Page 87 of Memories with Fire

Hailey turns her head, a smile breaking out across her lips before she shakes her head, takes a breath, and turns back to me, the smile disappearing again. “Luke, I broke?—”

I silence her with a thumb to her lips, my hand cupping her cheek, imploring her not to say another word. “Please, just listen. Two minutes. And then you can say whatever you want. Build an ice castle to keep me out, or let it all turn into a brilliant, beautiful ocean for us to navigate together.”

She lifts an eyebrow in response but remains silent.

Dropping my eyes from hers to the necklace still around her neck, my hand follows, and I gently pick up the pendant. Even years from the day I gave it to her, it’s still just as pretty as it was back then. Like her. “I could only buy a promise ring that day because I’d spent almost everything I had on this. I think I somehow infused my heart into it before I left, so that it would always stay with you, close to your heart because I never thought you’d take it off. It would always be here for safe keeping. Everlasting, never ending.”

Hailey lifts her hand to mine, her fingers sliding into my palm, forcing me to let go of the necklace which drops back to her chest. Our eyes meet as I take her hand, bringing it to my lips, pressing a soft kiss to her wrist, the heel of her hand, her palm. When her hand is fully open, I turn it over and place the object I fished out of my wallet into it. Her eyes dart down, and her gasp is audible as she realizes what it is.

The promise ring.

“Just like my promise to you. Everlasting. Never ending. You had my heart in that necklace, this ring had the rest of me. And both belong to you.” I close her fingers around the simple yellow band with one tiny gemstone that isn’t a diamond but sparkles anyway. “That’s as true now as it was back then. This kind of love comes around once in an eternity, I swear, and I’m never going to let it go. Even if you let me go.”

Lifting my free hand, I push her hair back behind her ear, my thumb brushing across her freckles, catching one tear that slides down her cheek. “I never stopped loving you, and never will. You are everything to me, Freckles, and I will spend the rest of my life making up for not breaking your door down ten years ago, and for keeping the truth from you about what happened in Waco, if you’ll let me. And if you need time, I’ll give it to you. I just need to know if one day you’ll have me.”

Her mouth opens to speak, but then she shuts it again, looking at me expectantly.

I can’t help but laugh. “I think my two minutes are probably up.”

She smiles with a chuckle of her own, but then sobers, tilting her head into my touch. “I was going to jump out of a plane.”

Of all the things that could have come out of her mouth, that’s not one that I saw coming. “What?”

“When I saw Dr. Rinkins earlier—god, that was only today, how was that only today?—I didn’t know how I was going to make up for breaking your heart, but I felt like I had to do something big,” she explains, reaching up to take my hand at her face in her free one, lowering them to her lap with our others. Tears well in her eyes, her voice dropping lower with her words as emotion thickens her throat. “So, I thought what better way to show you I love you than jumping out of a plane. Doing something that scares me to death. ‘Cause you make me brave, and you make me want to conquer every fear I’ve ever had.”

I squeeze her hands. “You know a simple ‘I love you, Dimples’ would have sufficed, right?”

“No, Luke, it wouldn’t,” she says, shaking her head. “Because it doesn’t even touch how I feel about you, or what you mean to me. You deserve so much more than a simple ‘I love you’ even though that is true. You deserved a phone call ten years ago, even if it would have been me screaming at you. And I should have been more understanding that not everything from our pasts can be shared overnight.”

“I should have told you about Priscylla, Hailey. As soon as you saw that text. I was so dang scared you wouldn’t believe me, though, after everyone turned against me in Waco, and I’d just gotten you back?—”

She interrupts, pulling our hands to her chest, squeezing mine. “I forgive you. But can we promise each other no more secrets?”

I turn her one hand over, and she opens her fingers to reveal the ring still sitting in her palm. Taking it, I hold it between us, gazing into her eyes. “I promise.”

A smile dances softly across her lips as she flips her hand over and holds it out to me. As I slide the ring onto her finger, she repeats, “I promise.”

Taking her face in my hands, I lean forward, closing the distance between us and capturing her lips with mine, sealing the promise with a kiss.

We spent some time kissing,but then I urged her to rest, and laid down beside her, gathering her in my arms so she could use me as a pillow. It took less than a minute for her breathing to change and sleep to claim her.

Or drugs. While she was out, Jordan snuck in for a second to check on things, making a comment that it was about time Hailey gave into the drugs for some much needed rest. Apparently, she’d been forcing herself to stay awake, though how she fought it, I haven’t a clue.

She woke up ten minutes ago when the doctor was in to check on her. Hailey officially told him she wanted out of the hospital for the night, and while he urged her to stay, he agreed to release her into my care. As long as she knew the rules which included no driving, and a follow up appointment with her regular physician. Now we’re just waiting for the paperwork to get out of here. That, and we need to wait for Nate and Liam to drive my Jeep over from the firehouse since I originally came with Nate.

“Luke?” Hailey says softly.

I press my lips to the top of her head. “Yeah, Freckles?”

“I don’t think I have a house left,” she sighs.

My fingertips run up and down her arm, and I smile to myself. “Yeah, you do. It’s at the top of Grouse Road and it’s one of your favorite places in all of Bear Creek. A place you wished you lived, and now that wish is coming true.”

She turns her head up to me, an eyebrow raised. “I can’t tell if that’s your way of asking me to move in, or just an offer to stay.”

I angle my head, brushing my lips across hers. “Let it be whatever you want it to be. We can go as fast or slow as you want, Freckles. Either way, I’m all in.”

“Even if I’m broken?” she asks, easing back from me, chewing on her bottom lip.

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