My stomach had been in knots all day. Twisted and churned. It helped to have Corbin as a distraction today, though. His needs trumped my nerves.
But now, seeing her standing in front of me, feeling the quickened pulse in Mallory’s wrist as I held her small hand in mine—this is where the real anxiety settled in and cradled my heart. There was not an inch of my body that didn’t buzz with the expectation of what I was about to do.
“Mallory?” Her light eyes impaled me. Her mouth fought a smile she so badly wanted to wear. “You know how when you first meet someone, you instantly fall in love with everything they love?” She nodded, though I didn’t need her to. I’d keep talking even if she didn’t encourage the words from me. “Like, I cannot tell you how many grilled cheese sandwiches I ate back when we first met. As silly as it was, I’d associated them with you.”
“Well.” Her voice was timidly quiet. “I am a little cheesy.”
“Only a little.” I smirked. “But you know what I mean, right? How suddenly, anything that reminds you of that person—that’s what you want. That’s what you want to surround yourself with.”
Her gaze would not let go of mine; her lips would not relinquish the grin they spread into.
“Flowers remind me of you now. I doubt you realize it, but when you come home from work, you smell like them. Like this totally natural bouquet. I can’t look at a flower without thinking of you. But you’ve always been a flower to me. This stunning, delicate thing that blossoms with beauty.”
“Heath, that’s so sweet.”
Maybe she felt like an answer or recognition was needed here, but I kept talking.
“But those are just things. Sure, I felt closer to you, liking the things you liked, but I felt a part of you when I loved the people you loved.” My mouth was tacky, my throat dry. I inhaled a breath that could burst my lungs and kept talking. “Boone and Sharon—they’re wonderful. Seriously. I adore them. They’ve welcomed me with the biggest, warmest open arms I could ever imagine.” The mist in Mallory’s eyes couldn’t be ignored, but I let her tears form. Let her emotion well in her eyes just as it did in mine. “And Tommy and Nana. From that first day at the dinner table back in high school, I knew they were something special. The love they have for you is so evident.”
Mallory’s hands trembled. I gripped on tighter, but the shake in mine just magnified hers.
“Each and every one of those people are amazing, Mallory, but this little guy?” I bounced Corbin up on my hip. “This guy means everything to me.”
The hiccup that slipped through Mallory’s lips made my heart clench, and when she cupped her mouth and let the tears stream, I was right there with her.
“I love your son, Mallory. The fact that you would think highly enough of me to even let me into his life is a blessing I’ll never understand how I ever deserved,” I said, readying my balance and my resolve. “All of those things and all of those other people, sure I can love them to the extent I know how, but this guy? He’s a part of you. In loving him, I get to love even more of you.”
Her shoulders racked with sobs and I wanted to take her so badly into my arms but I couldn’t. Not just yet.
“Mallory.” Then, with all the strength I could muster, I grasped firmly to Corbin and steadily lowered myself, one slow inch at a time. This was what we’d been working on the past two weeks during physical therapy. Not on taking steps forward. Not on one foot in front of the other. But on kneeling down, dropping to one knee.
I’d fallen many times during my rehab. Stumbled painfully before my knee touched the ground. Flattened out and completely bailed. I had bruised shins and a bruised ego, but I kept at it, always forcing myself to do more than was comfortable or more than what felt possible.
She was the reason I got up. Mallory was the reason I always got back up.
She was the reason after my failed marriage. The reason after the accident. Mallory was now, and forever would be, my reason to persevere.
“More than I want you to be my wife, I want you to be my family. I want you and I want Corbin and I want us. When I lost you all those years ago, the pain I experienced was more than I thought I could ever bear. But I was wrong. I could bear that a million times over if it came down to it again.” Her mouth dropped open and she brought both of her hands to my shoulders. I shook nervously back and forth and I suppressed the pain and the strain on my leg, but she trapped me in her grip to steady me. Calm me. I reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze, and then lifted Corbin from my hip to hand Mallory her son. “What I can’t bear is losing both of you. Life has given me more second chances than I deserve, but I don’t need another chance to do what I should’ve done so long ago.”
Reaching into my back pocket, I pulled out the black velvet box Tommy had sent me. I cracked it open and held it out for Mallory, who swayed softly back and forth with her child in her arms. “Mallory and Corbin Quinn, will you allow me the honor of loving you both until the day I die. Will you let me protect and cherish and treasure you every day forward? Will you let me be the man you need in your lives, the one who will lead passionately, love faithfully, and never, ever forget the huge blessing it is to call you mine?”
Mallory dropped to her knees. Maybe from my words. Maybe from the sight of the ring that had adorned her own mother’s finger so many years ago, but she knelt down with me on the carpet in the middle of her bedroom and reached for my face, grabbing hold of it.
“Yes, Heath.” Her mouth found mine and after a kiss that stole my breath, she pulled back, her thumb running across my bottom lip as she said, “We both say yes.”
I ignored the throb in my leg as I took the quaint diamond from the box and slipped it on her finger. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, the way it sparkled just like her eyes.
“I love you, Mallory.” Another kiss pressed to her lips. “I’ve always loved you.”
“I know.” She smiled and Corbin pressed his cheek against my cheek. “We know. And we love you, too.”
