Page 91 of Forbidden Hearts

No. I’m not sure.

Last night, when we were back in his cabin, Alonzo told me whatreallyhappened to Esmeralda. I was surprised when he admitted to killing the Romero brothers. Even so, I’m not afraid of him and it doesn’t change my feelings for him.

Regardless of the life Alonzo decides to live from now on, I want to be there by his side.

???

A few weeks later, Alonzo and I stand in the kitchen of my new apartment. We watch Mom tell the movers where to place her furniture in the living room.

“I still can’t believe you convinced her to move in with me,” I say.

“I can be very convincing,” he says.

Alonzo and I have spent almost every waking minute together in the past few weeks. We draw, cook, and make love all the time. He even tags along to visit Mom with me most Sundays.

Mom took a liking to Alonzo. She said he’s very smart and handsome. I haven’t told her Alonzo is my college professor. Some things are better kept secret. At least for some time. I’m sure all this will make a funny story one day.

Last week, when we went to drop off her groceries, Alonzo convinced her—the most stubborn woman I know—to move inwith me. I don’t know how he managed to do so. I went to the restroom, and by the time I returned to the living room to join them in the sofa, the matter had been settled. In a matter of weeks, Alonzo accomplished what I couldn’t inyears.

Alonzo helped me get this bigger apartment so my mom and I can have enough space for both of us. He paid a large sum of money to the apartment management to expedite our application and move-in date.

“Now that my mom is here, I may spend a little more time in my apartment and less at your place,” I tell him.

He smiles. “Enjoy your time with your mom because this will only be temporary.”

“Temporary? What do you mean?”

“Yeah, just until you graduate. Then we’ll move to my larger house in Austin. All three of us.Ifyou want.”

“Wait, what? You have a house in Austin?” I ask. “Since when?”

“I have several houses,” he says nonchalantly. “The Austin house is the largest. There will be plenty of space for the three of us there.”

“You want Mom to live with us?”

“Why not?” he asks. “She can have her own wing of the house.”

“Her own wing?”

“Yeah, it’s a big house with plenty of housekeepers. It’ll be great for when the family grows.”

His warm gaze falls on mine.

When our family grows. My cheeks burn red when I realize what he means. If he wants to have kids with me, does that mean he wants to get married, too?

“Of course, we would have to get married first,” he says, as if he just read my mind.

“You’re speaking as if you’re confident I’ll say yes,” I tease.

“Will you say yes?”

“Alonzo, we’ve only known each other for a few months,” I say. “What if a year from now, you realize you made a mistake marrying me?”

“You’re the one,” he says, piercing me with his beautiful brown eyes. The pain I had seen in them when I first met him is gone. He is different now, but is it really because of me? “But if it makes you more comfortable,” he says after a brief pause, “We can wait a bit longer. I’m a patient man. I’ll wait for you until the end of the world if I have to.”

I smile and rest my head on his chest, watching the movers finish the job. This is the beginning of something great.

I can feel it!

---