Page 20 of A Heart to Find (Sweetheart Island #2)

She arrived at the cocktail party early. Early enough to be one of the first people there. She wanted to see his face when he walked in the room. She wanted to see all the hope and joy and pride she felt emanating from him, too.

Her leg trembled with nervous energy. She ran her hands over the metallic skirt she bought from one of the cute boutiques that set up special shops in the lodge in an effort to bring retail opportunities to the snowbound guests. Her attention had immediately been drawn to this outfit, which she imagined would help her look as much like a winter princess as she could. And, unlike the clothing she had packed to bring along, this was an outfit chosen with only him in mind.

The silver pleated skirt and complementary black top with the plunging neckline made her feel more confident than her usual less flashy attire, and she needed every bit of confidence she could get.

Her dreams last night had included a fairytale winter wedding, complete with a velvet dress and a sleigh ride where they could hold hands and kiss and revel in their love.

Surrendering to love wasn’t something she did every day.

And she wanted to be sure she looked good while doing it, so she also hired someone to do her hair and make-up for this special night, per Megan’s suggestion.

Couples streamed into the room, and the lights were dimmed as servers circulated with colorful drinks and dainty hors d’oeuvres.

Her stomach too unsettled for food, she cautiously sipped at a drink. She didn’t want to numb herself to every feeling tonight. She longed to feel every bit of joy this road had promised.

The longer it took for him to show, the thirstier she seemed.

She checked her phone to see if she missed a call or text, but nothing appeared. Her reception in the building was spotty, so she gave him the benefit of the doubt. She had, after all, arrived much earlier than she needed to, so if he was running behind, she owed him patience.

Couples she mingled with before passed her, pausing for small talk and to compliment her on her appearance before moving on to explore the room. She checked her phone again. The event officially began fifteen minutes ago. No word from Jared.

Don’t think worst-case.

He probably lost track of the time. Or figured she’d come in late. Or maybe Hailey wanted to tell him more of her exuberant stories. Or maybe he went to the wrong part of the lodge.

Or maybe he changed his mind.

She downed her drink in one sip, and then grabbed another as soon as the waiter passed by.

Megan and Matt bounded over to her empty table and greeted her with love, then set down their small appetizer-laden plates and joined her.

“Where’s Jared? Getting you food?”

Megan perused the room in search of the man in question.

Keira sipped her drink and shook her head.

“I don’t think he’s coming.”

“What? Of course he is! He’s probably been driving himself crazy wondering if you’d accept his proposal tonight.”

“Not a proposal.”

“You know what I mean. He proposed that you make a decision. The other kind of proposal is sure to follow.”

Megan reached over and squeezed Matt’s knee.

Keira wondered if Megan was aware of how adorable and at ease they were together.

A match made in Heaven. Or, more accurately, at Sweetheart Island Matchmaking Resort. Home of the most accurate matches for lifetimes of happily-ever-afters.

Happily-ever-after had long ago turned into a foreign concept for Keira, but she had never given up on the idea.

Until now.

Because it was abundantly clear that Jared wasn’t showing up. Or texting, calling, sending a flare signal.

She scratched at the hives developing on her exposed neck. Even her body was rebelling.

Happiness wasn’t meant for her. Not in the traditional way, anyway. Not in the way she had dared to hope. After a lifetime of watching the world’s greatest love story as her grandparents lived it, Keira had forgotten to lay the groundwork for attaining it herself.

She’d be happy again.

She’d return to her teaching job, where she’d be surrounded by people who needed her love.

Maybe she’d get another cat.

“I’m gonna head upstairs, Meg.”

“Nooo, love, don’t go!”

Megan held onto Keira’s wrist with both hands and pleaded with her eyes.

“He’ll be here, I swear! And if not, at least enjoy the beautiful night the resort planned for us. I hear there’s an extra bountiful dessert buffet planned to keep us happy and chubby and okay with being snowbound.”

“That sounds wonderful, but honestly my stomach isn’t feeling the best. I have a migraine coming on.”

“Oh, Keira. I wish you wouldn’t.”

Keira leaned down and kissed the top of her friend’s head.

“Thank you for everything, Megan. You’ve been the best part of this experience, and the one thing about coming here I won’t regret.”

“Don’t make me cry. I’ll ruin my makeup.”

Megan stood up to properly hug Keira.

“I’m stopping by later, so don’t get too comfy. And if you need me to bring you some headache meds, just say the word and I’ll be there.”

“You enjoy this special evening with your smitten kitten. Don’t worry a bit about me. I’ll be just fine.”

Leaning around Megan, Keira said a quick goodbye to a confused-looking Matt, then bolted out of the room before her emotions flooded the place and compounded the already troublesome blizzard situation.

Tossing her purse on the end table, Keira lacked adequate energy to change into pajamas. Instead, she curled up on the couch in front of the fire and stared into the depths, imagining what her life would look like post-heartbreak.

She knew. She had been through it all before. In every way possible.

She also knew she’d be okay.

Instinctively, her hand reached out to caress the locket that usually brought her such comfort. Reminded that she lost the one material thing on the planet that meant the most to her, she succumbed to the dreariness that brewed inside her.

She’d be okay.

But for now, she had to release Jared from her system.

“We can’t thank you enough, Jared. If we hadn’t had your muscles, we’d have been trapped for who knows how long.”

Daisy, lead housekeeper, grinned brightly.

“I don’t know about that,”

Jared said.

“I think the highest praise needs to go to the maintenance staff for having tools on hand.”

“True. Thank you, Douglas and Pete.”

She waved sweetly to the grunting men as they loaded tools back into their truck.

“But they wouldn’t have been able to saw through the tree as quickly as you did, and there’s no way they’d have been able to lift the pieces out of the way. We’d be buried in snow and frozen to the ground.”

“Well, luckily the snow stopped, but I’m glad you didn’t have to trudge back up to the lodge by foot while it’s so cold.”

Daisy shivered as if remembering she had ventured out without a coat, not thinking her housekeeping van would get trapped on the wrong side of a fallen tree.

“Thank you for the use of your jacket, too. Now hurry and get back up there before you miss the whole party!”

Jared accepted his jacket and waved as Daisy climbed back into her warm van. She offered him a ride, but his pounding heart encouraged him to run up to the lodge. He couldn’t take any chances that something else would go awry and keep him from seeing Keira, and he didn’t have it in him to make polite small talk on the way up.

Especially since this strange twist of fate had led him to finding Keira’s necklace.

He didn’t have a ring to propose with, but he had a feeling she’d appreciate this jewelry more, anyway.

He reached into his pocket and held the precious memento in his hand, eager to see her face when she saw it.

He had gone for a walk earlier in the evening to pick out an engagement ring from the jeweler, but he hadn’t made it before encountering the tree that had fallen across the road, trapping the panicking housekeeper.

He couldn’t pass by without offering help, which the aging maintenance men appreciated.

At first, he worried Keira wouldn’t forgive him for being late to the party. He tried to call and text, but the storm must have still kept calls from getting through, because it continuously went straight to voicemail when he called and simply said “undelivered”

when he texted. Just when stress built to an unbearable level, something metallic caught his eye.

There, hanging from one of the small, broken-off branches of the tree and covered with a fine coating of snow, dangled the locket. Someone must have found it at some point and hung it on a branch in hopes the person it belonged to would see it at eye level.

But while they searched, they had searched the ground and the benches. Never the trees.

Whether Elizabeth led him to this find or Keira’s grandmother was leading them to love, he believed in the serendipity of it all. He believed in following the signs and in finding his way into Keira’s heart forever.

Once lodged there, he’d never, ever leave.

Hurrying to get up the snowy street—they had plowed the middle but the sidewalks hadn’t been cleared yet—he prayed she’d be so busy socializing and enjoying the party that she wouldn’t notice how late he was.

Bursting into the dimly lit room, he searched for her. He couldn’t wait to see her face.

Megan rushed over to him, Matt close on her heels.

“Where have you been? You might have messed up everything!”

“Where is she?”

He didn’t have time to explain to Megan. He needed to save his energy for the love of his life.

“She went upstairs an hour ago when you didn’t show. She didn’t even eat first. You’d better not hurt her again, Jared. I swear, I’ll?—”

He tossed his hands up in surrender.

“I promise it’s not my intention to hurt her. There was an issue that delayed me, but I’m here now.”

He ducked around her to make up a plate to bring to Keira. Not much remained, but on a far table he spotted a tray of cheeses and some hunks of bread, which he piled on a plate.

“Good luck, Jared. Please make her dreams come true!”

Megan’s cheer followed him as he rushed out the door, vowing to do his best to secure those dreams.

On the way through the lobby, he spotted a package of the powdered sugar doughnuts they both had such sweet memories of. He hurriedly paid for the treats and ran up the stairs, too impatient to wait for the elevator.

Keira ignored the knock on the door.

Probably Megan, and she didn’t have the energy for her happiness or sympathy right now. She’d be a better friend tomorrow, once she fully accepted this change in the future she had so hopelessly embraced.

Then the knock turned annoying.

Jared.

Had to be.

She pulled the fuzzy blanket that had become her comforting savior up to her shoulders. When his knocks grew more urgent, she pulled the blanket over her head as if hiding from the Monster of Love Past. Buried under the thick dome, she could almost pretend she was invisible.

And she could pretend the blanket could keep her anchored to her spot rather than running to him like she wanted to.

“Keira, please open the door. I need to see you.”

Too late.

He lost his chance.

“Keira, please.”

The desperation in his voice had her swinging her feet to the floor. When she didn’t hear another knock, she tiptoed over. Why? She had no idea. She could no better explain why she wanted to peek through the peephole than she could explain why her heart thudded to the beat of, “Jar-ed. Jar-ed. Jar-ed.”

A thunk sounded against the door, and then the distinct sound of a body sliding down its length.

“I’m going to sit here and wait for you to be ready to talk to me.”

She reached for the handle, but pulled away.

“Keira, I didn’t mean to mess up tonight.”

He never meant to. But he always managed to.

“If it helps for you to know, I was helping to move a fallen tree out of the road so hotel staff could get through. It was too cold to leave them stranded out there.”

Her ears perked up. Had she judged him prematurely? Had he been doing an act of service, of kindness?

“I couldn’t pick up a signal on my phone. I’m sorry.”

She dropped her forehead to the door, feeling a connection to him through the intricately carved wood.

Would anything ever give her the strength to turn him away?

She didn’t want to know.

He was here now. That’s what mattered.

She had known she wanted to be with him, and her pain had been caused by her own irrational assumptions about him based on the child he used to be. She didn’t want him to think she was the same child she had been way back when, so why was she so quick to assign that blame to him?

He knocked softly on the door once again.

“I brought carbs for you…”

She unlocked the deadbolt and slowly opened the door. He leapt to his feet before she swung the door fully open.

“Keira.”

His eyes, moist with emotion, connected directly to her soul. So much to say, but she couldn’t form a single word.

He held out the plate toward her. Cheese and bread piled high, some dropping off the side as his hand shook.

“Thank you.”

She took the plate and set it down on the table by the door.

“Have you eaten?”

He shook his head.

“I can’t eat until you hear me out.”

“A hunger strike? Never thought you’d be the type.”

Her attempt at a joke fell flat, but then merriment rose in his cheeks and his eyes sparkled a little beneath the heavy weight of emotion he held there.

“You know me, Keira. I’m all about the risk. Doing whatever it takes to achieve a goal.”

He leaned against the doorframe. A small group of people shuffled by in the hall, apologizing as they passed.

“This is the biggest risk I’ve ever taken, because I care so much about the outcome. I want you, Keira. I’m all in. One hundred percent of the way. For one hundred percent of my life.”

A shiver ran up her spine and left her trembling.

“That’s not all. I love you, Keira, and I’ll fight for you. If you’re not ready to accept me now, I’ll move back to Healing Springs and work hard every day to show you we belong together. I can be the man you need.”

He reached for her then, his eyes begging her to see him fully.

“I vow I will never leave you. No matter what. And if you decide to leave me, you’d be forever welcomed in Hailey’s life. I would never do to you what the others have done. You can believe in me, Keira. I wouldn’t hurt my daughter by taking someone loving away from her, and I wouldn’t use my daughter to hurt you. Not ever. But I don’t expect you to trust me fully on that, because you’ve trusted others who have hurt you. I’ll sign legal documents to codify that promise. I believe in us, and I want to be with you while you learn to believe too.”

The overwhelming urge to throw herself into his arms and to kiss him with all the enthusiasm she felt at his speech took an incredible amount of power to contain.

“Is that all you have to say?”

She placed a hand on her hip and tried to look as sassy as she tried to sound.

His eyes widened as he noticed her appearance for the first time. She hadn’t seen a mirror since before she left for the farewell party, but she was sure her hair was a mess, her makeup smudged, and her clothing wrinkled. But he drank her in as if he had been wandering through the desert for days with no water in sight.

“No,”

he said, his voice low and deep. He stepped closer and reached for her hips, which he pulled closer to him.

“You look… stunning.”

She smiled coyly and wiggled out of his grip.

“Can’t break the rules about coming into my room. I believe your privileges expired when I started walking on my own again.”

“I don’t care about the rules. I care about hearing what you have to say. And then I care about holding you and kissing you and making you my wife.”

Joy tore through her, nearly crippling her. She fought for the words she wanted to say to work their way through her vocal cords.

“Well good. Because I was just about to tell you that I know I’ve been dumb to try to resist you. I love you, Jared. I loved you then, I love you now, and I’ll love you forever. And I know I’ll love your sweet little girl. And I love Elizabeth for guiding you here. For her determination in bringing you to me. I don’t care where we live. As long as you promise we can be together until the day we die, I’ll consider that a life well lived.”

His beaming smile cast a glow on her that warmed her from her toes to her nose. After two weeks of resisting the urge, she finally allowed herself to trace the groove on his cheek that she had been wanting so badly to touch.

“You fulfill me in ways that nothing ever has, Keira. I had a big dream I had to chase last time we were in a relationship together. But now I have a bigger one.”

Unable to contain the flow of tears any longer, Keira pulled him to her lips to seal the deal on the promises they had sworn to one another.

His kiss was everything. Passion and fire and tenderness. He tasted exactly like she remembered–a mix of spice and sweet that had nothing to do with food. Electric currents flashed through her body, burning her from within but in the most delicious way.

She never wanted to stop kissing him. She wanted all of him. All the time.

After a moment, and just as the kiss was heating up and her body threatened to rebel if he didn’t do something to put out the flames, Jared mumbled against her lips.

“Forgot something important.”

What he thought could be more important than this was beyond her, but when he reached into his pocket, she wondered if…

No way.

He wouldn’t propose already. He kind of already did, she supposed, but he wouldn’t have an actual ring, right?

Even better.

Speechless, she watched him pull the silver strand from his pocket, his breath still hot on her face.

“You found it?”

Her voice cracked, and the rest of her broke. A floodgate lifted, and sobs of relief wracked her body as she clutched the precious locket to her chest.

“I probably should have led with that,”

he teased, squeezing her shoulders before pulling her to his chest.

She wept onto his shirt, inhaling his cologne and the faint scent of manly sweat—musky, not unclean. She wrapped one arm around his waist while clutching the necklace in her free hand.

This man had already started making her dreams come true.

“I don’t know how I got so lucky to deserve you, Jared.”

“Hush,”

he kissed the top of her head.

“I’m the lucky one.”

He kissed each of her eyebrows, then the sides of her head by the corners of her eyes, the tip of her nose, and then each of her cheeks, where salty tears had carved trails.

“Let’s get that on you.”

She turned so he could clasp the necklace back on.

“We’ll get a stronger clasp as soon as things open up again. But I had a feeling you’d want to wear it for now, at least.”

She nodded and smiled, her breath coming in waves of happiness.

“One more thing, Jared.”

“Anything.”

“I realize you want to settle down and create roots for your daughter, which I’m all for, by the way. But promise me something?”

“Whatever you want, it’s yours.”

She leaned up and kissed him again.

“Promise me you’ll show me the world.”

“Literally?”

His face lit up like a little boy’s on Christmas morning.

She nodded.

“I want to experience traveling the world. With you. And with Hailey. I want to see all the things, meet all the people. I want to have stories to tell and memories to share. We’ll have to fit it in around my teaching schedule, of course, but I hope that’s okay…”

With a whoop of joy that shook the room, he lifted her and spun her around until they were both dizzy and laughing and starting their new life on a platform of fun and excitement.

“Oh, I almost forgot.”

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the ultimate symbol of their love and connection.

“Powdered doughnuts? You know me too well.”

He tore into the package, removed one of the mini confections, and tried to stay serious as he slipped it on her ring finger.

“You’re hilarious,”

she laughed, breathless.

“But you know this is only going to last about two seconds, right?”

She lifted the adorned finger to her mouth, and he bit into the other side until their lips connected once again in a flurry of powdered sugar love and a match made true.

Thank you for reading A Heart to Find! To join my community, please sign up for my newsletter. I’d love to have you!

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If you haven’t already read the sister book to this one, please check out Christine DePetrillo’s A Star to Hold, the first book in the Sweetheart Island Matchmaking Resort series. It’s a standalone companion to this one, and beautifully introduces Sweetheart Island.