Chapter Twenty-Two
Jane stayed on Prince Edward Island for three days.
She was very glad she hadn’t flown straight home. By the time she woke up on the third day, she was feeling much calmer and less like tracking Caleb down and killing him.
The hotel she stayed at was right next door to the Anne of Green Gables museum. This was the actual nineteenth-century farmhouse that had inspired L. M. Montgomery, and it looked just as she’d described in the book. It was surrounded by fields and gardens and the woodland paths that had given rise to Lover’s Lane and the Haunted Wood and all the other places Anne had walked.
She spent a whole day wandering those paths, breathing the moss-scented air and looking for wildflowers and listening to the little brook that danced over polished rocks . . . and remembering the quotes Caleb had showed her.
It has always seemed to me that, amid all the commonplaces of life, I was very near to a kingdom of ideal beauty. Between it and me hung only a thin veil. I could never quite draw it aside, but sometimes a wind fluttered it and I caught a glimpse of the enchanting world beyond—only a glimpse, but those glimpses have always made life worthwhile.
The house itself was furnished as it would have been during Anne’s time, and it was filled with little touches that evoked the book—a broken slate, and Marilla’s amethyst brooch, and a dress made of “soft brown gloria with all the gloss of silk”—and, of course, with the all-important puffed sleeves.
Jane stood in the doorway of Anne’s gable bedroom for a long time, looking at the dress hanging on the closet door and thinking of the picture she’d shown Caleb.
Everything she saw made her think of Caleb.
He was everywhere. When she went walking along the ocean and saw the seagulls wheeling over the red sandstone cliffs, she thought about how much he would have loved that scene. And when she went out one night and ate her fill of fresh mussels and lobster, she wished he were there to taste it with her.
No, you don’t, she told herself quickly. He’s the jerk who left you alone in a foreign land.
A foreign land where people spoke English and everyone was friendly, but still. You needed a passport to get here, and that meant it was a foreign land.
She tried to feel cheerful on the plane ride home. In spite of the mess with Caleb, it had been an incredible trip. She’d said goodbye to Sam, and she’d seen beautiful places she’d only ever imagined.
And before the whole abandoning-her-in-a-parking-lot thing, Caleb had been the best part of the journey.
His body had left some kind of imprint on hers. When she lay in bed at night, she could feel him—his bare skin and the hard muscle beneath and the fierce urgency of his need for her.
No man had ever wanted her so much. Until, of course, he didn’t anymore.
Three days had gone by since the night at the Lake of Shining Waters. As much as she wanted to blame Caleb for everything that had gone wrong, the truth was, she’d been the one to reject him first. She’d told him no when he asked her to travel with him.
But she hadn’t meant that to be the end of the conversation. She’d wanted to find a way to make things work. He was the one who’d run away, not her. If she couldn’t count on him to stick around when things got hard, how could she trust him with her heart?
Not that it mattered now. He must be back in Australia by this time. He’d made it clear he’d had enough of her, and she’d told him never to call or write or see her ever again.
So much for trying to be cheerful.
She wished she hadn’t told Kiki and Felicia that she’d go from the airport to the bookstore. But she’d said she would work for a few hours, and they’d be expecting her. Besides, she wasn’t really that tired.
Just a little sad.
It was raining in New York, which at least had the advantage of being appropriate to her mood. The taxi ride through the downpour was depressing, especially when she contrasted it with the last time it had rained this hard—when she and Caleb had hiked up Owl Mountain.
It was a slow, quiet afternoon at the Bookworm Turns, with no need for three people to be manning the store. But Kiki and Felicia both stayed until closing, wanting all the details of her trip. She focused on the hike up the mountain and her stay on Prince Edward Island, even though she had a feeling that what her employees really wanted to hear about was Caleb.
They were going for a drink after work and invited her along, but she declined with thanks. She thought about taking a taxi home, but she was craving deli corned beef and her favorite place was around the corner. She’d stop there first and decide if she wanted to take a cab or wheel her suitcase onto the subway.
She put on the rain jacket Caleb had bought for her, which of course made her think of him, and set out for the deli.
On her way, she passed her favorite boutique.
WEAR THIS AND YOU’LL FIND HIM:
THE MAN OF YOUR DREAMS.
Just like that day in October, the sign brought her up short.
It was the same dress. This display window had been changed out three or four times since the fall, but now here it was again.
She stood in the rain, staring at the dress and remembering what Caleb had said about it the night he’d walked her to the subway.
It’s the color of your eyes.
She stared a moment longer. Then she checked the store hours on the door, saw they were open, and went inside.
“May I help you?”
The employee who came forward looked happy to see her, which, considering she was dripping all over the hardwood floors, was very nice.
“I’m sorry about the water,” she said apologetically. “I was just wondering about the dress in the window. The blue silk? I remember seeing it last October, but I thought it was gone since then.”
The employee, a tall redhead, looked enthusiastic.
“The Alia Montero design? We debuted it here, and it went on to win an Indie Fashion award. So we brought it back for a return engagement, so to speak. We only have it in a few sizes, though.” She looked Jane over with experienced eyes. “Six?”
“Yes, but I—”
“You have to try it on,” the woman said firmly. “With your coloring and figure, it’ll be perfect.”
And so Jane found herself in the dressing room, stripping down to her underwear and trying on the blue silk dress.
She was still staring at herself in the mirror when the red-haired employee knocked on the door.
“Mind if I take a look?” She stuck her head in without waiting for an answer. “Oh my goodness, that’s lovely. It’s like it was made for you.” She smiled. “Maybe you’ll find the man of your dreams.”
And just like that, Jane burst into tears.
“I’m fine,” she said to the anxious saleswoman, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “Don’t mind me. It’s just . . . the dress is so beautiful.” She gulped past the lump in her throat. “As soon as I change, I’ll bring it out to the register.”
The other woman looked a little doubtful, but she retreated from the dressing room. “You must really love fashion,” she murmured as she closed the door behind her.
Maybe you’ll find the man of your dreams.
She’d already found him, Jane thought as she slipped out of the dress and back into her damp clothes. Caleb Bryce was the man of her dreams.
But he’d never told her he loved her. If they were meant to be together, wouldn’t he have told her?
Then again, she’d never told him.
He wasn’t anything like the hero she’d once imagined for herself. He would probably never read Jane Austen, and he was a hell of a lot more annoying than any dream man ought to be.
But he was hers. The fact that he was in Australia didn’t change that. If she had to fly halfway around the world to tell him she loved him, then that’s what she’d do.
And she had the proper armor for the battle now. As she carried the dress out of the store—the employee had triple bagged it so it wouldn’t get wet—Jane decided that if she brought it to Australia, there was no way Caleb could resist her.
She caught a taxi to Brooklyn, anxious to get home and plan her trip. The rain intensified during the drive, and even though she only had to make it from the cab to her apartment building, she was soaked by the time she crossed the sidewalk.
She lugged her bags inside and trudged up the stairs to the third floor.
Then she stopped cold. There was light underneath her door.
Had she left a lamp on when she left? No . . . she was almost sure she hadn’t.
She’d asked a neighbor to water her plants. Maybe it was her.
But just in case it was a band of burglars, she set down her suitcase and dress bag, pulled out her phone, and got ready to dial 911 as she unlocked the door and pushed it open.
The phone slipped from her fingers and landed on the floor.
Caleb was sitting on her sofa, surrounded by folded paper cranes in every color imaginable. Pale green and dark green and indigo and mauve, periwinkle and goldenrod and primrose and lavender, scarlet and white and silver and gold.
Origami cranes, hundreds of them, covering her couch and the coffee table and the floor.
She came in slowly, staring, and Caleb rose to his feet and looked back at her, a half-finished crane in one hand.
He was wearing jeans and a red button-down shirt, and he’d shaved since the last time she’d seen him. He looked warm and sexy and good enough to eat, and she was very aware of her own sodden, bedraggled appearance.
“What are you . . .” She stopped. “I don’t . . .” She stopped again.
He set the crane down and took a step toward her. “Whoever folds a thousand paper cranes will be granted one wish.”
She raised her icy hands and held them to her hot cheeks. Was this really happening? Was Caleb really here?
She tried to focus on his words. One wish, he’d said.
“What will you wish for?” she asked.
“To be with you.”
The fault line in her heart began to crack.
He cleared his throat. “I was hoping to finish before you got back, but it turns out a thousand cranes really is a lot. I meant to write you a letter. Something romantic, to show you I could. I was going to leave it for you. I didn’t mean to be here in person. I thought you’d have some time to read the letter and think about things before you had to deal with me.”
He closed the distance between them, walking carefully to avoid stepping on the cranes.
“I should go,” he murmured. “You just got back, and you probably want to rest. I’ll write that letter and send it to you. Then we can talk, if you want to.”
Instinct made her reach for him before he could leave, and she got hold of his right arm.
At the feel of hard muscle under her hand, electricity shot through her. There was a buzzing, vibrating hum in her body and a ringing in her ears.
“Wait,” she said, her voice trembling. “What was the letter going to say?”
Caleb’s breath was shallow and ragged.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I swear to God, I can’t think straight right now. You have that effect on me.”
The vibration was in the air around her, connecting her to Caleb. It was like everything operated at a different frequency when he was around.
She took a deep breath, and now his scent was around her, too, like rainwater and pine sap.
“Try,” she said. “Try to tell me.”
“I don’t know. I’m bad at this—you know I am.” He swallowed. “I was going to apologize for leaving you on Prince Edward Island. Beg your forgiveness, actually. And I was going to say something about how I can’t live without you.” He closed his eyes. “Something about how I love you.”
Her heart tightened in her chest until there was an ache behind her breastbone. She reached out with her other hand, and now she had both his arms.
“I was going to seduce you,” she said.
He opened his eyes and stared down at her.
“What?”
“I was going to fly to Australia and seduce you. With this.”
She let go of him and stepped out into the hall, where she’d dropped her things. She came back in with the boutique bag and pulled out the dress to show him.
He looked at it for a moment and then back at her.
“You were going to fly to Australia?”
“Yes.”
“To seduce me.”
“Yes.”
“With that dress.”
“That was my plan.” She paused. “After I told you I love you.”
He stepped close and slid a hand into her hair, and she shivered.
His voice was husky. “Darlin’, you could seduce me in a burlap sack.”
She closed her eyes. “I wanted to wear something beautiful.”
He used his other hand to cup the side of her face. “You don’t need it.”
“But I wanted it,” she whispered. “I’ve wanted it from the moment I saw it.”
He stepped even closer, close enough that she could feel his body heat.
When he spoke, his breath tickled her ear. “Tell me what else you want.”
“You. I want you. Caleb—”
But she didn’t have time to say anything else.
Caleb’s mouth brushed over hers in the merest breath of a kiss. Then he did it again, and again, until she felt drunk on the whispering friction of their lips. Only when she felt her whole body going soft and pliant did he move a hand to the back of her head and deepen the kiss, his tongue delving into her mouth and tangling with hers until she looped her arms around his neck and arched up into him.
He broke the kiss with a gasp.
“Hang on, Jane. Before we get carried away.”
“I want to get carried away,” she panted, her heart pounding.
But he led her firmly over to the couch, moving cranes so she had a place to sit beside him.
His expression was serious. “I shouldn’t have kissed you. Not until we had a chance to talk.”
She started to smile. “If you hadn’t kissed me, I would have kissed you.”
He reached out as though he couldn’t help it, brushing her lips with the back of a knuckle. “Yeah, sexual chemistry isn’t one of our challenges. But we do have challenges.”
She nodded, her mouth tingling where he’d touched her. “I know.”
“But I think we can make it work,” he went on. “I want to live with you here in New York, like you talked about. I’ll run the business from here, and I’ll hire more people to lead expeditions so I don’t have to be away from you so much.”
Her heart swelled. “I don’t want you to give up any expeditions. That would be like taking away your eyesight or locking you in a prison cell. I don’t want that.”
He shook his head. “You’ve got it backward. The only prison cell would be a life without you.”
She caught her breath. “Caleb—”
“Ever since I started traveling, I’ve been looking for something spectacular. Something that would take my breath away.” He paused. “Now I’ve found what I was looking for. And if I lose you, it won’t matter if I see all the wonders of the world, because they wouldn’t mean a thing. I’d rather stay in New York with you than see the most incredible scenery on earth. Because without you to help me see the magic, that’s all it would be. Scenery.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “That’s a pretty good speech for a guy who doesn’t do speeches.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve had some time to think about this. Did I mention how long it takes to fold a thousand paper cranes?”
She started to smile. “What made you think of doing it?”
“I remembered the cranes you made in December. And I remembered you saying you’d tried it a few times when you were a kid, but that you’d never finished.” He paused. “I don’t have an imagination like yours, and I’m not much good with poetry and fairy tales. But if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s getting things done. I want to help you turn your dreams into reality. I want to help with your bookstore, and be here for you while you finish a book, and watch you send it off to a publisher.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You’ve never read my writing. Maybe it’s terrible.”
“Maybe it isn’t.”
She took a breath and let it out slowly. “But what about you? I don’t want you to run the business from here and let other people lead the expeditions. I want you to keep exploring. And I wouldn’t mind coming along sometimes,” she added. “Just not all the time.”
“Okay, so, we’ll compromise.” He paused. “You know, I think we’ve had it wrong all this time. On the surface we seem so different, but who we are inside isn’t different at all. Only what we do and where we do it. I explore out there, and you explore in here,” he said, touching his temple.
“I like that,” she said. “I like thinking we’re both explorers in different ways. Maybe it won’t be so hard for us to figure this out after all.”
“I sure hope so.” He took both her hands in his. “Because I don’t want to live my life without you.”
The fault line in her heart cracked wide open, and it was the sweetest pain she’d ever known.
She took a deep breath. “I feel the same way. Oh, Caleb . . . I wish I could take you back to Prince Edward Island. It was so beautiful, and everything made me think of you. I feel like we were cheated out of our time there.”
“Well, then, let’s get it back. Let’s go there on our honeymoon.”
She blinked. “There’s going to be a honeymoon?”
“Hell yes.”
“For there to be a honeymoon, there’d have to be a wedding.”
He grinned. “I thought of that, too.”
He reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a ring box. He opened it, and a red stone winked at her against black velvet.
“It’s a ruby,” he said. “There are a lot of reasons I chose a ruby instead of a diamond, if you’re interested, but . . .”
He was holding a ring.
He was proposing.
“Wait,” she said. “Wait, wait, wait.” Everything around her was so beautiful—the delicate paper cranes, the ring in Caleb’s hand, Caleb himself.
And then there was her. “I look awful. I’m a soggy mess. I don’t want you to remember me like this when you think about . . .”
“Sorry,” he said. “This is exactly how I want to remember this moment, down to the last detail.” He paused. “Except that you look a little cold.”
“I am,” she said. “Let me change, and then we can do the proposal over again.”
He shook his head. “I’ve got a better idea for warming you up,” he said, and then he was sliding the ring onto her finger and pulling her into his arms.
Her body melted into his. “I love you,” she said, the words muffled against his chest.
“I love you, too,” he said. “God, I love you so much.”
Warmth spread through them both. And as they held each other close, heartbeat to heartbeat, Jane knew she’d never be cold again.