The idea shook him. He went to his kitchen and got a beer and then walked back to the guest bedroom downstairs where she had stayed when she had been at his house. He thought about being in bed with her, holding her in his arms.
He missed her terribly and he didn’t want to tell her goodbye. It shocked him to think about it, and decided that he was in love with her. Why hadn’t he seen it before now? He’d wanted to be with her day and night.
When he recognized that he loved Stella, he also saw he might be on the verge of losing her. She was a strong woman with her own standards and views and so far she had turned him down on marriage. Plus, she was considering accepting a very good position in Houston, which was a long way from Dallas.
He was in love with her and she was going to have his baby. He didn’t want to lose her. He ran his hand over his short hair while he thought about what he could do to win her love. She’d accused him of proposing out of a sense of duty instead of love, which was exactly what he had done at the time. But he had spent a lot of time with her since then. There had been intimacy between them, hours together. They had worked together regarding Royal, had fun being together.
Why hadn’t he seen that his feelings for her were growing stronger? He admired her; he respected and desired her. She was all the things he wanted in a woman. He had to win her love.
While he had never heard a declaration of love from Stella, she had to feel something for him. She acted as if she did. He was certain she would never have gone to bed with him with only casual feelings about him. That would be totally unlike her. Was she in love, too?
Had he already tossed away his chance with her?
He stood and moved impatiently to a window to gaze out at the lit grounds of his estate. If nothing else he would see her Tuesday night when he took her to the TCC Christmas festival. He wished he could move things up or go back to last week, but he couldn’t.
He walked down the hall to his office. Crossing the room, he switched on a desk lamp and picked up a picture of his wife and child. “Paula, I’ve fallen in love. I think you’d approve. You’d like Stella and she would like you.”
He realized that the pain of his loss had dulled slightly and he could look at Paula’s picture and know that he loved Stella also. He set the picture on the desk, picked up his beer and walked out of the room, switching off the light.
He wanted to see Stella, to kiss her, to tell her he loved her. This time when he proposed, he would try to do it right. Was she going to turn him down a second time?
Next Tuesday was the TCC Christmas festival, a special time. The town was getting ready to appoint an acting mayor and they wanted Stella, but she just didn’t realize how many wanted her and how sincere they were about it.
If he had lost her love, there still was something good that he could do for her.
* * *
Saturday morning Stella selected a Christmas tree, getting one slightly taller than usual. As soon as she had set it up on a table by the window across the room from her fireplace, she got out her decorations. Her phone chimed and she glanced at it to see a call from Aaron. She didn’t take it. She would talk to him soon enough Tuesday night; right now she still felt on a rocky edge. Aaron could get to her too easily. She wanted to be firm when she was with him. After Tuesday night, she really didn’t expect to go out with him again except in the new year when she had to talk to him about their baby.
She placed her hand on her tummy, which was still flat. Her clothes had gotten just the slightest bit tighter in the waist, but otherwise, she was having an easy pregnancy so far.