Second Chance Pass (Virgin River #5)(51)

“I couldn’t let a child of yours go any more than you could.”

“Vanni, I want to marry you, take care of you and Mattie.”

She frowned slightly. “Wait a minute—is there anything else you should tell me before you propose? Any other little secret stuffed in the back of your closet?”

“Honest to God, that’s it. Until very recently, I had the most boring life in Grants Pass!”

“You’re sure about that? Because until last week, I thought I knew everything about you. I mean, I’ve known you for years, lived with you for months. We spent so many hours just talking…”

“That’s it. Jesus, isn’t that enough? I want to marry you and Mattie. In fact, once we get the lay of the land, I’d like to have more children. Maybe at least one that we actually make together. I’d give anything for that, Vanni.”

She smiled. “Let’s see how many you have so far before we make those kinds of plans, huh?”

“Then you’ll marry me?” he asked, brushing the hair away from her brow.

“You’re a very interesting guy, Paul. It takes you years to tell me you love me, and minutes to ask me to marry you.”

“I’ll wait till you’re ready, but I want us to be together forever.”

The corner of her mouth lifted along with one reddish brow, teasing. “Don’t you think we should see how we work out sexually? See if we’re good together?” she asked, grinning playfully.

“Vanessa, we’ll be good together. Well, you’ll be perfect and I’m sure I’ll catch on eventually.” He kissed her again. “Are you going to say yes or make me beg?”

“Do you think I want to live with my father and have a weekend boyfriend forever? Yes,” she said. “I’m probably going to marry you.”

“Oh God, thank you,” he said, grabbing her to him again. “Is tomorrow too soon?”

“A little bit. We’re waiting on the Grants Pass baby, remember? It won’t make a difference, but I think we should know how many people we’re bringing into this family.”

“We’ll do that. Right away. That’s perfectly reasonable,” he said, grinning. Then he shook his head in sheer wonder. “You’ve been wonderful about this. I didn’t really expect you to come around so quickly. I thought you were going to drive me crazy…”

“Well, I’ve turned it over in my mind for a while now. When it happened, we didn’t know where we stood with each other. It’s not as if we said the I love you’s and you went to bed with another woman.”

“Yet you insisted I try to see if I could love her?”

“I had to be sure. I don’t want another woman’s man, even if it’s you.”

“You’re remarkable, you know that? In fact, your whole family is remarkable. Your dad was pretty civil about it, too.”

She was quiet for a moment, a startled look on her face. “My dad?” she asked.

“Yeah. He just wanted to be sure I wasn’t playing with your feelings. And he seemed kind of interested in how I was going to manage, financially. I told him the company’s doing well, that’s not going to be a—”

“You told my dad?” she asked, cutting him off.

Paul was frozen, staring at her for a second. “No,” he finally said. “You told your dad. Because he asked me if I planned on…Oh shit, what did he ask me? Something about whether I had commitments in Grants—” He leaned over her shoulder and let his forehead bang against the tree. “And I said, ‘Absolutely, sir—I’ll support the woman and my child.’ Oh God.”

Vanni, laughing, pushed him away slightly. “You told my dad!” she exclaimed, laughter shaking her.

Paul grimaced. “You didn’t tell him, huh?”

“Of course not,” she said, her eyes alight and her smile huge. “That’s a little personal, don’t you think? Plus, you said you still had to be sure it was for real.”

“Oh God.”

“Paul,” she said, “what did you do?”

“I thought you’d told him. What did you tell him?”

She looped her arms around his neck, but she was laughing too hard to speak for a while. “I told him we shouldn’t be surprised to learn you’d actually had women in your life before you came to Virgin River. That there was a woman…” And she dissolved into laughter again.

He leaned against her once more, pressing her back to the tree. “It isn’t that funny.”

“Are you kidding? It’s hilarious!” She laughed a little more and finally said, “Paul, he’s a trained interrogator. You walked right into it!”

“I don’t see the humor…”

“Well, if you don’t have a sense of humor, I don’t know if I can—”

She was cut off by his mouth finding hers. In fact, he kept her from laughing for a long time, covering her with his body. They kissed and held on to each other. Finally he released her lips and asked, “You done laughing?”

“I am. I think you worked it out of me.”

He touched her swollen lips with tender fingers. “Do you think your father will shoot me?”

“Probably not,” she said, smiling. “But if you hear a rifle cock, you might want to duck.”