Chapter 18 - He Remembered Every Word
Six months after the storm, I returned to the Romano estate.
Not as an employee.
Not as a guest exactly.
Alexander had invited me to dinner.
Then dinner became a weekend.
The weekend became several weekends.
Eventually Eleanor stopped preparing the guest bedroom.
“You are extremely presumptuous,” I told her.
“I am extremely experienced.”
Alexander appeared in the doorway.
“What is she presumptuous about?”
“Nothing,” I said.
Eleanor smiled.
“Your future.”
I threw a pillow at her.
She left laughing.
Alexander sat beside me.
“You know, employees were more respectful when you worked here.”
“You fired me.”
“I attempted to fire you.”
“I resigned.”
“Technicality.”
The bedroom had changed.
The amber bottles were gone.
The bedside table now held books.
A glass of water.
A framed photograph.
My mother.
I had given Alexander a small copy after telling him more about her.
He placed it there because, he said, she was indirectly responsible for bringing me into his house.
Sometimes his sentimentality frightened him more than anything Julian had done.
That night rain began.
Not a storm.
Just soft autumn rain tapping the glass.
Alexander became quiet.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re thinking.”
“I occasionally do.”
“Dangerous.”
He smiled.
Then reached for my hand.
“Do you want to know exactly what I heard that night?”
“No.”
“Yes, you do.”
“I absolutely do not.”
“You said, ‘I don’t want your money.’”
I covered my face.
“Alexander.”
“Then you said—”
“I remember.”
“I just want you to wake up.”
“Please stop.”
“And then—”
I stood.
He caught my hand laughing.
“Clara.”
“No.”
He pulled me gently back beside him.
Then his expression softened.
“You said you loved me.”
My embarrassment disappeared beneath something deeper.
“I thought you couldn’t hear.”
“I couldn’t respond.”
“You scared me.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
My voice broke unexpectedly.
Alexander became still.
“I sat there watching you breathe because I was afraid every breath might be the last one.”
He held my hand tighter.
“And I remember thinking how unfair it was that the first time I said I loved you might also be the last time you were alive to hear it.”
His eyes filled.
Alexander rarely cried.
He had spent most of his life treating tears like confidential information.
That night he let them come.
“I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t drug yourself.”
“I spent years making myself so difficult to reach that you believed you could only tell me the truth when I was unconscious.”
I stared at him.
“That isn’t entirely fair.”
“It’s true.”
“Partly.”
He smiled faintly.
“I’ve been practicing something.”
“What?”
“Listening.”
“That must be exhausting.”
“Terrible.”
I rested my head on his shoulder.
Outside, rain moved gently across the windows.
After a moment he spoke.
“I love you.”
I did not move.
“Say it again.”
“I love you.”
“Again.”
“You’re enjoying this.”
“Yes.”
He laughed.
“I love you, Clara Hayes.”
I looked at him.
Unlike my confession during the fever, this one required no secrecy.
No storm loud enough to hide behind.
“I love you too.”
He kissed me.
Then reached toward the nightstand.
I narrowed my eyes.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing suspicious.”
“Everything you do is suspicious.”
He opened the drawer.
My heart began pounding.
“Alexander.”
He removed a small velvet box.
“No.”
His face fell.
“You haven’t even heard the question.”
“I mean no to whatever enormous ridiculous diamond you put inside that box.”
His expression became defensive.
“It’s tasteful.”
I opened it.
The diamond was not tasteful.
It could probably redirect aircraft.
“Alexander.”
“I was advised against going smaller.”
“By whom?”
“Sebastian.”
“That explains everything.”
I laughed until tears came.
Then he closed the box.
Serious now.
“I can return it.”
“You already bought it?”
“Yes.”
“Of course you did.”
He took both my hands.
“Forget the ring.”
“Gladly.”
“Clara.”
My laughter stopped.
“When I was a boy, my father taught me the family name was the most important thing I would ever carry.”
He looked toward the rain.
“He was wrong.”
My throat tightened.
“I spent years thinking love gave people a weapon.”
He squeezed my fingers.
“Then you stood beside my bed and gave me something to wake up for.”
Tears filled my eyes.
“So I’m asking badly because apparently money cannot purchase talent for emotional conversations.”
I laughed through the tears.
“True.”
“Will you marry me?”
I looked at the man newspapers once called untouchable.
The man who had nearly died because someone believed power mattered more than life.
The man who learned to let me walk away.
Then chose to come after me without ownership.
Without command.
Without expectation.
“Yes.”
His eyes closed.
Relief passed across his face.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“You’re sure?”
“I may reconsider if you bring out that ring again.”
He kissed me.
Later we found Eleanor waiting at the bottom of the stairs.
She looked at my hand.
Then at Alexander.
“Where is the ring?”
“She insulted it.”
“It was visible from space.”
Eleanor sighed.
“I told you.”
Alexander stared at her.
“You told me bigger.”
“I told you better.”
Isabella emerged from the drawing room holding champagne.
“You’re engaged?”
“How does everyone know already?” I demanded.
Adrian appeared behind her.
“Alexander has no subtlety.”
Sebastian raised a glass.
“To Clara.”
Alexander frowned.
“It was my proposal.”
Sebastian smiled.
“And yet somehow she remains the impressive part.”
Everyone laughed.
For years the Romano estate had been a monument to secrets.
That night every door remained open.
May you like
And for once, nobody had anything to hide.
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