“I am handing over to you all my legal rights to Justin, such as they are,” he told her, holding the file in front of her.
She looked confused as she looked from the document to him and then back at the document. In her confusion, the tears stopped, thankfully, but the deep sadness on her face didn’t in any way disappear.
“I…I don’t understand,” she finally whispered.
“I love Justin. In the short time I have gotten to know him, I have fallen in love with him,” he said, and she gave him a little smile. That’s how much she loved her brother — enough that just knowing someone loved him was enough to ward off some of the pain she was going through.
“And to lose him now that I’ve found him would destroy me, but, Jewell, what I thought I’ve been telling you for so long is that I love you too. I was telling you by showing you instead of using the words, and I guess that was my downfall. But I was mesmerized by you from the first moment our eyes met, and then something changed within me, something happened I never thought possible. The walls I’d built up around my heart when I was a child suddenly began to crack, and one day I realized they were no longer there. You are the reason I wake up in the morning, the reason I can’t wait to come home each evening. You’re my reason for being happy. I love you, Jewell. I love you so much that I can’t imagine living one more moment without you.” Blake wanted desperately to take her in his arms, but he knew he needed to wait.
“But…but our marriage wasn’t real. It was for the business deal, and for Justin,” she said, looking more and more confused.
“The business deal wasn’t real, Jewell. I never had a deal where I had to be married. I just…I’m not good at expressing my feelings. And I wanted to marry you. At first it was because I wanted you to be mine, because I couldn’t let you get away, but finally I realized it wasn’t about possession; it was because my heart belongs to you. You are my everything. You’ve made me a better man, and I need you to continue to have faith in me so that we can be a family — you, me and Justin. You know, I’ll even beg if you want me to.”
When she paused for another long moment, Blake felt doubts begin to creep in. What if she had just had too much? What if it his confession was too little too late? He could lose both her and Justin, and he couldn’t even imagine how he would manage to survive that.
But if she needed him to walk away, then for her, he would.
Then her lips turned up just a little, and he saw hope return to her eyes. And she took one tentative step toward him, and then another, and then she was wrapping her arms around him.
And Blake knew that they would be okay. He hadn’t the foggiest idea how long the two of them stood there with their arms wrapped around each other — what did it matter, after all? — but when she finally pulled back, the love shining from her sparkling eyes was unmistakable.
“I love you so much,” she said, “that I have spent the last few days here wondering how I was going to survive losing you. I told myself that my feelings weren’t real, but I knew that wasn’t the truth. I knew that to live without you would be to leave a piece of my soul behind. I love you, Blake Knight. You have rescued me from a life of unhappiness, and I only hope I will have the chance to show you each and every day how much you mean to me.” Jewell pressed her lips to his and sighed in ecstasy.
Blake was lost in her arms for several moments before he drew back again and looked at her. “I can’t believe what a fool I’ve been, Jewell. Thank you for saving me, for saving us. I know that for the rest of our lives we’re going to make the world jealous, because our love will be so blinding,” he told her.
“We’ve both been foolish, Blake, but it doesn’t matter anymore. All that matters from this point forward is that we always be honest, and that we continue to love each other through the good and the bad,” she said, and she kissed his jaw over and over again.
“I promise you, Jewell, that I’ll do my damnedest from here on out to make you know you are loved, worshipped, and appreciated. I want to make you the happiest woman alive.”
“Oh, Blake, you already have.”
“Let’s go home,” he said to his wife.
And that’s just what they did.
Epilogue
McKenzie flipped off her blankets with an angry shove, thrust her feet into her slippers, and blindly reached for her robe. Then she stomped through her house until she reached the front door. The loud pounding continued unabated. It was what had woken her up and put her in such a terrible mood.
“Go away!” she shouted through the door. She didn’t give a damn who was knocking. It was two in the morning, and she was not about to invite the ill-mannered person in.
“I’m not leaving until we talk!” a man shouted right back at her.
She froze, suddenly almost overcome by fear. But no. She was McKenzie Beaumont, dammit, and she didn’t frighten easily.
“I’m calling the police,” she growled.
“Fine with me. The chief is a personal friend,” he said with just enough arrogance that he might be telling the truth.
“Who are you?” she asked, her voice much less angry. Despite her bravado, the fear had returned in spades, and a shiver ran down her spine.
“Byron Knight!” he shouted back.
“Byron?” She opened the small window that would show her who was standing on her doorstep. She was shocked to see that it was Byron, Blake Knight’s brother, who was standing there. “What in the world are you doing on my doorstep at two in the morning?” she asked.
Then she started to panic. What if something had happened to Blake? Or to Jewell? Without thinking, she unlocked the door and thrust it open. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”
Though she’d seen the man only a few times before, he took her open door as an invitation and walked right inside.
“What is wrong?” she asked again, truly beginning to worry.
“I have a question for you, Ms. Beaumont,” he said, and that’s when she smelled the alcohol and noticed the narrowed eyes. She never should have opened her door. She knew Blake. That didn’t mean she knew his brother.
“Just ask your question and then get the hell out of my house,” she said, thrusting her shoulders back as she got ready to do battle. She had been to hell and back more than once. There was no way this man was going to intimidate her.
“Just who do you think you are?” he said menacingly.