Leo's Chance(72)

EPILOGUE


Two months later



Leo grabs my hand between our seats, bringing it to his lips and kissing it. He smiles over at me, and I lean my head back on the headrest and give him a smile too. As he turns back to the road, I drink in the beauty of his profile.

It's been two months since that day in his office building lobby, the most beautiful two months of my life. We've spent it reminiscing about both good and bad times, falling more deeply in love, just being us together, no secrets between us, no fear, no guilt or shame. I tease him that Jake is my lion, and Leo is my boy. I love both, I need both – just one or the other doesn't add up to the complete person that he's become. My fierce, loyal man and my sweet, tender, protective boy. Both scarred, but both finally able to find the strength to accept that even life's worst experiences can be valuable gifts.

Oh and also, both of them like to maul me, frequently, and that's a good thing. A very, very good thing. I grin over at him.

"What?" he asks.

"I was just thinking about this morning," I say, grinning more.

He chuckles back. "Yeah. We really missed out on the showering together in the beginning, didn't we? I'm glad we're making up for lost time." He winks and grins back.

I laugh. "Definitely. So where are you taking me?" I tilt my head and look at him suspiciously. When we had gotten in the car, he had said he wanted to show me something, but wouldn't tell me what.

"You'll see in a minute."

We both look ahead as he makes a turn and that's when I realize that we're on the street where I used to live, the street of my old foster home. I frown slightly. What are we doing here?

As he pulls up in front of the house, I look over at Leo, and he has a nervous expression on his face as he studies me. "Trust me?" he asks.

I don't even take a second to think about it before whispering, "Yes. Completely."

He smiles as he shuts off the engine and leans over and kisses me softly. "Come on, then."

He gets out and comes around the car to let me out on my side. He takes my hand in his as I step out and pulls me against him, before shutting the door.

It's a cold December day and his breath plumes in the air as he says, "I love you, Evie."

I look up into his warm brown eyes and whisper back, "I love you, too."

He kisses my forehead and says softly, "I'll never, ever get tired of hearing that."

Then he pulls me gently and we walk toward the house. It's in terrible condition, garbage strewn all over the front yard, paint chipping everywhere, windows broken. Obviously it's been abandoned for quite some time.

As he pushes open the front door, and I peek inside, memories wash over me. For just a minute, I feel like a frightened young girl again, emptiness consuming me. But then Leo squeezes my hand and I look up into his love-filled eyes, and I'm okay. But why did he bring me here?

He pulls me gently again and I follow him as we climb the stairs to the second floor. I know where he's taking me now, and suddenly my heart lifts and a smile tilts the corners of my mouth. Our roof.

We climb carefully through the broken window and I rub my hands together when we step outside. He wraps his arms around me, and we simply stand there holding each other for several minutes on the very slightly slanted surface.

When he lets go of me, I move to sit down, but he stops me, saying gently, "No. Stay there. Please." I look at him in confusion, but as he drops down on one knee, I understand and a breath hitches in my throat.

My Leo reaches into his pocket, and brings out a ring box and opens it to show me the most beautiful platinum, vintage style engagement ring I've ever seen. I stare at it, mesmerized for a couple seconds before my eyes move back to his. My vision blurs as I see the emotion on his face.

"Evelyn Cruise," he says, pausing before taking a shaky breath and continuing, "I wanted to bring you here to ask you to spend your life with me because this is the place where I first knew that I'd love you forever. This is the place where I learned what it feels like to be loved. And this is the place where my lips first touched yours." He smiles up at me as I let out a half laugh/half sob and bring my hand to his cheek. He leans into it and smiles again before looking up into my eyes and saying, "Will you do me the great honor of being my wife? Will you marry me?"

Tears are streaming down my cheeks now and there is a lump so big in my throat that I can't speak. So I nod again and again, going down on my knees with Leo so that I can kiss him through my tears and my vigorous nodding. We kiss and he laughs against my mouth, and finally, I collect myself enough to laugh too. He pulls back slightly, smiling, but then going serious as he says, "I need to hear it, baby. Let me hear you say it."

"Yes, yes, yes," I whisper between more kisses. "A million yesses. Infinity yesses." I smile through my tears as he slides the ring on my finger.

I take his beautiful face in my hands and bring my mouth to his again. This kiss goes deeper, our tongues flirting, caressing. I feel the air shimmer around us and I tilt my head so that he can go deeper. He moans and pulls me closer and I revel in the heady taste of him, the feel of his body pressed against mine.

Suddenly, it registers that something cold and wet is hitting my cheeks. I break away from Leo, both of us breathing heavily. We look up at the same time and I suck in a breath when I realize it's snowing! We look back at each other and both burst into wondrous laughter. It's really snowing! Just like the first time we kissed. Only this time, we aren't saying goodbye. This time, we're starting our life together. The magical quality of the moment hits me and I start crying again, and Leo pulls me close, wiping my tears away. We hold each other for a few minutes before it occurs to me that we're standing on a roof on someone else's property.