Villain: A Hero Novella by Young, Samantha (12)

“Well, we’re coming to the end of today’s show,” Andrew said to the camera, “but we had to make time to say a proper goodbye to Barbara.”

On our cue, Angel and I walked on camera, Angel carrying a mammoth bouquet of flowers while I held a basket of wrapped gifts from us and the crew. Barbara gave me a kiss on the cheek, accepting the presents. She even accepted a kiss on the cheek from Andrew.

“I am going to miss you all so much. Thank you. And Nadia, good luck with this one,” she cracked, gesturing to Andrew.

My stomach did a little flip as we all laughed while Andrew rolled his eyes. On Monday I was taking Barbara’s spot as co-anchor on the breakfast show. It wasn’t something I thought I ever wanted, but when Barbara told us all she’d accepted a job as a breakfast show anchor in LA and our new boss Kelly offered me her spot… I found myself excited by the prospect.

It wasn’t something I’d wanted when I’d first started here, and definitely not when Dick was trying to blackmail me into it, but I found I needed a new challenge.

That didn’t mean I wasn’t nervous as hell.

We wrapped up the show with Barbara thanking our viewers, surprising us all when she got choked up as she said she’d miss Boston. But like me, she needed a new challenge and, she joked, a new pool of men.

Afterward we all went out for our last lunch together and I grew tearful when it was finally time to say goodbye. Barbara and I may have been different kinds of women but we’d still connected.

Heading toward Henry’s apartment, our apartment now, via the Public Gardens, I’d stopped to sit on a bench despite the cold. After calling Joe to check if we were still on for dinner the next day, I sat there a while, enjoying the peace. The sun was out, low today, cutting through the bitter January we were experiencing. I spent a lot of time in the gardens now that I lived so close. There was something tranquil about them no matter what time of year it was.

“It’s freezing out here.”

I was startled out of my thoughts about my new job, wide-eyed as Henry sat down beside me. He was bundled up in a wool coat and the scarf I’d bought him for Christmas. He slid his arm around me and pulled me into his side; I soaked up his warmth and his scent.

“What are you doing here?”

He stared down into my face lovingly. “Cut out of work early because I thought you might be here either crying about Barbara or worrying about the new job.”

“I cried first. Now I’m worrying.” I grinned at how well he knew me.

“You’re going to do great, you know that. This city loves you.”

The last was said with a grumble that made me laugh. Henry vacillated often between being proud of me and smug that I was his woman, and territorial and annoyed that my local fame partly meant I got hit on often.

“So you came to meet me? That was sweet of you.”

His arm tightened around me. “I actually came to ask you something.”

“Oh?”

Something in his voice, something nervous and wary, unsettled me. For the past fourteen months Henry and I had been nothing but honest with each other every step of the way. After my standing up to Quentin did little to make him back off, Henry told me up front he was going to take a turn. He didn’t go behind my back about it, even though he knew his interfering would piss me off. We argued about it, but Henry said it was clear Quentin was a misogynist and didn’t see me as a threat. Also it became clear Quentin was going to continue to be a major pain in our ass, so I had to let Henry try. I didn’t know what was said or done between them; all I knew was that Caine had Henry’s back, and Quentin never bothered us again.

A few months later when Alexa and Caine got married in a tiny, private ceremony only we and a handful of people were invited to, Henry asked me to move in with him. That meant we had lots more opportunity to argue and make up, and we did because we were kind of brutally honest with one another.

We trusted each other enough to be that honest with one another.

So it was no wonder that Henry’s caginess lately had bothered me. I’d walk in on him on the phone to someone and he’d abruptly stop talking and end the call. Or he’d be on his laptop when I got home and he’d shut it and push it away, avoiding me when I asked what he was up to.

He’d been a little distant, preoccupied, and when I asked him what was bothering him, he said nothing. We both knew that was a lie but rather than fight about it like normal, his behavior bothered me so much, I wanted to pretend everything was okay by not pestering him.

It appeared, finally, that Henry might be ready to talk about what was going on.

“What’s happened?”

He gave me a shaky, apologetic smile. “I know I’ve been preoccupied lately, and I’m sorry if I’ve worried you.”

“Henry…”

“You know,” he laughed but the sound was also shaky, “I thought when I decided to do this, it would be easy because it’s you and me. I know how we feel about each other… but I guess in every decision we make, there’s that tiny percentage of doubt in the back of our minds. And in this case that doubt, that fear, is paralyzing because if this doesn’t go my way, it could ruin everything. It could ruin what I’ve come to consider as everything. You,” his grip on me tightened, “you are everything to me.”

No… no way… “Henry…?” I tried to keep the hope out of my voice.

He licked his lips nervously, something I had never seen him do, and I found it adorable. He’d roll his eyes if he knew I thought of him as even remotely adorable. “I thought about where and how and when… and everything I thought seemed too grandiose and cheesy and so sentimental, it lost true sentimentality. I thought about our first date at a pizza place,” he grinned, “and our second getting drowned in the rain on the Hop-on, Hop-off tour. I knew from the moment I met you that you were the one woman I wanted to be real with, to be me with, and I knew for some reason I can’t explain that I could be. I didn’t have to hire a Town Car and take you to the opera or a concerto, wear a tux, and buy you diamonds. Nothing had to be a game, a show of money and charm. It could be real. It could be simple. And as it turned out, be fucking extraordinary in its simplicity.”

His eyes brightened now and tears spilled down my cheeks as the months, the ups and downs, the reality of being in love with him flashed by me. Because he was right. Our lives together felt extraordinary. I felt so goddamn lucky to have him.

Henry slid off the bench, getting down on one knee in front of me, and my heart threatened to explode out of my chest. I watched, happiness I didn’t even know I was capable of feeling building inside of me as he reached into his overcoat and pulled out a blue velvet ring box. He watched me, not once looking away, as he opened the box and revealed an engagement ring. The most beautiful engagement ring I’d ever seen.

It looked vintage. Tiny diamonds lined delicate scrollwork in the metal that swirled to a peak atop the band where a single bright diamond winked nestled in its grasp.

“It was my grandmother’s,” Henry said. “My mother thought it might suit and when I saw it, I knew it was perfect.”

His mother? “Penelope?”

“She’s coming around, Sunshine.” He grinned. “And she’s pissed that I’m not doing this at a garden party, or in Paris, or on a gondola in fucking Venice… but I felt like this had to be a moment only for us. Somewhere real. No grand gestures, no flash mobs, no fireworks. We don’t have ordinary lives, you and I. People photograph us and put us on front pages, and they like to think they know who we are. Grand gestures and fireworks are part of our lives; they’re not extraordinary to us. But when we get home and we close the door behind us and it’s just you and me… that’s our extraordinary, right?”

I nodded, hardly able to make out his face I was crying so much.

“I was born into a life of privilege… but I never knew true wealth until I met you, Nadia Ray. Will you make me the richest man on earth by doing me the honor of marrying me?”

“Yes!” I sobbed, throwing myself at him, his laughter vibrating against my lips as I kissed him. I must have looked ridiculous crying and laughing as I peppered his face with kisses but I didn’t care.

Eventually, Henry had to gently push me away so he could slip the ring on my finger.

“It’s perfect. It’s so perfect.” I clasped his face in my hands and kissed him with a little more restraint.

We were smiling so hard, I thought our faces might crack. Henry’s arms wrapped tight around me and I noticed his eyes shift over my shoulder. He gave me a rueful smile. “We’re being photographed.”

I snorted. “I guess I won’t get the chance to tell Lexie first after all.”

He chuckled and helped me to my feet. Our coats were soaked but I didn’t care. “She already knows.”

“What?” We turned to walk toward the path and I discovered Henry was right. People passing must have seen him down on one knee and stopped to be nosy.

They clapped and shouted congratulations to us as we passed.

“Lexie and Caine already know,” Henry continued once we’d gotten through the small crowd and headed toward home. “I asked Lexie for her opinion on the ring.”

“I thought you said you knew it was perfect,” I teased as I held up my hand to stare at the stunning piece of jewelry.

“Like I said before, I felt this weird niggle of doubt about everything.”

“There was no need.” I squeezed him close.

“Really? Because it apparently didn’t even cross your mind that my secretiveness was because I was going to propose.” He arched a brow at me. “What did you think I was hiding?”

I knew what he suspected I thought. “I didn’t think you were cheating.” I shoved him, annoyed. “Are we really going to argue seconds after getting engaged?”

“Not if you tell me what you thought I was hiding.”

“I didn’t know. I thought maybe something was really wrong at work and you didn’t want to worry me.”

“Oh.” He relaxed but I still glowered at him.

“Trust goes both ways, you know.”

“No.” He shook his head. “We’re not arguing. We don’t need to argue to get me hard,” he promised, and not quietly. “You saying ‘yes’ gave me a surprisingly substantial erection.”

I threw my head back in laughter as he grinned happily down at me. “God, I like you,” I repeated words he’d said to me many times.

“Good.” Henry drew me to a stop outside the gardens to kiss me. “Because you’re stuck with me.”

We kissed on the sidewalk until some grumpy person who clearly wasn’t getting laid knocked into us and told us to get a room. Breaking apart, we laughed quietly against each other’s lips.

And then it hit me that those lips were my lips forever.

That he was mine forever.

“By the way,” I whispered, “seriously epic proposal.”

“Yeah?” His expression softened.

“You started us off as we mean to go on… not needing all the bullshit people tell us we need. Because if one day something happens and we lose all the material stuff that makes us privileged, I know we’ll be okay. As long as we’ve got this,” I tugged on the lapels of his coat, pressing his body against mine, “we’ll make it through the good and the bad.”

He nodded and then I saw a twinkle of mischief enter his eyes. “You know, my mother is going to want the biggest, most expensive society wedding you can think of.”

I shrugged. “Then we’ll give it to her. The only thing that matters is that you and I get married, right?”

“She’ll drive you nuts.”

“Henry… do I get you at the end of it?”

“Yes.” He smiled. “You get me now, during, and after.”

I shook my head at the innuendo in his voice but said, “Then let her drive me crazy. All I care about is you.”

Henry’s hands curled around mine and he leaned his forehead against mine.

We closed our eyes, the sounds of the city disappearing around us, as we just breathed.

Together.

Always.