Hearing you cry out my name when I get it right,
Is the sweetest symphony.
He winks at me, and I turn red. Of course, he had to get that in there.
I don’t need the music. I don’t need anything but you.
No matter where I go,
No matter where I’ve been,
I’m always coming back to you.
When the song’s over, I race down the stairs. He meets me halfway, sweeping me up in his arms, and I cover his face with kisses.
“Sorry, it’s the best I could do in less than a week.”
“Don’t apologize for that song,” I say. “It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard.”
“It’s the first song I’ve ever written for anyone,” he says, squeezing me tighter. “I love you so damn much.”
“And I love you.” My heart feels as though it wants to fly out from my chest. “What took you so long?”
He sets me down on my feet, but keeps his arms around me. “I had to make things right, before I could come back to you.”
“What did you do, Jackson?”
He shrugs. “I told them I was going Indie, like Violet Lynn.”
My hearts stutters at the mention of her name. “You really hurt me, by leaving and going to her.”
His face turns sad. “I take it you got my message?”
I nod. “I’d been in the shower, trying to think how to handle the whole thing with June and… I was tired of running away, of expecting that you’d put me last, but when I heard that message.” I take a deep breath. “I thought you were going back to her, that somehow she and Cole hadn’t worked out.”
“Bliss Morgan.” He shakes his head and caresses my cheek. “Why would you think that?”
“Why wouldn’t she want you back? I do, even after everything.” I close my eyes against the tears I swore would never fall for him again.
“I didn’t go there to be with Violet. I went there for a memorial.”
My eyes pop open. “A memorial?”
“The baby we—she lost,” he says softly. “She said she needed closure, that she’d been speaking with a therapist for a while, without anyone knowing, and the therapist had suggested it.”
My heart breaks all over for him. “Did you need closure, too?”
“I did.” His dark blue eyes are full of sadness. “There was a service and a gravestone. She… named the baby. Something we’d picked out when we’d talked about the future.”
Tears slip down my cheeks. “I’m so sorry, Jackson.”
He wipes a tear away. “I’m not. But I am sorry for leaving you out to get it. I made the wrong decision by not including you.” He lets go of me and runs a hand through his hair. “I’ve made a lot of wrong decisions concerning you.”
“Like?”
“Bliss, I’m not man you deserve, but I’d like to try to be, because you’re sure as hell more than I ever deserved. I can’t promise I won’t ever hurt you or make you cry, because that’s not reasonable or fair to either of us, but I can promise to make you laugh, to make love to you as often as you allow, and to talk to you, not run away, and to always, always put you first.”
I watch in disbelief as he gets down on one knee, pulling a ring from his pocket. “I had this made just for you. I’m asking you to wear it, to be my wife and the mother of my children. To wake up with me in the morning, kiss me at lunchtime, and go to bed with me at night. I want forever with you, Bliss, even though that’s not long enough.”
He slips the ring on my finger—it shines in the sun. “Bliss Morgan, will you do me the honor of staying married… to me?”
With a nod, I throw myself in his arms again. “With a proposal like that, how could I not say yes?”
“Answering a question with a question… Damn, baby doll, you’re the perfect woman for me.”
Then he kisses me.
And I kiss him right back.