Page 91 of Fire

With a shake of his head and a haughty sneer, Franklin climbs into the passenger seat Suburban and Julian backs out of the driveway, cutting off a big ass truck as he turns onto the road.

I pull Ivy into my arms and hold her close. “Thank you for saying all those things about me.”

“No, Micah. Thank you. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for taking care of me. Thank you for keeping your promise.”

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Micah

The holidays come and go. Ivy settles. No…she blooms. Watching her come into her own is like watching a rose blossom, petals opening, colors growing rich and true. She smiles more. She laughs a lot. She starts looking into colleges and stops worrying about whether or not she’s taking advantage of me.

When I was sixteen, I promised to love Ivy forever. When I was seventeen, I thought I lost her. But even though it took years to see her again, I never broke that promise. I’ve loved her from the moment we met and will love her until all the stars in the sky stop shining.

“What’re you thinking about?” Ivy asks, wrapping her hands around a coffee mug and blowing off the steam. It’s early. I have to work. Nell’s still asleep. But Ivy gets up with me, sits with me, and hugs me every day before I leave.

“You,” I reply. “Always you.”

“Now I know you’re fibbing.” Her smile is warm and bright and says she’s sure I’m full of shit. “You can’t always be thinking of me.”

“But I can.” I heft my mug to my lips and take a sip. “I do.”

“Prove it.”

Her hair is piled on the top of her head. Her face is clean and fresh and her body swims in one of my old T-shirts from the fire station. She’s fucking beautiful.

“When I’m at work and Carson cracks a joke that isn’t funny, I think of how hard you’d roll your eyes. When I cook dinner for the guys, I wish it was for you. When I go out on a call, I think about how you looked the night your grandma’s house caught on fire. When I’m shaving, I think about your hands on my face. When I’m showering, I think about your hands on my…” I grin as she giggles. “Well, you know. When I leave the house, I think about coming home. When I think about my past, you’re all I ever see. And the same is true for my future. It’s you, Ivy. It’s always, always been you.”

Her eyes mist and a smile lights her face. She’s back up to her natural weight now and her cheeks are full instead of gaunt. Her hips curve the way I remember, she’s soft and supple and so fucking perfect.

She’s perfect.

And so is the moment.

This isn’t the way I planned to propose, but maybe that makes it better.

“Stay right there,” I say, sliding back my chair. “Just like that. Don’t move a muscle.”

“But what if—”

I hold out a hand. “Ah! Not a muscle, Ives!”

Smiling, I hurry to the bedroom and dig through my closet to the tiny bag hidden in the back. Inside the bag is a little black box and a piece of paper. Inside the box is a diamond ring and on the paper is the pact we made to each other—a promise to love each other no matter what surprises life handed us. I grab both and head back into the kitchen where Ivy is dramatically holding the pose she was in when I left.

With the ring behind my back, I place the paper in front of her. “I made a promise to you, Ivy. Back before I understood what it meant to find the love of my life when I was too young to appreciate her. And I was going to do this differently. I was going to take you to dinner and get down on one knee and make a big fucking deal, but this is the moment. The timing is finally perfect.” I bring the box out from behind my back. “It’s time to make good on my promise. I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life proving that you will always be taken care of, no matter what. Not the kind of support that makes you dependent, but the kind that makes you stronger than you are on your own. I want you to be my wife and I want to be your husband and I want Nell to have the kind of family she always wanted. Will you marry me?”

Ivy stares. Unblinking. No smiles. She doesn’t reach for the ring. She doesn’t react in even the slightest way. My heart sinks.

Oh, shit.

Is she going to say no?

Did I push her too fast?

Was I wrong to assume this was the right time?

“Ivy?”

“Can I move?” she asks, through clenched teeth.

---