Chapter 26
The two old men went their separate ways, and Ella stood there, trying to process everything that just happened. A decades’ old feud that she swore she’d never see end was finally over. The two men who hated each other so strongly for too many years to count just made plans to play poker together.
Was the world ending, and she didn’t know it yet?
She looked at Lucas one last time, taking in his dirty blond hair, blue eyes, and gorgeous set of his mouth, then turned away.
He was back, and he didn’t even bother to text her to let her know. If he wanted to talk to her, he would’ve by now, so there was no point for her to stick around. She would grab her bag and head out to the stores, browse the shelves, and try to get ideas for Enzo’s place and forget the gorgeous stranger who managed to infiltrate her heart.
She followed after Vinny toward their side of the boardwalk when a gentle hand landed on her shoulder. A warm chill ran up her spine at the familiar touch.
Lucas urged her to turn back around, and when she did she was staring into those damn blue eyes that made her weak in the knee. She tried to keep her composure, refusing to let him see her break.
“Hey,” he said, and she wanted to cry, and not because she was sad but because despite it all, she was just so damn happy to see him. She held onto her resolve and fought the conflicting emotions that were running rampant in her mind.
“I can’t believe… How did you know?” she asked, looking over her shoulder toward her grandfather as he disappeared into his restaurant. At least this was an easier topic of conversation.
Lucas moved like he wanted to hold her, but then he stopped letting his hands settle back at his side. “Vinny came to me. After he saw the flyers, he knew he had to do something. Said he always felt a little bad for what he did all those years ago, and now it was his chance to make it right.”
“This is unreal.” Ella heard the words, watched the whole thing unfold, yet she couldn’t seem to believe it was finally over. “What else did he say?”
“He said that if I make you cry again, Marco’s fist won’t be the only thing making me black and blue. I’m not sure what else he said after that because he started going off in Italian and speaking too fast.”
Ella laughed. Her seventy-two-year old grandfather was throwing threats at a guy more than half his age. The funny thing was, she knew her grandfather wouldn’t hesitate to defend her honor, no matter how dire the circumstances. He would fight for her until the end, and she was damn lucky to have him on her side.
If Vinny went to Lucas’ with the flyers then Lucas had to know…
“Does that mean you know I didn’t make them?”
“I do, and I’m so sorry that I accused you.” He reached up, brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. She closed her eyes, absorbing the feel of his fingers against her skin, letting his gentle touch send vibrations through her body. “I messed up. I should have listened to you. Never should have accused you like that. I hope you can forgive me.”
She wanted to forgive him, tell him to forget about that entire day, but a part of her knew it wasn’t that simple, and it never would be. Their problems went further than the feud and the misunderstanding. “It’s not just that. I thought what we had was special.”
“It was!” His hands slid to her arms, and he held her at arm’s length, eyes focused solely on her and filled with so much remorse it made her heart ache.
“How special could it have been if you couldn’t even trust me?” Hurt edged its way into her tone, causing her words to crack.
“I’m an idiot.”
“You are,” she said. “I was falling in love you and then…” She looked away from him, thinking of his harsh words. How he accused her of sleeping with him as some sick form of revenge, the pain that ripped through her when she found out from Martha that he had left town without as much as a word to her…
“If I could take it all back, I would,” he said. “You deserve better than that, and I will make sure that from this day forward I will trust you with all my heart. I won’t ever doubt you again. I know I can promise you that.”
“I don’t know if that’s enough.”
“Ella, I love you.”
She sucked in a jagged breath, his words causing a myriad of emotion to zing through her body. Marco told her he did, but to hear him say the words to her was entirely different.
Unfortunately, it didn’t change things, no matter how much she wished they would.
“Sometimes it’s just not enough,” she said.
His head lifted and his jaw set in a strong determined line. “This time it is.”
“Until when? Until you go back to California?” She loved him, too, but he had a life outside of Willow Cove, and to think he’d leave that for her was insane. He started that company from the ground up, and he wouldn’t walk away from it—not when his hard work was finally paying off.
“Maybe what we had was a fun fling,” she said, the words coming out like acid on her tongue, vile and wrong.
“Screw that,” he said. “Nothing about what we had was a fling. What I felt was forever, and I’m going to prove it to you. I’m here until September, and then we can figure it out from there.”
Her eyes widened at his admission.
“If you need time, that’s fine, but know I’m not going anywhere. You want me to climb the highest balcony to proclaim my love to you just like Romeo did to Juliet? Because I will. You want me to walk through a blizzard just to check on you like that awful story you told me? Ella, I would walk through five feet of snow barefoot if it meant I got to see you at the end. You want me to stand at your private beach and keep people out of it so it can be yours all year round and not just in the off season? I will find a way to make it happen.”
Tears pricked her eyes, her heart swelling with too much love to contain. It was the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to her. She shook her head. “I don’t want any of that.”
He took her hands, his blue eyes meeting hers with an undeniable desperation. “I’ll do it for you. I knew from the moment you popped a black jelly bean in your mouth that I’d never find another girl like you. You’re it for me, Ella. I don’t want anyone else.”
His words were like liquid heat, filling her body and warming her from head to toe.
“In both those stories they died,” she said. “I don’t want to die. I want to live.” She smiled up at him, seeing her future in the depths of his eyes. “I want to live ridiculously happy with you, because I love you, too.”
“You do?” he asked, giddy relief in his tone.
She nodded. “I do.”
“Oh thank god,” he said, pulling her close. He captured her lips in the sweetest of kisses right there in the middle of the boardwalk, erasing the line that divided them and bringing the two feuding families together as one.
Her body pressed against his and she smiled against his lips. She patted his thigh. “What’s this?” she asked, slipping her hand into his pocket. She pulled out a plastic bag and held it up to see it filled with black jelly beans.
He shrugged. “It was my back up plan. I figured you might say no to me but you’d never say no to little beans of happiness.”
She looked up at him, warmth spreading through her body and engulfing her heart. That adorable dimple appeared in his right cheek and she smiled. “You know my weakness now. You know what that means, right?”
“I need to buy stock in black jelly beans.”
She shook her head. “I have to let you go,” she said, trying to keep the humor from her tone.
He laughed. “Good luck trying.” He scooped her up into his arms and rendered her senseless with his lips. “Because I’m not going anywhere.” He eased her back to her feet and took her hand, bringing it to his mouth. He placed a kiss on her knuckles and they walked together down the boardwalk no longer worried about what side they were on.