I gulped down a mouthful of my mostly brandy coffee, feeling muscles I didn't know were tensed relax one by one.
"So you didn't really give the company away for me then?"
"I did. If I had even one little bit of that wrong then he'd have everything and I'd have nothing. I was prepared for that. I'd rather have you than every bit of money I've ever seen."
"You're one sneaky, underhanded, gorgeous bastard is what you're saying?"
He laughed and lifted his cup to mine before his expression became serious.
"What he was saying about Bedford. I didn't know, not one bit of it but it was still my fault. I've known for years that he liked to play on the other side of the line, out where the law gets very grey. I was totally committed to our business, even to the point of ignoring what my heart was telling me. I could have looked into Stone Pharma years ago. I should have and because I didn't, it ended up ruining Bedford. I'm sorry and I will fix it."
I nodded, unsure of what to say. I felt the words I love you trembling on my tongue.
"Did you know he'd be there?" I finally said.
"No. I thought by sounding so broken down, so defeated, that he'd make a move. That was just a coincidence ... good or bad I'm not sure. I never would have put you in danger."
He paused and we sipped our drinks, the silence stretching out between us.
"What do you see when you look at me?" he asked.
I felt I was teetering on a knife-edge. Should I say I saw the raw heart of him? I took a breath and decided to tell the truth.
"I see a man who was hurt. Destroyed. And then he put himself back together and covered himself with iron and a wall of ice so he couldn't be hurt again. It has taken many years for this man to trust again."
"You see a lot," Mr. Stone said softly. He bit his lip as though thinking of something and I suddenly realized he was nervous. He had rushed at a man holding a gun and now he was nervous here with me?
"I have something else to say ... to ask. Would you close your eyes?"
I closed them, relaxing against the sofa. He took our cups and placed them on the side table. In the quiet I heard the fire's low crackling, the wind outside rushing through the trees and the distant sound of the waves thudding on the shore. I could hear all this but not my silent man. I strained my ears but all I heard was a faint rustle of fabric on fabric.
"Hold our your hand," Mr. Stone whispered from directly in front of me. Although I knew it was coming, I almost jumped out of my skin. I opened my hand and felt him press something into my palm.
I opened my eyes and looked down at the tiny battered golden heart sitting in my hand. It was tarnished with age but still beautiful.
"My grandfather gave this to my grandmother and she wore it every day of her life. When she died, I inherited it along with a very stern letter from her telling me that our hearts are made to be hurt. They're made to be battered and bruised but we must still take them out into the world until we find someone who will care for our heart and protect it. She saw what no one else saw."
He swallowed and I saw he was trembling.
"When I met you Delilah I was ... I was broken. Parts of me were missing because I'd locked them up inside me. And then you ... I trusted you with my heart. I trusted you with my secrets. I never thought I'd find anyone I could give my heart to."
I felt tears prickling in the corners of my eyes. I couldn't look away from Mr. Stone. Jackson Stone, the man I loved but had never admitted I loved.
"Please care for my heart," he said and reached into his pocket. He pulled a small black box out and opened it in front of me to reveal a ring set with a cluster of diamonds.
"I love you. Will you do me the honor of marrying me?"
Time froze and my breath caught in my throat. I realized I was shaking, just as he was. To marry this man ... to be his ... and for him to be mine. I slid off the sofa and on to my knees in front of him, holding the tiny golden heart in my hand.
I kissed him with all the passion in my body. I kissed him like the world was ending and this was the last minute. I kissed him.
And he kissed me back.
Our kisses became a hug, our bodies pressed together, my breath hitching in my throat.
"I love you. Yes, yes, I will," I said to him when we finally pulled apart. He took the ring from the box and slipped it on to my finger.
I looked down at the ring and saw the diamonds were red in the firelight. Then I looked at Jackson and saw that my tears had landed in wet circles on his shirt. He looked down at the damp fabric and then grinned at me.
"I guess I'll have to take this off," he said.
He tore his shirt off in one swift move, causing my heart to leap in shock. Then he reached into the edge of the fire and picked up a tiny piece of dead coal. He touched it against my shirt before throwing it back in the fire.
"Oh no ... I guess you'll have to take that off," he said.
We stood up together, the blanket falling to the floor quickly followed by my shirt. As Mr. Stone kissed me a sudden odd thought zipped through my mind. I hadn't been back to my apartment in days ... and I'd left some dishes in the sink ... and I'd bought Mr. Stone at the bachelor auction. I giggled at the thought of him washing them, glowering at me and counting down the minutes until midnight when he'd no doubt smack my ass red.
"What are you laughing about?"
"The idea of you cleaning my apartment," I replied, my hand on his belt.
"I'll have you know I look quite good in a maid outfit."
"Me too," I said and dropped his pants to the floor.
He laughed and then swept me up into his arms, causing me to squeal. The coffee had too much brandy in it but that wasn't what was causing my head to spin. I was going to marry Jackson Stone.
He was mine.
And I was his.
*
Three months later ...
In the end, it hadn't taken long for the accountants and police to pull Black's mess apart. There were layers upon layers like an onion but once you sliced it with a sharp knife, it fell into pieces. All the sham companies, the fake investors and levels upon levels of deception toppled down around him.
Black had applied for bail and got it before fleeing, making it all the way to the border of Paraguay before being caught with a fake passport (and wearing a fake nose to cover his broken one). Now he was awaiting extradition and using what was left of his money on expensive lawyers. His claim that the rich rarely went to jail definitely wasn't going to come true in his case.
As the investigation into Black progressed, skeletons came out of closets with surprising frequency. The men who broke into Jackson's mansion flipped on Black incredibly fast. Then deceived investors from side-scams he'd been running appeared from everywhere. But the biggest surprise was a man who came forward to identify himself as a provocateur in the Stone Pharma protests that had resulted in the building burning down and a janitor dying. He wasn't the one who threw the Molotov but he named names and had kept evidence that clearly tied Black to the illegal dumping, the fire and the subsequent threats and harassment that had occurred. With that revelation, the threat of me being hauled off to jail finally vanished. The weight I'd been carrying for years lifted away.#