Page 59

He grins, nodding enthusiastically. “The proper one you can now find on every shelf around the world. I delivered one to my grandfather in person earlier today.”

My eyes widen. “Did he love it?”

“Yeah. He did.” Mikel shuts his eyes, reliving the moment. I can almost see it, too, and it leaves me fighting back joyful tears. There's a melancholy air to Mikel when he meets my stare again. “Want to test it out?”

“I've tested it out plenty of times,” I say with a laugh. Still, I'm drawn towards his magnetic energy. Mikel is nearly buzzing with anticipation. Fixing my clothes, I crack my back and join him in the kitchen.

He pulls it from the box slowly, breaking the seal, setting it up on the granite island. We stand across from each other but the distance means nothing. He digs into his pocket for something—a small square of crinkled paper with writing so messy I can't read it. “The real test,” he says, his smile continuing to grow. It reaches his eyes, distracting me so I barely see him slide the paper into the machine. “Turn it on,” he instructs.

Reaching over, I gently tap the button. The Secret Reader whooshes like a scanner, light glowing through the gap where the paper is. I start to ask what he wrote, so I can judge if the machine reads it back correctly.

The soft, pleasing voice comes from the speakers. “Paige?”

I startle. I look at Mikel. He looks back, his joy replaced by graveness.

“Will you marry me?” the machine asks.

My heart rotates in my chest. It fills all my gaps, leaves no room for anything but the sensation of its pounding. I can't speak. I can't breathe.

Mikel comes around the island, his steps slow, careful, deliberate. I should expect it when he kneels, but my brain isn't functioning right. “Well?” he asks, his voice heavy as he stares up at me. “Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

I watch myself from afar—this handsome man at my feet, the velvet box in his grip, the elegant ring pressed inside like a gem-encrusted egg in a dragon's nest. Diamonds cluster together, but set in the edges are sapphires the same shade as Mikel's eyes.

That's why he didn't want me to search in his pocket.

He was hiding the ring-box.

Mikel is frozen like a paused movie-frame. If I do nothing, how long will this moment last? Can the sun rise and set? Is he so patient, so determined, to hold his pose until he receives my answer?

Then I breathe—then it shatters—and his face implores me with a silent wish that's strong enough to restart the gears of time itself.

“Yes.” I say it with the full strength of my chest, every ounce of confidence I own pushing the word forward into existence so it can't retreat. “Yes, I want to be your wife.”

He doesn't take the time to slip the ring on my finger, he sweeps me up in his arms instead, spinning me in a circle, laughing until Beanie jumps into the kitchen to bark at us. “I love you,” he says, choking on the words. He's overwhelmed with emotion. It runs into me, chokes me, too, until I kiss him because I can't even talk.

No one is ever who they say they are.

Or that's what I used to believe.

But when I look into Mikel's eyes, when he tells me he loves me, I feel it resonate in my soul and I know exactly who he is. He's a guy who's been graced with good looks and a hell of a body. Someone who's oblivious when women flirt with him. He fumbles at dates and looks up guides online, eager to please, afraid to fail. A man who could and should be a player, but he avoided the temptation to learn how. He laughs at my jokes and chases my smiles. He kisses like the devil, comforts like the gates of Heaven.

Yes, I know who he is.

And thanks to that I now know exactly who I am.

I'm flawed, I'm messy, I'm a little bit selfish but I've got a huge heart.

I'm flesh and blood.

I'm someone worth loving.

That's the only truth I need.

––––––––