This time it was Eden who teared up, her eyes going glossy and bright. But there was such a joyous smile on her face that seemed incongruous with their surroundings. She was in recovery just coming out of surgery. She had to be in pain and groggy and yet she lit up the room like sunshine in July over Kentucky Lake.
“I’ll marry you, Swanny. I love you so much. And you’re right. We’ll work it out in time. But for now, all I want is to go home with you. Spend a few months recovering and regrouping. Then we can tackle our careers and make compromises. That’s what love is all about.”
He leaned over and gently kissed her lips, one of the few places she didn’t have a bandage covering her face.
“I don’t have a ring—yet. But you can be damn sure when you leave this hospital you’ll be wearing my ring. And then I’m taking you home to Tennessee. I’ll buy you the perfect house on the lake and you can sit out on the deck and enjoy the water and do nothing more than rest and recover while I wait on you hand and foot.”
Her smile broadened and she slipped her hand into his, squeezing.
“My dad will want to give me away and my brothers will want to be there. But otherwise I don’t want a big fuss. No paparazzi, no public announcement of our engagement or marriage and certainly no damn pictures of the event plastered all over magazines. It will be our day and I want to keep it that way. Intimate and private.”
“Speaking of your family, they’re all here. They arrived just a short while ago and they’re worried sick about you. When you get moved to your room I’ll let them know it’s okay to see you. But for now? I don’t mind being selfish and keeping you all to myself until they move you.”
Her eyes sparkled despite the grogginess from the anesthesia and the pain he knew she had to be feeling.
“I’m on board with your selfishness, because trust me when I say I’m going to be very possessive of you and spending time with you, just the two of us. I can’t think of a better way to recover than to spend it with you, in our home, with someone I love more than I ever imagined loving another person.”
Swanny’s heart filled to bursting. He didn’t even mind the tears that once again crowded his eyes. This woman lying in a hospital recovery room was so strong and yet infinitely gentle and so very loving and giving.
He whispered a thanks to God for seeing her safely back to him. Where she belonged.
And he was already envisioning the perfect house on the lake. With a perfect deck and a dock overlooking the water, not far from the KGI compound, but he had no desire to sequester himself and Eden behind the walls of the compound. He wanted a special place of their own. Their sanctuary where they could focus on each other and a future that was brighter than the sun.