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“I want to tell you more of the truth.”

“Okay.”

“It wasn’t just me worried about the picture getting online or ending up in my principal’s email. He threatened to send it to you first.” She paused and dropped her eye contact. “I wasn’t sure what happened, so I didn’t know if I’d actually went home with him willingly.”

“Why didn’t you know?” He tapped her chest. “Here.”

She sucked in a breath. “I’ve always been labeled the wild one in my group of friends. Outspoken, unapologetically Black, forward. When it came to men, if I saw someone I liked, I was never the girl to wait for his approach if he took too long. I would go after what I wanted.” She shrugged. “Although I do consider myself a trustworthy person, that reputation—”

“Made you think the worst of yourself.”

She only nodded.

“Look at me, Carla.”

Her eyes rose to his piercing gaze.

“You are not merely made up of what others think of you. Not only are you deserving of love, but the benefit of any doubt, even within yourself. You are a beautiful person, inside and out. Never doubt yourself again. And I want to apologize, too.”

She frowned. “For what?”

“I should’ve given you a chance to tell me what was going on.” He sighed. “Looking into your eyes at the private event, I saw your sincerity when you asked me to trust you, but…” he pulled in another breath, “…the situation was too much for me to handle at the time.”

“You don’t need to apologize, Jacob.”

“Yes, I do. I would want that same benefit of the doubt if I were in a similar situation.”

“You would never be in a similar situation.”

“Listen, I don’t want you to ever feel as if you have to hold something back from me. Yes, when we started dating, we promised to be up-front with one another about anything. But I understand why you felt you needed evidence to prove your innocence. I don’t ever want you in a place like that again, regardless of what’s happening. Come to me. Tell me. Please. Let me be the one to help you.”

She nodded and dropped her eyes again.

“Bellissima.”

She glanced back up at him. “You don’t have to be ashamed. You didn’t do anything wrong. And what I want you to know more than anything is that I got your back and your front. Let’s promise to not let anything come between us again.”

“Okay.”

“You promise?”

“Yes.”

“Promise on a covenant with me?”

Carla blinked rapidly. “What?”

Jacob’s hands moved from her hips to her fingers, linking their digits together. “The time away from you gnawed at me. It was unbearable. I don’t ever want to feel that way again.” With her rapt attention, he asked, “Marry me?”

Carla’s eyes lurched.

“Become my wife, Carla. I promise to love you, cherish you, above all else forever.”

She began to hyperventilate, her chest rising and falling, her breathing rasping out in short, sporadic bursts.

“Are you… ser…” Her breath was cut short.

“Take in a long breath,bellissima.”