Just The Way You Are(97)

"I can't do any of that right now."

"I don't think Tessa is ready either."

He stopped talking, and Alli had no idea what else to say. Sam walked farther into the room and shut the door behind him.

"What—what are you doing?" she asked.

"I have something to give you, Alli."

She swallowed hard. "What is it?"

It took slow, agonizing minutes for him to pull the strand of pearls out of his pocket. He held them out to her, and they sparkled in the night light.

Alli couldn't move. She couldn't lift her hand. Couldn't take them. "You're supposed to—supposed to give them to the woman you truly love," she said breathlessly.

His gaze didn't waver from hers. "I love you."

Oh, God! It had taken a lifetime for him to say the words. Or had he said them? Was she imagining the moment? She blinked, but he was still there when she opened her eyes, and he was waiting. "I think you're going to have to say that again," she told him.

A smile crossed his lips, but his eyes were still incredibly somber. "Fair enough. I love you, Alli. Did you hear me? Do you get it? Because if you need me to say it again, I will, and again, if I have to. I should have said it years ago."

"You love me?" she asked in wonder. "Are you sure? When did you know? When did it happen?"

"I don't know when it happened," he said slowly. "Maybe it happened when we slept together all those years ago. Maybe when you delivered our baby into the world. Maybe when you stayed up all night with me when I was sick. Maybe when you bought that red thong for our anniversary." He smiled gently, tenderly, lovingly. "Maybe it was when you made up with Tessa, when you told me I was free. Or maybe it was when we said good-bye to Phoebe. I don't know when it happened, Alli. Because our love is our life."

A knot formed in her throat, so big she wasn't sure she could breathe or swallow or talk. "Sam," was all she could get out.

He moved closer and put the pearl necklace over her head. "You are the woman I love."

"I want to believe you, Sam, but Tessa…" Her insecurities haunted her still.

"Tessa and I would not have lasted. We were young love, but when our love was tested by the very smallest thing, it fell apart. I wasn't meant to follow Tessa around the world, and she wasn't meant to be a fisherman's wife."

"Are you sure?"

He cupped her face with his hands. "You didn't steal my life. You gave me one. Watching you these past few months made me realize how much I'd taken your being in my life for granted. I know now I was holding something back from you, but I hope you realize that I was holding it back from myself, too. When you got pregnant, it was like one life ended and another started. I guess I felt I could only hang on to that past life if I held something back from you."#p#分页标题#e#

"But you loved Tessa. You might love her again," Alli cried, knowing she should just take what he was saying at face value, but she had to be sure. "If you come back to me now, I'm never going to let you go. So you better know what you're saying to me."

He smiled. "I do know what I'm saying. You're the one who isn't listening. I don't love Tessa anymore. All these years I remembered her only as I knew her, but she's different. I'm different. So are you. We all grew up. We all grew into ourselves. Tessa and I don't belong together. Her life is not what I want. My life is not what she wants. We flirted with the possibility of what if, because of the way it all ended so abruptly. We never felt like we had a choice. But the truth is, we always had choices, and we made the right ones."

He took a deep breath, but put his finger against her mouth when she tried to interrupt. "I care about Tessa," he continued. "She'll always be my childhood friend. She'll always be your sister. But you—you are the one. I love you, Alli, and I'm not going to let you divorce me. And I'll fight you and Tessa and the whole damn town if I have to."

"You would fight for me?" she asked.

"Isn't it about time?"

"Past time."

"Forgive me for being a little slow?"

"A lot slow. But I do forgive you. I love you, too, Sam. I always have, from the first minute I saw you."

He kissed her tenderly, a first kiss, a promise of a new beginning.

"What's with the suitcase?" she finally asked.

"I'm moving back in. And I've made some other decisions."

"Like what?"

"I'm not going to sell my business. I'm going to make it better. And I'm not giving up on my marriage; I'm going to make that better, too." He smiled at her. "I'm also thinking of selling the Thunderbird to Jimmy. We can use the money to invest in us, in whatever you want, Alli."