Page 107 of Savannah Royals
“I’m just doing my job.”
“No, you’re not. You’re doing way more than that. Paul isn’t easy, especially when his pride is damaged. More days than not, he thinks the suncomes up just to hear him crow. I’m sorry this is how you met him, because there’s a lot of good in him you’ll likely never get to see. But I’m eternally grateful to you, and you continually impress me, just by being yourself.”
He waits silently, knowing more is coming.
“I just can’t believe how much grace and compassion you have,” I finally manage. “How big your heart is…that you can always find room in it, no matter who the person is.”
“It doesn’t matter who they are. Everyone deserves the same, Kat. When someone is dying in my hospital, when a family member is crying in the hall, when someone ishurting—like you—or him,” he says, pointing back to the bayou house, “only kindness matters.”
He meets my glistening eyes and reaches out to wipe the corner with his thumb.
“Kindness matters, Kat,” Matthew repeats. “Love always leads with kindness.”
And in his simple, Matthew way, he absolutely floors me.
I think of Abe, how he loves me. With kindness. And what it means to me.
It’s how Matthew loves me too, I realize. With kindness and forgiveness and understanding. Even if he doesn’t really understand and may not want to forgive, not everything. I mean, how could he? Like Paul always reminds me, there are some things you have to live through to fully understand. Even still, Matthew always tries, and he never, ever runs.
I remember what Lady Genevieve told me on New Year’s Eve. It’s not about what happened before him, it’s only about what happens after. The differences don’t matter if you don’t let them.
And finally, Ray.I want you to be able to say you chose your life, you didn’t settle for it.
For so long, I’ve been afraid there was this dark part of me Matthew could never possibly understand, that fundamentally, we’re different. That the glitz of Matthew’s world was a temporary, seductive escape from my own. That Paul, ultimately, was right—Matthew could never fully give me what I need.
But what do I need, truly?
He’s standing right here. Right in front of me. Staying when anyone else would run.
Matthew.With his kindness and his wit and his courage and his grace. His eyes piercing through me, always seeing, always trying to understand. Figuring me out, one puzzle piece at a time, never looking away from the dark parts. Sharing his light with me, helping me find my own.
Of course I choose Matthew. How had I ever thought it could be anyone else? Because Matthew is the sun. Yes, I’ve always seen that, but it’s by standing in his light now that I can finally see everything else.
“Do you know the moment I fell in love with you?” I ask quietly.
He shakes his head.
“When I saw you in the hospital, treating a perfect stranger with the same attention and care and love you show to your own family. And to me. That’s when I knew I loved you beyond saving, beyond return. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, and I’m sorry for keeping secrets. You deserve far better, but you make me want tobebetter. You told me the other night you weren’t running. Did you mean it?”
“Of course I meant it, Kat.”
“Then I want to be very clear about something. I’m not some princess in an ivory tower or a lost girl in a bad situation. I’m not looking to besaved, Matthew. I love my life. I wouldn’t change a thing about the path that led me here. Not one single thing. If I leave this life for you, it will be asacrifice.”
He nods.
“The reason I want to be clear about that is so you understand just how totally and completely in love with you I am. You aren’t just an option to me, like you offered the other night. I’m not looking for options. But ifyou’ll have me, I would very much like to be yours. There’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t give to be yours.”
“Mine?” His gaze latches onto me, searing through with so much hope and love, I’m blinded.
“Yours and yours alone,” I confirm.
I smile as he reaches for me. And when he kisses me—a blue blood boy and a bayou girl, in the middle of the cobblestone streets of Savannah—he grins against my lips and starts laughing. Whether with relief or happiness or God only knows what…either way, it’s Matthew.
I smile and laugh back. Because I’m his.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
I’mworkingonafunctional modification to Cleopatra’s cobra ring—one deemed necessary after recent events—when Ray calls from the storeroom. I drop the piece. It’s near completion, near perfection.
