“Are you crazy?” Bryony sputtered out. “Why would I want to go listen to his spiel about his plans for the resort?”
“Now, Bry, I didn’t imagine you for a coward,” Silas said in exasperation. “By now everyone knows what happened. They don’t blame you.”
“I don’t care what they think,” Bryony said in a low voice. “I was prepared to be the brunt of their censure when I went to New York to tell Rafael to go ahead with the plans, that I wouldn’t fight him.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Mamaw asked.
“I don’t want to see him. Why can’t either of you understand that? Do you have any idea how much it hurts to even look at him?”
“The best thing you can do is show up with your head held high. The sooner you get it over with, the sooner you can start coming out of that cottage of yours. It’s just like a bandage. Better to rip it off and have it done with than to delay the inevitable.”
Bryony sighed. “Okay, I’ll go. If I do, then will you please leave me alone and let me deal with this my own way? I know you’re worried but this isn’t easy for me.”
Mamaw squeezed her into a big hug. “I think things will be a lot better after today. You’ll see.”
Bryony wasn’t as convinced but she allowed Silas and Mamaw to drag her to the municipal building where the meeting would be held. It took everything she had not to run back out the door when Silas led her to a front-row seat.
Talk about being a masochist. She’d have a front-row seat in which to listen to the man she loved announce his plans for a resort made possible by her stupidity.
She sighed and sank into one of the folding chairs. Mamaw and Silas took the spots on either side of her. Several people stopped by to talk to Silas. Some even shot sympathetic looks in her direction.
Yep, it was clear everyone knew what a naive fool she’d been.
At least no one was yelling at her for allowing the outsider to come in and develop the island. Yet.
Rupert strode in a minute later, an uncharacteristic smile plastered on his face. It wasn’t his politician smile. It was a genuine one filled with delight. He looked, for lack of a better word, giddy.
He held up his hands for quiet and then frowned when the din didn’t diminish. He cleared his throat and scowled harder. He was forever complaining to Bryony that he wasn’t given enough respect by his constituents.
Finally Silas stood, held up his hands and hollered, “Quiet, people. The mayor wants your attention.”
Rupert sent Silas a disgruntled look when everyone hushed. Then he looked over the audience and smiled. “Today we have Rafael de Luca of Tricorp Investment Opportunities, who is going to talk about the piece of property he recently acquired here on the island. Give him your undivided attention, please.”
It took all of Bryony’s self-restraint not to swivel in her seat to see if he was here. Many of the assembled people began to murmur, and then Bryony heard footsteps coming up the aisle.
Rafael stepped to the podium and Bryony was shocked by his appearance. First, he was wearing jeans. And a T-shirt. He looked tired and haggard. His hair was unkempt and it didn’t look like he’d shaved that morning.
There were hollows under his eyes and a gray pallor to his skin that hadn’t been present before.
He cleared his throat and glanced over the audience before his gaze finally came to rest on her.
He looked…nervous. It didn’t seem possible that this ultraconfident businessman was nervous. But he seemed uneasy and on edge.
She watched in astonishment as he fiddled with something on the podium and when he looked up again, there was a rawness to his eyes that made her chest tighten.
“I came to this island for one thing and one thing only. I wanted to buy property that Bryony Morgan had put up for sale.”
Several muttered insults filtered around the room, but Rafael continued on, undaunted.
“When it became clear that she would attach stipulations to the sale of the land, I conspired to seduce my way into her heart. Basically I was willing to do whatever necessary to convince her I’d do as she asked without having to commit her conditions onto paper.”
Bryony would have bolted to her feet, but Mamaw gripped her arm with surprising strength.
“Sit. You need to listen to this, Bryony. Let him finish.”
Rafael held up his hands to quiet the angry murmurs of the crowd. Then his gaze found Bryony’s again. She slowly slid back into her seat, caught by the intensity in his stare.
“I’m not proud of what I did. But it was part and parcel of the kind of man I was. I left here, never intending to return until it was time for groundbreaking. But my plane crashed. It took weeks to recover and I lost all memory of the time I was here. I’m so grateful for that accident. It changed my life.”
The room went completely silent on the heels of his last statement. Everyone seemed to lean forward in anticipation of what he’d say next.
“I came back here with Bryony to try to regain my memory. What I did was fall in love with this island and with Bryony. For real this time. She’s told me on multiple occasions that I don’t have to always stay the person I was, that I can change and be whoever I want to be. She’s right. I don’t want to be the person I was any longer. I want to be someone I can be proud of, someone she can be proud of. I want to be the man Bryony Morgan loves.”
Tears crowded Bryony’s eyes and her fingers curled into tight little fists in her lap. Mamaw reached over to take one of her hands and rubbed it reassuringly.
“I’m giving Bryony back the land I bought from her. It’s hers to do as she likes. If she wishes, she can make it a gift and deed it to the town. Turn it into a park. Make it a private sanctuary. I don’t care. Because all I want is her. And our child.”
He stopped speaking and seemed to be battling to keep his composure. His fingers curled around the edges of the podium, but she could see that they still shook.
Then he walked around the podium, down the single step that elevated the stage. He came to a stop in front of her and then dropped to one knee. He reached for her hand and gently pried her fingers open and then he laced them with his, something he’d done a hundred times before.
“I love you, Bryony. Forgive me. Marry me. Say you’ll make me a better man than I was. I’ll spend the rest of my life being that man for you and our children.”
A sob exploded from her throat at the same moment she launched herself from her seat and threw her arms around him. She buried her face in his neck and sobbed huge, noisy sobs.
He gripped her tight, holding one hand to the back of her head. He shook against her, almost as if he were dangerously close to breaking down himself.
He kissed her ear, her temple, her forehead, the top of her head. Then he pulled back, framing her face in his hands before peppering the rest of it with kisses.
Around them there were sighs and exclamations, even a smattering of applause, but Bryony tuned them all out as she held on to the one thing she needed most in this world.
Rafael.
“Give me your answer, please, baby,” he murmured in her ear. “Don’t torture me any longer. Tell me I haven’t lost you for good. I can be the man you want, Bryony. Just give me the chance.”
She kissed him and stroked her hands over his face, feeling the stubble on his jaw and drinking in the haggardness of his appearance. He looked as bad as she’d felt over the past week.
“You already are the man I want, Rafael. I love you. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
He shot to his feet and lifted her up, twirling her round and round with a whoop. “She said yes!”
The crowd burst into cheers. Mamaw sniffed indelicately and when Silas handed her a handkerchief, she blew her nose loudly and then sniffed some more.
Slowly he allowed her to slide down his body until her feet touched the floor, but he kept his arms tight around her as if he didn’t want to let her go even for a moment.
“I’m sorry, Bryony,” he said sincerely. “I’m sorry I lied to you, that I hurt you. If I could go back and change it all I would.”
“I’m glad you can’t,” she said. “As I sat here and listened to everything you said, I realized that if things hadn’t happened exactly as they had, you wouldn’t be here now. What’s important is that you love me now. Today. And tomorrow.”
“I’ll love you through lots of tomorrows,” he vowed.
Bryony glanced around as the townspeople began filtering out of the building. Mamaw and Silas had discreetly made their exit, leaving Bryony and Rafael alone at the front of the room.
“What are we going to do, Rafe? What are you going to do? I came to New York because I was going to tell you that you should go ahead with the resort deal. But if you don’t go through with it, what will it mean for your business?”
Rafael sighed. “Ryan, Devon and Cam support me. You support me. That’s all I need. When I left, they were trying to work out a way to salvage the deal. I’m guessing they’ll look for an alternative location. I really don’t care. I told them I wasn’t going to lose you and my child over money. You and our baby mean more to me than anything else in the world. I mean that.”
“After the spectacle you just made of yourself, I believe you,” she teased.
“I’m tired,” he admitted. “And so are you. Why don’t we go back to your cottage, climb into bed and get some rest. I can’t think of anything better than having you back in my arms.”
She leaned into his embrace, wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes as the sweetness of the moment floated gently through her veins.
Then she tilted her head back and smiled up at him, feeling the weight and grief wash away. For the first time in days, the thick blanket of sadness lifted, leaving her feeling light and gloriously happy.
She took his hand and tugged him down the aisle to the doorway leading to the outside. As they stepped out, sunlight poured over them, washing the darkness away.
For a brief moment, she paused and tipped her face into the sun, allowing the warmth to brush over her cheeks.
She looked up at Rafael, who was staring intently at her. His love was there for the entire world to see, shining in his eyes with brightness that rivaled the sun.
It was a look she’d never grow tired of in a hundred years and beyond.
“Let’s go home,” she said.
Rafael smiled, took her hand and pulled her toward the waiting car.