“I understand.” Leave, he ordered, but his idiotic body refused to obey.
“Go, damn you,” she shouted, her eyes watering. “I’m not playing this game.”
“No game, Hannah.” He held up his hands in surrender. “I came for you. I came to apologize and to compromise. I’ll need a lot of help with that, but if anyone can show me how to be a husband, I figured it was you. And your grandfather.”
“That’s not funny.”
Oh, she was weakening. He could tell. He was getting to her. “I’m serious. If any man knows how to treat a woman, it’s Bud Miller.”
Hannah glanced away, biting her lip. “Go back to Charlotte, Drew.”
“I’ll go, but do me a favor and open the box.”
“Why should I do anything for you?”
“You shouldn’t, but I’m not asking as the man you know. I’m asking as your friend, as the boy you used to love.”
“Fine,” she said. “I’ll open it, and then you can be on your way.” Opening the box, she pulled out a folded-up letter and unfolded it. A yellow piece of paper fell to the floor. With a frown, she bent down and picked it up. “Why is my—oh, Drew.”
He watched as she scanned his IOU. “I don’t understand,” she said finally.
“I owe you the remainder of my life for teaching me about love, about how to have fun, and how to let go. And your IOU,” he swallowed, “it’s been paid in full, and not because you married me, but because you loved me.”
“That’s not fair,” she whispered.
Tears began to fall down her cheeks and he rushed to her, trying to kiss each and every tear away. “Don’t cry, Hannah. I can’t stand it. I’ll leave, if you want, but damn it, you weren’t supposed to cry.”
“I am anyway,” she said, sniffing. “You weren’t supposed to be this romantic, and you weren’t supposed to break my heart. You broke my heart, Drew.”
“I’m sorry. I’ll give you mine. It’s yours,” he said.
“I’m scared. What if you decide you can’t handle being married?”
“Then I’ll talk to you about it, but I’m not scared anymore. I want to be with you. Forever. I’ll move here—set up a satellite office. Whatever it takes to make you feel secure.”
“Fine. You have to move here. With me.”
“Done.”
“Just like that?” she cried.
He pulled out his phone, put it on speaker, and then dialed Ella. She answered on the first ring. “I need to build a satellite office at Hannah’s. Can you research the area and send me links to suitable vacant lots currently on the market?”
“About time,” they heard her mutter before her voice rose, “Yes, sir. I’ll have what you need by the end of the day,” she said before he ended the call.
“You’re serious,” Hannah said. “Totally serious.”
“Hell, yes, I’m serious. In fact…” He fell to his knee and pulled out her engagement ring, holding it up to her. “Will you marry me—again?” he asked. “No IOU this time. For either of us.”
“Yes,” she said, no hesitation in her voice.
Amazement washed over him as he jumped to his feet and crushed her to him. “I love you, Hannah. I love you so damn much it scares me.”
“Don’t worry, Drew. This time, I’ll be the one to save you when you get in over your head and don’t know what to do.”
“Is that a promise?”
She shook her head. “No, that’s a vow.”
Epilogue
Four years later
“Happy Anniversary, sweetheart,” Drew said softly as he secured a diamond necklace at the nape of Hannah’s beautiful neck. “Sure you want to put up with me for another year?”
She spun around, silky hair falling around her shoulders in soft, pale curls. “Nope.”
Taken aback, his brows crashed together. “Nope?”
“Kidding.” Rising on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips, she said, “I want to put up with you for the next fifty years.”
Smiling against her mouth, he shook his head. “You had me worried for a minute, Mrs. Montgomery.”
She gave him a patent Hannah look and stepped back, rubbing her rounded belly. “Baby number two isn’t reason enough for me to stay, Mr. Montgomery?”
“Never. I want you at my side because you desire nothing else.”
“I desire to try out that extra shower head you had installed for me,” she said with a seductive smile. “We don’t have to go out tonight.”