Lovely Trigger (Tristan & Danika #3)(98)

“Step two:  Choose the country of adoption.  I’ve thought this over a lot, and I was thinking, and tell me if I’m wrong, that it doesn’t really matter.  But I heard that the process goes faster if you choose a country yourself, so I went to the liberty of putting them all in a hat.”

He bent forward, plucking the black velvet pouch out of the briefcase and pulling it open until there was just enough room for my hand to fit in.  “I think you should do the honors.”

I put my hand in, mostly because it was so surreal that I couldn’t quite believe what was going on.  I pulled out a small piece of paper that only said China.

“China.  Perfect.  Now that that’s out of the way, Step three:  Do a shit-ton of paperwork.  I’ve heard that part is a headache, but it’ll be well worth it.”

“Tristan—”

“Oh, wait, I forgot something important.  Reach into the bag again.”

I don’t know why, but I just did it, though I knew we needed to talk more than he needed to continue with this.

Whereas before my hands had skimmed over several small pieces of paper, now it held only one thing, at the very bottom.  He hadn’t so much as twitched, that I could tell, since the last time I’d reached in.

I yanked my hand back like it had been burned the second I felt what was inside.  I knew what it was instantly.

I started shaking my head as Tristan started nodding that yes, it was just what I thought it was.

He got down on one knee in front of me.

I covered my face with my hands.

He started laughing.  “I learned my lesson the first time.  Notice my clever location is very much private.”

“What are you doing?” I asked, my voice muffled by my own hands.

“You know,” his deep voice was affectionately amused.

He moved my arm a bit, but not to take my hands from my face, as I originally thought.

Instead, he covered the spot on my chest just over my heart.  He kept it there for a few beats, and then he was shifting, standing, then pulling me against him, pushing my face down on his chest with one hand, the other moving to cover my chest again.

“Do you hear that?” he uttered quietly.

“Hear what?” I whispered back.

“It never stopped, did it?” he asked softly.  “All this time.  Years.  And my heart is still beating in time with yours, still working, above all else, to keep that even pace.  Fight it all you want, but even our bodies betray our feelings.”

As though in direct contradiction, my heart tried to pound its way out of my chest at his words.

I clenched my eyes shut tight, clenched everything as I spoke.  “I can’t have children.”

“Oh, sweetheart.  You haven’t been paying attention.  Did you think the way I felt about you would change because of that?  I am not that guy.  I am the guy who has been in love with you for over six f**king years.  I am the guy that has thought about you every day.  I miss you every day.  What happened—what we lost together—breaks my heart, but it doesn’t change anything.  I still want to marry you, and I still want you to be the mother of my children.”

“Tristan, I can’t—”

“It is a technicality.  We can’t conceive, so we will adopt.”

I started sobbing.

“You know, if you get hysterical every time I propose to you, it’s going to start to hurt my feelings.”

I laughed, then sobbed harder.

“Give me my family back.  Marry me.  Be my wife again.”

He didn’t wait for an answer, taking the ring out of the bag and putting it on my finger.

“Yes,” I finally told him, holding on for dear life.

He stroked my hair, his eyes closing, a look of utter peace overtaking his face.

“I missed you so much,” I sobbed, then burrowed into his chest.

“Never again.”

I waited until I was calm.  “I love you,” I said quietly and vehemently.

I heard the smile in his voice.  “Love you more.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

FOUR MONTHS LATER

DANIKA

To say that our wedding got the royal treatment was a huge compliment to all things royal.  The moment James got wind that we were even considering using his resort to say our vows, the diamond encrusted red carpet was rolled out, and the rest was sort of history.

The ceremony itself was held in the Cavendish Hotel & Casino’s world-renowned atrium.  The atrium was a huge draw for the casino, so the fact that they roped the entire thing off for three hours just for our vows, was huge.  In fact, I’d never heard of such a thing.  And what was even more extravagant, James had an entirely new all white garden arrangement put together just for us.

I confronted James directly when I heard a rumor about how much the new arrangement had cost.

He’d just smiled charmingly, and diffused the situation with ease.  “We do these floral arrangements all the time, and they’re often expensive.  We won’t take it all down right after the wedding.  We’ll make full use of it.”

I was appeased, because, grand gesture though it was, at least I could be sure it wasn’t wasteful.