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“Those feelings have never changed, Robyn. Even after all that has happened and all the years that have passed, I’ve never stopped loving you.”
Stop this! the voice in the back of my mind yelled at me. As soon as the words “will you marry me” came out I’d be done for and would say yes before I could get out my condition.
Breaking through my temporary paralysis, I placed my index finger on his lips, stopping him and no doubt ruining what was going to be a well thought-out proposal. “I need to say something before…” I didn’t want to say the rest; I was feeling like a horrible human being right now.
“Okay,” he said the word slowly, eyeing me with intense scrutiny. “What’s wrong?” He looked down at the ring case and repocketed it.
Oh god, I hope I didn’t just ruin everything! “I’ve been giving it a lot of thought and I just can’t handle what you do for a living. If you were going to do what I think you are, I need your reassurance that it’s going to be a new start for you and us. The,” I gulped the word causing a knot in my throat, “killing has to stop. I want an honest life. I don’t need to be rich, but I do need security and stability, as does Austin.”
A look of relief washed over Constantine’s features and he smiled. “If you’d allowed me to finish you would have heard that I have been talking to my father and I’m taking over the bar. He can’t do it anymore and it would kill him to see his life’s work go up in flames. I’m buying him out, he’s going to enjoy retirement and I’ll be retiring from my current occupation.”
My mouth fell open and I felt a wave of shame wash over me. I wished I hadn’t doubted him, but I had and I felt like a gigantic ass.
“Now that the truth is out, you and Austin are the most important things in my life.” He pulled the ring case from his jeans pocket again and opened the box. “We can get you a larger one if you like, but I thought this one would have more meaning.”
When I didn’t respond, he continued.
“So, Robyn Vaughn, this is long past due, but I love you more than you can ever imagine and know I’ll never love anyone as much or as deeply as I do you. Will you marry me?”
There was only one answer I could possibly have. “Yes!”
~*~TT~*~
Constantine
Was I nervous when I proposed to Robyn? Honestly, I didn’t think I could have been any more nervous… but I was as we sat Austin down the next day. His bright blue eyes looked from me to Robyn and back again. He knew something was up; he was a perceptive little guy.
“Austin, honey.” Robyn looked over her shoulder at me and I gave her a nod of reassurance. “There’s something that you need to know.”
“Uh-huh.” His brows knit as he looked back and forth between us.
“Remember when I said that your real daddy was in heaven?”
He nodded. “Yes, Mommy.”
Her body tensed to the point where her back was board straight. I could almost feel how hard this was for her. I wished I could do something to ease that situation for her, but nothing but the truth could unburden her.
“That isn’t entirely true.”
Austin’s eyes narrowed and he looked at me with such intensity it made me shift from one foot to the other. “Is Constantine my daddy?”
The tension burst from Robyn and she slumped back against my thighs and nodded. “Yes, Austin, he’s your real daddy. I’m sor-”
She couldn’t get the apology out. Austin leapt from the sofa and ran to me, wrapping his arms around my legs and holding tight. “I wished you were my dad. I kinda look like you.”
I didn’t know what to say, but let me tell you the relief I felt rivalled Robyn’s. The child not only was accepting me but wishing for me to be his dad. Something inside of me burst and for the first time in a very, very long time tears filled my eyes and spilled out onto my cheeks. All of my life I’d wanted a family I could call my own, a place where I belonged and finally after all these years, despite all the heinous things I’d done I’d found people who accepted me.
Robyn rose from her seated position on the coffee table where she’d been perched and came to us, joining the hug. Unconditional love. Pure and deep unconditional love – that was all I ever wanted and at long last I had it.
The end