“But you love your job—”
“I’ve traveled the globe because I had no reason to put down roots. I was trying to fill a void, an emptiness that you erased the moment I met you. I can limit myself to local assignments or consult on projects that won’t keep me away from you for weeks on end.”
He peeled off his gloves, then hers. When they were skin to skin, palm to palm with their fingers laced he squeezed her hands. “Be my reason for coming home.”
He was offering everything she’d ever dreamed of. “I don’t want you to feel as if you’re giving up everything for me, for us. I don’t want our child to feel like you resent his presence.”
“I love you and I will love this child and any others we might have. I promise you, Sabrina, if you’ll allow me to be a part of your life, I’ll be losing nothing and gaining everything.” He lifted her chin with his knuckle. “Tell me I haven’t lost you, that you still love me.”
A tear scalded its way down her cheek. Gavin brushed it away before it had a chance to cool. “I do love you, Gavin. And I want to spend the rest of my life showing you how much.”
“I promise you won’t regret it.”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her so tenderly Sabrina’s tears overflowed, then he pulled back and tugged her down the path.
“Where are we going?”
“Into the mine. I want to carve my initials next to yours in that beam for all the future Jarrod generations to see. One of these days we’ll be telling our grandkids it all started with a little hole in the ground…one filled with silver and dreams, but the riches weren’t in the minerals.”