Page 61 of Cursed

She smiled bravely, then went on, already solving the problem aloud. “We’ll wait a day, let everyone get back to their routines—maybe two days. Maybe a week. Then we’ll announce a long engagement. You’ll go back to South Carolina, and my sisters will as well, if they want, and I’ll . . . well I’ll . . .”

Edeena’s manner was fraying along with her words and her smile started to wobble around the edges. As much as Vince wanted her to have her say, he found he couldn’t take it anymore.

“Edeena,” he said again, setting his own flute on the table next to them, then taking her hands in his. “If you’re telling me that you don’t want to marry me after all, then of course I’ll respect that decision.” He waited a beat, watching her eyes flare in dismay. “Is that what you want?”

“I don’t want you to feel trapped, Vince.”

Her words were so soft it was a miracle he even heard them, but he squeezed her hands, drawing her closer.

“You didn’t trap me tonight. You didn’t force me to say the things I said out there, to offer to spend the rest of my life with you, loving you, supporting you, helping you to achieve whatever dreams you set your heart on.”

“Stop,” Edeena practically groaned, her eyes once more bright with tears. “You don’t have to talk like that anymore. No one is listening.”

“No one is listening,” he agreed. “Apparently, you least of all.” He laughed as she blinked hard, a single tear trailing down her cheek. “If I need to pledge my love to you every morning and remind you again every night, Edeena, I will. If I have to wake up next to you with reassurances for the first year of our marriage, and kiss you to sleep every evening when we’re both white-haired and frail, I will. I’m aware we only met three weeks ago. I realize it’s sudden. But the Rallises, we have a long-standing tradition of knowing the woman who will change our lives the moment we meet her, and well, you changed my life the day you stepped off that plane. I fully expect you to keep changing my life every day forward.” He peered at her, trying to read the expression in her eyes. “Does that help?”

“But you don’t even know me,” she whispered, her gaze searching his, as if she needed to somehow warn him away from her.

“I don’t,” he agreed, making her blink with surprise. “Not all the details. I definitely don’t know all of your newfound cousins and distant relatives. I don’t know where you live, I don’t know your favorite book or vacation spot. But there are some things I do know already, Edeena. I know you love your sisters and would do anything for them. I know you feel responsible for everyone else’s happiness, but aren’t so good about your own. I know you miss your mother terribly, and it’s driven you to try to be everyone else’s caretaker.”

He drew her yet closer. “And I know you make my heart pound every time you walk into the room, that your smile lights up every dark place in the world. I know that I would be lucky to call you mine, and that my family will spend the rest of their lives wondering what I did to deserve someone as beautiful and gracious as you.”

“Your family!” she gave a little gasp. “Your mother has no idea.”

Vince smiled, thinking of the last conversation he had with his mother—had it really been less than a week ago? “I think she has some idea,” he said wryly, “and trust me, when we do finally make our way back to Charleston, I’m pretty sure she’ll let everyone know she knew it the moment she met you.” He smiled, brushing away another tear as it softly tracked its way down Edeena’s face. “She’s got a knack for things like that.”

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