Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 46858 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46858 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 234(@200wpm)___ 187(@250wpm)___ 156(@300wpm)
I reach over, touching his arm. “No, it’s not like that. You were a kid, just like me. How were you supposed to know what was happening if I didn’t tell you?”
Hudson gives my hand a squeeze. “The truth, Della.”
“The truth is I love him, and he loves me,” I say passionately. “I know it’s fast, but we want the same things. A family. To get married one day. To support each other.”
“You swear that’s how you feel?”
I think back to when I was a little kid, looking up at my older brother, the big grin on his face…and then the serious look as he knelt down, offering me his pinkie.
I offer mine to him now, meeting his eyes. “I swear, Hudson.”
“On mom and dad, you swear?”
I gasp, sitting back slightly.
His face hardens. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to upset you. But I care about you more than anyone. If I’m going to accept this, I can’t have any doubt in my mind.”
I stiffen my features, tightening my jaw.
“I swear, on mom and dad.”
Hudson smiles as he reaches over, taking my pinkie with his, then holding my hand. “Then I’m excited for you, sis.”
“Really?” I whisper, tears rising to my eyes.
“Really.”
I turn as the car starts slowing down, then comes to a stop. The driver’s door opens.
“What’s going on?” I murmur, my heart beating fast.
“Why wait, sis? If you’re going to do something, do it. I’d be a hypocrite if I judged the speed, anyway. I’m feeling it again with Tina. We both are. I’m jealous, in fact, that you and Elias are going to be your one and only….”
He trails off, grinning. “I’m getting my words all muddled up. I’m just so happy for you.”
I laugh, giving his hand a squeeze.
“It’s okay.”
I turn as the door on my side opens.
Eli stands there in a suit, dark, his neatly combed and his clean-shaven cheeks shaped into the most inviting smile.
His eyes rest on my face, and I don’t have to guess what’s going to happen next.
You don’t deserve….
But that voice can go to hell.
Eli deserves this, and so do I.
He reaches down and takes my hand, helping me to my feet. I rise with him, everything feeling tingly, my body trembling.
He looks around, grinning tightly. We’re in a parking lot.
“I wanted to take you somewhere special,” he says, wrapping his arms around me. He doesn’t move to my hips, but keeps them on my upper back, probably out of respect for Hudson.
I hold him tightly, moving my fingers over his back.
“But once Hudson told me he knew, and I explained…we made a deal. If he knew you felt the same, he’d support us, because he knows how special this is. So I had to stop the car. I had to find somewhere to ask you right away.”
My hands rise to cover my mouth as he falls to one knee, reaching into his suit pocket and taking out a ring box.
I’m crying like crazy already, happy tears flowing down my cheeks. My body’s shaking with the force of the emotion, the overwhelming swell of it, the love expanding each second.
Eli opens the ring box, displaying a gorgeous white gold band and a full elegant diamond.
“Della Jones, will you marry me?”
“Yes,” I yell without any hesitation, pushing the word past my sobs.
He slips the ring onto my finger and then leaps to his feet, wrapping his arms around me. When he spins me around, it’s like we’re going to leave the earth, like we’re going to float into a whole new universe.
“Just think,” I say, kissing him on the cheek as a laugh of pure joy escapes me. “We can tell our grandkids it all started with a text.”
He puts me down, laughing, kissing me firmly on the cheek. I can sense the hunger in him to kiss me passionately, but with Hudson here, we’re both holding back….
For now.
I turn, still embracing my man, my fiancé. “Hudson, get over here.”
I’m sobbing so badly, I’m shocked he can even make out the words.
Hudson stands from the car, pausing, tears glimmering in his eyes. He’s always so tough for me, but he’s been through so much himself.
And now it’s like the proposal is giving him permission to let some of it out.
“Are you sure?”
“Come on,” Eli says, smiling, his eyes shining. “I’m going to be your big brother soon.”
I sob again, so much happiness in me I feel like I’m going to pop.
Hudson walks over, smiling, hugging me, and slapping Eli on the shoulder. “I’m so happy for both of you. I just know this is the real thing. You…dammit, I’m going to say it. I don’t care if it’s cheesy.
“You can’t fake love like this.”
EPILOGUE
THREE WEEKS LATER
Elias
Could you help me with something later? Della texts.
I smile at my phone, briefly looking out of my open office door at Hudson leading the class below. He’s jabbing the air, explaining a technique, and it makes me think of these past two weeks. Hudson and me becoming friends, brothers, as Della’s and my love grows and grows.