Page 46 of Rough Hands, Soft Lips
It almost sounded like a proposal, but April knew better than to get her hopes up. Cal still had some trust issues, though he was working through them with more effort than she’d ever seen anyone put into anything. He hadn’t been ready to make a marriage commitment so soon, and she’d told him that was fine with her. She could wait until he was ready, even if that was never. She didn’t want to ever push him into doing something he didn’t want to do.
Deep down, it did get to her occasionally, however much she tried to ignore it. She hid it pretty well, though, all things considered. She could be proud of that.
After dinner, Cal cleared their plates. He wouldn’t let April do anything at all. “I want to spoil you this weekend,” he said. “This weekend is about us, but mostly, it’s about you.” For dessert, he produced a little plate with a small, blue cupcake. “Bon appétit,” he said, lighting one little candle stuck in the cupcake.
April thought she might cry when she saw that. “You remembered,” she said. “I can’t believe you remembered.”
“Of course, I remembered,” he said. He seemed surprised she hadn’t expected it. “It was the day my whole life changed for the better.” He smiled across the table at her. “It was the day I met you. I remember staring at that cupcake on the table for hours before Owen finally found the appetite to eat it.What kind of adult woman eats a blue cupcake for her birthday?I wondered. Then I found out.”
April laughed. “The crazy kind?” she guessed.
Cal shook his head. “The kind who is so loved by her friends that they take the trouble to get her a blue-cupcake pyramid for her birthday. The kind who improves the day of every person she comes into contact with, even if just a little. The only kind of woman who could have dug her way into my heart and taken root there.”
Now she really was crying. She hardly knew what to say, but this was the most wonderful evening she could have imagined for her anniversary. “This is all too much,” she said, sniffling. “Cal, I don’t know what to say.”
“I only need one word from you,” he said. “Come with me.”
He took her by the hand and led her along the short path of rose petals to his old bedroom. When he opened the door, she saw candles and more flowers all around the room. But there was something nestled on one of the pillows, and April moved forward to examine what it could be. The closer she got, the more her heart pounded in her chest. Could she believe it? Did she dare? There, on the pillow, was a little black box, propped open. And inside something beautiful was glittering in the candlelight.
Slowly, she lifted the little box and rubbed the tears from her eyes to see what was in it more clearly. Probably, she was only seeing things. Probably, it was just a gorgeous pair of earrings. But it wasn’t. And when she realized it wasn’t, she turned to ask Cal what was going on, and she found him down on one knee.
“One word,” he said. “Will you marry me?”
There was no question in her mind. Not a moment of hesitation. Her whole world was coming into clear focus. She was going to be his wife and the mother to his child. Of all the women in the world, Cal Nolen had chosen her. She answered with the one word he wanted to hear from her. “Yes.”
The End