Deliver the Moon Page 23
Gabe turned her hand and kissed her palm, holding it against his mouth a moment. “I had. I even had my flight arranged, I’d packed my bags…” His voice caught in his throat. “Then it dawned on me I was doing the exact same thing I did five years ago. I was leaving you without a fight.”
Her whole body trembled. He glanced over her shoulder at her parents before locking his dark gaze on hers again.
“All along I’ve known our biggest problem was that your folks and I didn’t get along. I knew how much it meant to you, yet I never went out of my way to do anything about it. You asked me time and time again to make more of an effort, but I always figured it was pointless.”
He reached for her other hand. “I’m lying on my bed at the hotel, feeling sorry for myself and it hits me what a jerk I’ve been. So, I pulled my sorry ass off that bed and headed here to tell your mom and dad I was going to do everything in my power to win you back and maybe even convince them that I could make you happy.”
Louisa knew how hard that must have been for him to do. That he opened his heart to her right now and in front of her parents caused her heart to race at Nascar speed. Tears filled her eyes. “I thought you didn’t want to push me, Gabriel,” she said with a sniffle and a smile.
He smirked. “I think that was just my way of being a chicken, not fighting for what I wanted.” He lifted her hands to his mouth and kissed her fingers. “You’d really take me back?”
She took a tiny step closer to him. “I could ask you the same thing.”
“Oh, sweetheart. Nothing would make me happier.” Gabe closed his eyes, overcome with emotion. He yearned to take her in his arms and kiss her, but he didn’t want to push his luck with her parents sitting right there. She’d taken a huge step in speaking her mind in front of them, but he couldn’t expect that she’d—
Louisa slid her arms around his neck and pulled his head down. Pressing her body against his, she kissed him with all the passion and love he felt inside. After a moment, he forgot they had an audience.
Heavy pounding came from the direction of the front door. Louisa pulled away from Gabe with a startled laugh. “Oh, no. The cab.”
Beverly turned to her husband. “Go pay for the cab, Arthur, and send him on his way.”
As Arthur headed out of the room, he touched Louisa’s arm. He didn’t quite smile at Gabe, but neither did he glare. It was a start.
Beverly’s hands gripped her coffee cup so tightly her knuckles turned white. Her face looked older than usual, the fine lines around her eyes more pronounced.
“Mother? Are you okay?”
Beverly looked up and smiled. It was a genuine smile, unlike the forced ones she often wore. “You are in love and are happy,” she said softly. “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”
****
Once they were alone inside her apartment, she and Gabe just peered at one another for countless moments. Finally they came together, not to kiss but to hold each other.
Louisa was so happy she wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, she wanted to dance. Her parents hadn’t actually given her their blessing, but neither would they stand in her way. Not that she would have let them this time. But everything was turning out better than she’d hoped.
“I’m giving notice at the college,” Gabe murmured against her hair. “And I’m turning down the Japan assignment.”
She tilted her head to look at him. “What? Why?”
He smiled and kissed the top of her nose. “Because I don’t want to be away from you right now and because I’m moving back here. I don’t want to take you away from your family any more than I’d want them to take you away from me.”
“Really? You mean that?” Could this day get any better?
“I’m not saying I want to be neighbors with your folks or anything.” He gave her a mock stern look. “But I was thinking…maybe Port Townsend or something. We could get you the old house you’ve always wanted with plenty of room for our kids.”
Louisa laughed and cried at the same time. “Yes,” she said. “I can see that.” She took a deep breath and sobered. “Gabriel?”
His eyebrows lifted.
“Do you remember how I always accused you of forcing me to choose between my family and you?”
He held up a hand. “Lou. I won’t ask you to—”
She silenced him with two gentle fingers over his mouth. “If I had to choose,” she said, her gaze unwavering. “I’d choose you. In a heartbeat.”
Epilogue
Two Days Later
The last time they’d been to the cemetery, it had been raining. Today, a morning drizzle had been replaced by a sun which shone brightly overhead, casting warming fingers upon everything in its path.
Neither Gabe nor Louisa spoke as they wound their way through the wet, glistening grass toward Joey’s grave.
She bent down and placed a bouquet of wildflowers onto the stone. “Happy birthday, sweetheart,” she said softly, kissing her fingers then placing them on the water-speckled gravestone.
Gabe knelt beside her. She turned a tear-stained face to him, then suspended her breath. Tears fell freely from his eyes. He was crying. In front of her.
With one arm around her shoulders, his other hand pressed against the stone. “Happy birthday, son. We love you.”
They rose together and hugged. His gentle sobs shook her, and she held him as tightly as he held her. He’d never let her comfort him like this before. Now they comforted each other. They’d come a long way since the last time he’d cried here, Louisa thought with a bittersweet ache in her heart.
When they finally pulled apart, Gabe leaned in for a long, sweet kiss, telling her without words they would always have each other, good times and bad.
They passed that old rhododendron on their way out. “Gabriel, look!” Louisa pointed to a white blossom at perfect eye-level on the otherwise flower-bare bush.
Gabe’s hand brushed lightly across the petals. “I thought this plant bore red flowers.”
“It does,” she whispered. “Rhododendrons also bloom in the spring, not in July.”
They stared at it together. “It’s a sign, Lou,” he finally said. “It’s Joey’s way of telling us we made the right decision.”
Gabe’s fingers intertwined with hers, and hand in hand, they walked away. Louisa glanced back as they reached the wrought iron entrance gates. A rainbow sprung from the rhododendron and arched magnificently through the sky. She squeezed Gabe’s hand.
He’d promised her the moon again. And this time, she knew he’d deliver.
A word about the author...
Rebecca J. Clark has wanted to write romance novels since she read her first Harlequin Romance at age 11. When she’s not writing, she works as a personal fitness trainer and group exercise instructor.
She makes her home in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of 24 years, two kids, a German Shepherd beast who spends his days chasing the two cats who spend their days plotting the demise of the dog, and a gecko.
In her not-so-abundant free time, Rebecca enjoys reading, watching “Criminal Minds” reruns on TV, and doing absolutely nothing.
To learn more about Rebecca J. Clark,
visit her website:
www.RebeccaJClark.com
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