Stripped(73)
“This way.” He led her by the hand, and she tried to get a sense of the place by the smell, but she only picked up on wood and something that reminded her of old clothes.
“I feel wood floors,” she said. “That’s good.”
He stopped, taking a deep breath before he pulled off the blindfold. Abby pasted on a smile, but it dropped away in an instant.
“Oh. This is … nice,” she said, craning her neck to look up. They were in an old warehouse, and she realized he must have a renovation in mind, which she didn’t have the budget or the time for.
“Hear me out,” he said, seeing her confusion. “This building – if you want it to be – will be your dance studio. You can teach classes here. You’d be an amazing teacher, Abby.”
“Wow,” she said, smiling in spite of her shock. “I’ve never even thought of doing that, but it would be pretty great. I don’t know, though. I can’t afford to leave my job for something uncertain.”
“If we make this your studio, we can renovate the upstairs into a living space for us and the girls. This used to be a textile plant. It’s such a neat building, and I’ve already had an architect look at it and make up some plans. It’s perfect for us, Abby.”
“It is beautiful,” she agreed, admiring the high windows that let light pour onto the dark wood floors. The brick walls and open steel beams gave the building an industrial feeling, which she liked. It would make a perfect dance studio: spacious, open and full of natural light.
“The studio would be ready to open quickly, but the upstairs reno would take about eight months,” he said. “You’d love it when it was done, though. You can pick out everything so it’s your perfect home.”
“Oh, Chris. You’re so sweet. If I was ever going to live with a man, it would be you, and it would be here. But you know I can’t. Not with the girls. I have to give them stability, and with my income from the club gone, I’m just on too tight of a budget to leave my job.”
“Just wait. I’m not done yet,” he said, fishing in his pocket. As he dropped one of his knees to the wood floor, Abby’s eyes widened with shock. One of her hands clamped against her chest, and her knees wobbled with uncertainty. Was this what it looked like?
“Abby Gillis, I love you more than anything. I’ve never wanted anything as much as I want to make a life with you and Audrey and Sara. Will you marry me?”
His dark brown eyes were full of hope and worry and love as he looked up at her. Abby was lightheaded as she held his eyes. The moment felt like a dream she had never dared to imagine.
“Chris,” she finally managed. “This is such a surprise … But I don’t want you to marry me just so we can live together.”
“I want to marry you because I want you to be my wife. I know it seems fast, but I’ve never been more sure of anything. I’ll spend every day loving you and supporting you.”
“I love you so much,” she said, her tone nearly a whisper. “I really do. But Chris, I pretty much have two kids who are nine and 12. I’m not like other 25-year-olds. You deserve someone you can have a real newlywed life with – walking around the house naked, traveling, going out all the time. I can’t do any of that, and you are so perfect, so amazing, that you deserve all that.”
“I don’t want any of that,” he said earnestly. “I want you. I can’t believe I’m so lucky that you – you, Abby – you love me back. I want to make a life with you and the girls, and maybe even have more kids. I know I won’t just be getting a wife, but a family, and that’s what I want. Please don’t let your self-doubt get in the way of this. If you say yes, I’d marry you tomorrow.”
“Oh, Chris.” Her mind swam with the idea of marrying him. It was too beautiful to be true. But as she looked at his eager, hopeful expression, she wondered if maybe it could be true. If maybe she was meant for a happy ending.
“You already know I’m terrible at begging,” he said. “Say yes, and you’ll never be sorry.”
She laughed lightly, reaching down to his bristled cheek. Tears rolled down her cheeks not just because she was happy, but because she realized for the first time that she could have something real, something she’d envied in others and never foreseen having.
“I’d never make you beg me for anything. You’re my dream, Chris. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
He swept her into the air, spinning her in a circle, and she didn’t think she’d ever been so happy. As he sat her down, he kissed her sweetly, touching his forehead to hers.