Her heart caught and she tried to pull her hand from his.
He made a noise of refusal and held on. “You didn’t hear me in the ambulance. I love you, Cinnia.”
“You don’t have to say that just because—”
“I do need to say it. I should have said it when you asked back in January. Before that even.” He scowled in self-recrimination. “Hospitals are excellent places for confronting your failings. Cowardice. Wrongful thinking. Time wasted that could have been spent with someone who brings joy into your life. I can spell out all my mistakes, but I don’t have to because you know all of them. You know me. You say I’m a closed book, but you know me, Cinnia. In ways no one else does.”
He pressed her hand to his thigh, looked into her eyes with so much openness it was like standing over the Grand Canyon, her mind incapable of taking in the vastness before her.
“I took you for granted. I expected you to just be there,” he continued. “But that is all I need from you, mon amour. I know you want to help me pay the bills or make my dental appointments. You want to play a role so you feel you are pulling your weight, but what I need most from you is you. I need you to be with me. Alive.”
The corners of her mouth pulled, lips trembling, chastised, but deeply touched. “It’s hard to feel like I’m enough,” she confessed, stroking his thigh. “When you’re...you.”
“Who else can I trust with my heart? Hmm?” He cupped the side of her face. “I didn’t ask you to carry it, but you picked it up and took such care with it all this time.”
She had, and all the while she had felt like it was turned away from her. Now, suddenly, love was shining back at her, gleaming from his eyes and his heart and his soul, bathing her in a light so blinding her eyes watered.
“I want yours, chérie,” he said tenderly. “Will you give it to me?”
Her throat closed and her chest felt tight. “It’s always been yours.”
He shifted, rising to stand, then set his knee on the mattress beside her hip. “You told me to get down on one knee, but I’ll be damned if I’ll do that on a hospital floor.”
She caught back a laugh even as she caught her breath.
“I mean this, chérie.”
She knew what was coming, but was still unprepared.
“I love you, Cinnia. Will you marry me?”
The words expanded the air around them so everything disappeared except this beautiful man holding her hand, holding her gaze. Her heart grew so big, pounded so hard, she thought it would burst with happiness. Her eyes flooded and such love filled her, she could only lift her arms and say, “Yes. Of course. I love you. Yes.”
He gathered her close and they kissed, first briefly, tenderly, then with deeper feeling. Passion, but something else that was healing and unifying, solemn and binding.
“Enough of that,” the nurse said as she interrupted. “The babies you’ve already made are still fresh. And hungry, Mama. Let’s take you to them.”
Henri wheeled her, impulsively kissing the top of her hair as they went into the warm nursery. Her mother was cradling a sleeping Rosalina while Elisa Sauveterre was fending off her daughters from Colette, who was fussing and rooting with hunger.
“Oh, love,” Milly said, letting Henri take Rosalina so she could hug Cinnia. “This is the last time you do this, do you hear me?”
“Get engaged?” Cinnia teased, sending a cheeky wink to Henri. “Agreed.”
The women erupted in excitement, kissing and congratulating Henri.
“Have you set a date?” Angelique demanded, clasping her hands with excitement. “Have a double ceremony with me and Kasim!”
“I don’t want to wait that long.” Henri was still holding Rosalina, but he grazed the backs of his fingers against Cinnia’s cheek in a tender caress. “We can wait until you’re discharged if we have to, but right after. Oui?”
“Why wait until I’m discharged?” Cinnia held his gaze in a small dare. “What do you think, Mum? Could you arrange something for tomorrow? Since everyone is here?”
“What?”
“Are you serious?” A smile grew on Henri’s lips.
“Are you?”
“Never more.” There wasn’t a shred of hesitation in his expression. “I love you with everything in me. I can’t wait to call you my wife.”
“Then yes, let’s do it.” She lifted her lips for a quick, sweet kiss, then gave her attention to the women. “Ladies, your assignment, if you choose to accept it, is to plan a wedding for tomorrow.”
“Way to clear a room,” Henri said drily a moment later, as she latched the hungry Colette.