Impulsion (Station 32 #1)(97)
“I was only repaying the same courtesy,” Collin said. “The public eye saw that friendship for more than it was.”
“Which is why Collin tried to make it work, but—”
“We are getting off track, Harley,” Collin said, raising his glass toward Garrison. “Harley is your greatest accomplishment because she was the one that taught you how to love unconditionally. This family, the Tatums, made me strive to feel that for myself, which is why—”
“Why I told Collin—” Harley said over him.
“Harley—” Collin said over her, and he wasn’t alone. Her mother said her name, too, nearly forgot to use her kind, public tone.
“Are the two of you giving Harley the floor?” Garrison asked with a wry smile, making light of the fact that Harley’s name was echoing through the pair of them.
“No, Collin has a point,” Silvia said, “Collin, go ahead, dear.”
“A point? So this is not a toast, but a speech,” Garrison said, putting his glass down and leaning back on the table just behind him. He nodded to the wait staff at the side door. When the door opened, the wind was knocked out of Harley.
Wyatt was standing there in a suit that seemed to reach out and grab all the power he had in his soul, the power he used on the farm, the power he used in his career, the power he had to command Harley’s heart to thunder forward. Looking commanding enough to rule the world, the confident glint in his eye underlined the dominance he was emanating.
She could not see anyone or anything past him, but she was sure that Memphis and Easton were standing off to the side outside those doors.
What is he doing here? Oh my God, he knows what they think Collin was going to ask. Why does he not look mad? Those were the thoughts racing through her mind.
“I was told there was someone else who had a speech or a point to make,” Garrison said. “In fact, this young man, in his own way, told me seven years ago that he would need this time right now.”
Conrad was chuckling as he shook his head. His wife Silvia looked infuriated, but the look on Claire Tatum’s face was priceless, somewhere between rage and surprise, as her classic fake smile disintegrated.
Wyatt stepped forward, holding Harley’s gaze, doing everything in his power to keep her there with him, hoping against all hope that she could see that no one in this room mattered but them, that he had fought for her and won, that this was the end. The ending they dreamed of.
“Can we have a moment?” Claire said to the room. Garrison held his hand out, telling everyone to stay.
“I want to introduce Mr. Doran to my closest friends.” He raised his chin in Wyatt’s direction. “All of you in this room know of this young man; if not of him, his family. This is Rose Ellington’s eldest grandson.”
Everyone in the room seemed to gasp or ah in some way. Stares filled with instant honor and respect were aimed at Wyatt.
“All of you know I have oil in my blood, deep southern blood. The kind that makes men. The kind that gives you the power not only to take what is yours, but protect what is yours.” He stood from his lean. “Mr. Doran comes from the same roots I had—well, minus the oil,” Garrison said with a grin. “Nevertheless, the same drive and fearlessness. A boldness that puts the world at its knees in awe. Mr. Doran comes from a southern legacy that only grows stronger with each generation. His family equestrian estate has hosted some of the most prestigious international guests the world has known. They are the masters of the sport of kings.
“Their reputation, along with my mother’s longstanding respect and honor for the Ellingtons, who became Dorans, is why I eagerly asked for my daughter to be schooled by them. I knew they could bring out that fire and passion in my daughter. And they did.
“This old man and his horrid health took my daughter away from her passion, away from the Dorans, but earlier this year life brought my daughter and Wyatt Doran together once more.” Garrison chuckled. “Look at me, so damn old that I ramble. I’m getting ahead of myself. Wyatt, you did have something to say, or did you not?”
Wyatt had not let his stare leave Harley’s. He didn’t hear a word Garrison said beyond his name and asking him to speak. The world stopped for him right then, and a shy smile dangled on his lips.
“Harley, there is no amount of time or space that could ever make me feel apart from you. You are the life that breathes into me.” He stepped forward, holding her gaze. “You told me once that in life all you wanted was to ‘be.’ You wanted to exist in a world surrounded by everything that excites you, pushes you, and drives you. You wanted endless passion, a love so deep that your only fear was losing it…I want to give you all of that and more.”
He stepped forward again and carefully fell to one knee.
Harley’s heart was thundering. Logic told her to gauge her father’s expression, to understand if he knew this was coming. Logic was telling her that she should notice that ice cold stare of her mother, or even glance to Collin to gauge his expression. But logic didn’t exist in Harley anymore.
She felt like she was going to faint; every hope she could have had for her life rained down on her all at once.
“Harley, will you be mine forever?” Wyatt said as he spun a silver band on his finger, flashing the three-carat canary diamond.
Claire Tatum gasped. When she looked at her husband, she found a smug grin, a glint of satisfaction in his stare. What kept her silent, what left her speechless was the fact that she knew it was not malicious satisfaction; he was truly happy for their daughter.