Chapter Twenty-Three

Georgina

 

 

Mist from the falls splattered in my eyes as I ran, merging with the tears and making it hard to see, hard to know where I was going. I didn’t care where I went. Fear and grief drove my feet hard against the wet concrete to take me away from Blake. The roar of the falls couldn’t cover the sound of sobs breaking through my chest.

Why would he do that?

Was this just another thing to tick off my childhood list? It had to be. What was it? Receive a proposal? Get married? Have a family?

Of course I would have included something like that. Why hadn’t I seen this coming? I should never have agreed to this. He’d done all these outrageous and impossible and insane things, for me, for my lists, would he do this too? Never, never would someone like Blake want to marry someone as broken as me otherwise.

I don’t even know how he’d forgiven me for what I’d done to him.

Maybe he hadn’t. Maybe this was something much worse. 

Was this revenge? Getting me back for making him go through my sexy bucket list, for using him and then abandoning him? Was he proposing, just for some list, so he could laugh and take it back and say it meant nothing?

I had trouble believing Blake could be so cruel.

But I could believe that I deserved that cruelty. And that I never deserved him.

I was down the stairs from the upper lookout and rounding the lower level viewing area when Blake overtook me and blocked my path.

“Please, just stop,” he said, panting. He reached for my arms and I backed away. The few other tourists braving the cold night watched with concern, and I backed off farther, ducking into the shadow of the staircase.

“Why did you ask me that? Was it on my list?”

Blake looked confused for a moment, and then laughed, almost relieved. “Your list? No, of course not.”

“I don’t believe you,” I said, only because I couldn’t accept the alternative.

Blake reached into an inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out his wallet. From it came a piece of purple paper, folded up small.

“Your list is finished. We’ve done everything. Niagara Falls was the last thing.” He handed me the list. “I want to marry you because I want to marry you.”

I took the list from him with shaking fingers and stared at my handwriting, hearing my own voice from when I was fifteen.

 

 

 

 

I could hardly whisper, “You’ve done everything. You did everything for me.”

“I’ve done a lot of crazy things for you, for love, or because I was told to.” He held out the closed ring box between us. “But this is all me. This is my choice. I want this, and I want you.”

I stared at the paper again, confused and awed. “What was the wafflewich about?”

“Just something I wanted to try.” Blake chuckled. “Hey, I get to try things too.”

Don’t smile at me, please. I’m with him now, but there’s a huge difference between dating and forever. Especially when my forever has an expiration date—one that might come too soon. “Please leave me and live your life better without me.”

“Georgina …”

“I watched my mom die.” I wiped at my eyes with my damp scarf. “It was awful, but what was worse was seeing my dad watch her die. I don’t want you to go through that.”

The mist had soaked through Blake’s hair and his eyelashes clung together, star-like, flashes of fireworks reflected on them. “It’s my right to decide what I want to do, and what I can handle. I love you—why can’t you get that through your head? I know you’ve been trying to push me away because you think you should, but have you ever wanted to push me away? Has that ever been what you really wanted?”

My answer came out as a sob. “Never.”

“Then be with me, love me, and let me love you, and we’ll get through anything together.” Blake gathered me into his arms again, and I felt his lips move against my soaked hair.

I thought back to the lists we’d completed, lists of items I would have once thought impossible. With Blake by my side, I could do anything.

“We will,” I said, and I think for the first time, I believed it.

Blake planted a series of kisses along my hairline. “Now, do you have any other lies or lists or dark secrets to tell me?”

A giggle of pure relief rattled from my lips. “No.”

Blake dropped down to one knee and held out the ring again. He gave me his biggest grin. “Georgina Stone, you’re the strongest and most amazing woman I’ve ever known, and I want to be with you for every moment of our lives, no matter what. Will you marry me?”

I could barely speak. I just smiled, and sobbed, and laughed, and nodded as I stared at the man I loved. He swept me up into a tight hug. A few bystanders who’d noticed the second proposal happening were applauding. Fireworks crackled and boomed in the sky behind us.

I kissed Blake, hard and long and deep, and more cheers came from the crowd. “I love you. I’ve loved you in a way that feels like it’s always been a part of me, and always will be. It feels like forever.”