Liesl nodded, “yes. I can forgive you.”
“Good. Now,” he took a breath, “this is hard for me because I’ve never done anything like this in my life, especially after such a short period but I have something I need to say to you, and I need you hear me. Please hear me.”
She couldn’t look away from him. He was intense and serious as he surveyed her. “I’m listening.”
“Good. I was annoyed on Friday morning when you told me how you felt.”
“I knew it,” she muttered.
He chuckled, “not because of what you said but because of the timing and the delivery.” He pushed off the chair and moved to kneel in front of hers, reaching for her hands. “Liesl, you have a very expressive face. Your actions and mannerisms give away what your face doesn’t. Did you really think you were hiding it well you’ve fallen in love with me?”
She blinked, her eyes feeling huge in her head as she felt the blush burning her entire body. “Um.”
He lifted his palm to her cheek, “I already knew, love. I knew. You have no need to say the words, I can feel it. I can feel your love as sure as I can feel your skin on my hand.”
“I didn’t say the words.” She protested. “I never said –’
“I know,” he smiled gently, “you danced around it like the diplomat you try to be, but subtlety isn’t your forte. You’re the most expressive person I know, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it. I love how I can read your moods without you even needing to speak. You’re open and honest and true to yourself and I never want you to change this. Not ever.”
“You were angry.”
“I was annoyed, not angry, but not because of what you said. It was because you took the time to tell me you cared deeply for me on the phone while I was an ocean away. Liesl, I’ve never told a woman who is not related to me that I love them.”
His words made her blink in shock, “Really?”
“Really. I’ve had relationships and girlfriends, but I’ve never had the compulsion to tell someone I love them. I thought perhaps it’s not part of my genetic code to utter the words.”
“Oh.” She blinked looking away quickly, her lips pouting at his admission.
“And therefore, since it’s the first time in my entire life I was going to say those words to a woman, I didn’t want it to be while I was in Portugal and you were here, via telephone without the ability to see how my words impacted you and for you to see I meant them.”
Her heart skipped a beat as she let out a puff of air from her chest, “oh.”
“I love you Liesl.” His thumb caught a tear off the corner of her eye, “it might only be a month of dating, but I love you. I never want to be without you. My first thoughts every day are of you and the last ones I have before I fall asleep are of you. In the last month I have found myself more than once in the middle of something only to find my mind has wandered off and I’m daydreaming of you, wondering what it is you are doing and if you’re smiling. You make me happier than I have been in a long time, and I don’t know where this is going. I can’t say with certainty we’ll end up married, with a giant family, splitting our time between the house here and the estate in Portugal until we’re old and gray, but I do know you’re the first woman I’ve ever been with where the thought popped into my head.”
Her breath felt like it was wheezing in her chest, emotions clogging her throat at his heartfelt declarations, “Really? You love me?”
“Desperately, consumingly, with every ounce of my being,” he whispered. “I’ve never been an emotional type who spills his feelings but Liesl, I love and adore you to pieces.”
“You love me.” She said it this time as a statement, proud as she basked in his admission.
“I wanted to get here, pull you away from the crowd and tell you what was on my mind and in my heart. I wanted us to spend the evening together with my family so they could get to know you and then I wanted to bring you home and love you until dawn. Instead, I got caught up in my anger and frustration at how the McGrath family is constantly and forever intermingled with my world. I want them gone and out of our lives forever and I know I can’t make it happen because your sister is married to them, and you’ll be bound by a nephew. They frustrate the fuck out of me because I want you to myself and I want you safe and they’re in the way.”
“I’m sorry my baggage is affecting us.” Her apology felt too little for the damage done.
“They are my baggage too, babe. I’ve had them on my radar for years. Eventually I was coming for them, and I knew once I started this battle it would be a war they wouldn’t want to walk away from. I was fine with starting a war with them Liesl, until you. Now, knowing how much Trent McGrath is preoccupied with you, I’m wishing I had simply walked away from them and never looked back.”
She frowned, “I wanted my revenge too.”
“I know and frankly, we both got what we wanted but the cost is them being focused on us to a frightening degree. He put recording devices in your home, Liesl.”
She could see the anger coming to the surface again and she cupped his cheeks, “I don’t care. I don’t care what they do, or what they try to do. All I care about is you and me starting whatever this journey is together and being true to who we are.”
“I don’t know what I ever did in my life to deserve you, but I love you.”
“I love you, Isaias. It’s all fast and sudden but I love you very much. I’m terrified I’m rushing things and chasing you off. I know I said too much the other night on the phone, but I’d had wine and I was missing you desperately. I needed to say it. It didn’t matter to me it was on the phone, I was simply thinking if anything ever happened, and I didn’t try to tell you then I wouldn’t forgive myself.” She was rambling and stuttering, shakily reaching her fingers to touch his cheek, tears flowing freely now. “I love you.”
“I love you.” He repeated the words back to her, his voice raspy with emotion. “I wanted to see you when I said those words and not blurt them on the phone.”
“I understand now,” she whispered leaning forward until her forehead touched his. “I should have known better.”
“I didn’t exactly handle it well.” He laughed sliding his hand under her legs and behind her back, scooping her from the chair as he rose up from his squatted position. “Let’s see if I can make it up to you.”
Hope bloomed in her chest at his passionate statement.
