Page 30 of No Way Forward

Now she panted.

“If you’re frightened to say how you feel, I’ll start.”

“No, you shouldn’t. I mean, you don’t have to.” She surged to her feet and moved away from him. There was no way he was about to confess he loved her. No way in the world. It didn’t make sense.

The bed creaked. Every muscle in her back ached. She didn’t turn around to face him but strained to hear if he approached. When his touch never came, she relaxed.

“I know I’m too old for you, but I love you, Novette.”

Her heart stopped.

“When you left, it almost killed me. All I wanted was to be sure you were safe. If I knew that, I wouldn’t have forced you to come home. I wanted you to be happy, and you weren’t happy here.”

She spun to face him. “You love me?”

He offered her a half smile that made her dizzy. “You’re still on that?”

“Um, pretty important info, dude.”

“Alright, let’s start over.” He approached her, but she stumbled backward, shaking. He caught up and brushed hands over her arms. The goose bumps she didn’t know had erupted were soothed a little. He touched his forehead to hers. “I love you so much, Novette, and I want to be your husband.”

“Oh God, I think I’m going to faint.”

He tugged her over to the bed and sat her down. Then joined her. The room shrank some more. His arm encircled her shoulders, and he drew her tight to his side. Some of the fear and nerves dissipated, and she tucked in to him.

“This is a sugar-induced dream. Wait, I didn’t eat the cake.” A nervous laugh escaped her. “I love you too, Zaid, but I was convinced five years ago that I would be forced to marry some idiot my dad chose for me. I thought it was a matter of time before I caved to his will.”

“I know.”

“No matter how old I get, he’s larger than life. It feels impossible to stand against him.” She looked at Zaid again. This wasn’t some elaborate plan on his part to trick her. He wasn’t that type of man. Nor did he care about money as far as she knew. He wouldn’t marry her to get his hands on whatever inheritance her dad would give her later. “This is weird, me asking you to marry me and you accepting? Who does that?”

“We do. I agree it’s not conventional, and I might not have asked you.”

“You don’t want to marry me?”

“It’s not that.”

“You’re hesitating. There’s no way my dad’s going to lie down and take this. He’ll try to get in the way before we ever get to the altar. I picked up a thing or two while on the run, and I know I can do it again. This time, you can come with me. We don’t need his money.”

“No.”

“Say what?” She jerked out of his hold and moved over so no part of her body touched his. That way she could think clearly. “What do you mean ‘no’? You’re not saying you want my dad’s money?”

“I have no interest in Richard’s money, but we are not running away.”

“Zaid, my dad is a force of nature. He’ll plow us down and tear us apart. He’ll send you away. I won’t see you again. The worst case scenario would be that he frames you for something and sends you to jail for the rest of your life.”

“You don’t think highly of him.”

“And you do?”

“You don’t understand, Novette.”

“Please explain it to me,” she snapped. “You say you love me, but you want me to stay here under my dad’s roof and under his control.”

“Not his control, but we must slow down and think about how to get him to agree to our getting married.”

“Don’t hold your breath. Are you scared we won’t make it out in the real world? I’ve done it, and it’s hard. There were rough times, sure, but I’m strong enough to stand on my own two feet. It was harder because I had to hide, but I still made it.”

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