live. As long as we’re together, I’ll always know my way home.