“I kept it,” he said.
Frowning, I tried to figure out what he was talking about.
“The mirror. I kept a piece. I didn’t know why at the time. But when I cleaned it up, I kept a piece. I wanted to remember you. I didn’t expect to see you again. So I kept that piece of mirror.”
Wow. Oh, wow. I held the box tighter in my hands as I stared up at him.
“I kept the book, too,” he said. “When you conquered it, I called your tutor and had him sell me the book. I wanted to remember you reading those words to me. How you were so shy at first but with each sentence and each day, you grew stronger and more sure of yourself. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever witnessed.”
My heart felt like it was going to explode from my chest. I even placed a hand over it to keep it from breaking free.
Mase walked toward me and held out a piece of paper. It looked like a receipt. “This isn’t something that a man normally shows a woman, but I need you to see that date and understand what it means. Because of timing and circumstances, it took three weeks to get from that moment to this one.”
I took the receipt from his hand, but before I could look down at it, Mase was lowering himself to his knee.
No. This wasn’t happening. I didn’t want this. I had told him I didn’t want this. I started shaking my head as tears stung my eyes. I didn’t want all this sweetness to become part of a bad memory.
“I need you to look at that receipt, baby. Please,” Mase said as he stared up at me.
My stomach was in knots. My throat burned, and my eyes were blurry. Had he not listened to me? I didn’t want to force him to do anything. I blinked and tried to focus on the receipt. Once again, the date was circled in red. Just like the one he’d given me a copy of. It was the same receipt. However, the item wasn’t blacked out on this one, only the price.
Pear-cut pink morganite ring with rose-gold band.
I reread the words and even said them under my breath as I let the information sink in. It was a ring he had bought three weeks ago.
“It was perfect for you. It just wasn’t your size,” he whispered.
I lifted my gaze to meet his and saw that he was now holding a ring in his right hand.
“I had to get it sized to fit your finger,” he said softly.
“Oh,” was all I could manage to choke out past the lump in my throat.
“Reese Ellis, you came into my life and lit it up. Everything that was dull became shiny. You changed me. You made my life complete. So please, give me all I want in this life and say you’ll be my wife.”
My cheeks were wet by the time he finished talking. All I knew was that this was right. This was it. This was the way it was supposed to be. And I’d never love another man the way I loved this one. “Yes,” I managed to say past the sobs that broke free.
Mase slid the ring onto my finger and stood up to claim my mouth with his.
This was the best fairy tale of them all.
Epilogue
Mase
Reese hadn’t been insistent that we get married before the baby was born, but I wanted her last name to be Colt Manning before we brought a child into this world. We would be a family. The kind she and I hadn’t started out in life with.
Today Harlow had come to Dallas to shop for a wedding gown with my mother and Reese. Tomorrow Reese, Harlow, and I were going to L.A. to tell Kiro about the wedding and the baby. He wasn’t drinking himself to death, but Emily was getting worse, and Harlow was worried about him. I didn’t want her to visit him without me, and I needed to tell him about Reese and me. It just wasn’t something I planned on doing over the phone.
I wasn’t sure he’d even care about the baby or the wedding, but he was my father. He should at least be told. I did the best I could with him for Harlow’s sake.
Dad pulled up in front of the stables and held out my mail, like he did most days when he drove out to check our mail-boxes. “Got a few things today,” he called out.
I headed up the hill to his truck to get them from him. “Thanks,” I said, taking the small stack of envelopes.
“You’re welcome. It’s been quiet around here with Major in Rosemary Beach and Aida gone. I’ve got more time on my hands without having to listen to your momma telling me about the drama they’ve stirred up.”
Chuckling, I went through the mail in my hands. “Yeah, Major kept things interesting. How’s Uncle Chap doing with him working in the restaurant business?”
Dad shook his head. “Not proud of him, but I told him at least he’s got a job. Don’t think Chap’s ever gonna get over the fact that his son slept with his wife. Don’t know what he expected, marrying a woman four years older than his son.”
I had to agree with him. “It’s got to be hard being Chap’s son, though.” I never envied Major his father. Chapman Colt was a hard-ass to deal with. He was never my favorite uncle.
Dad grunted. “Probably so. Well, I got shit to do. I’ll see you later. I reckon we’re on our own for dinner, with the women out shopping.”
Smiling, I nodded. “We’ll make do.”
He pulled away, and I went back to going through my mail. One envelope caught my eye, and I placed the other ones in my jacket pocket so I could open it. The simple white envelope had no return address. It was postmarked from Chicago and addressed to me.
I opened it and pulled out a thick set of folded papers. Something else fluttered to the ground. I opened the papers first, and my eyes immediately saw the words Trust Fund at the top. Just under it was Reese’s full name.
I scanned the papers to see that Reese had a trust fund worth ten million dollars, which she was entitled to the year she turned twenty-one. Confused, I continued reading, and Benedetto DeCarlo’s name appeared. He’d done this. He had known where her mother was at one time, because he’d set up this trust fund. I wasn’t sure how to tell Reese about this. Was this Benedetto’s way of asking me for help in telling her?
I bent down to pick up the paper that had fallen out of the envelope. The small, square note looked familiar. I’d seen it before.