Scott reached for her, but his hands came away with nothing. The realization made him sit up quickly and look about the room.

What time is it?

Damn. He looked over to the silver clock on the wall and saw it was nearly eleven. Shit. How had he slept for so long?

“Babydoll!” He called out for her, hoping she was in the bathroom, but he was met with silence.

He was supposed to be ready for pre-wedding family photos in an hour. The wedding was at 2:00, but there was a lot planned before that.

Margo would be getting ready now.

Scott got up and walked through the suite looking for Abi. To his dismay, he saw that she’d left. He was hoping she would have stayed, but maybe she went to be with Margo. She was, after all, her maid of honor, so he had his fingers crossed that that was all it was.

He knew it was D-day for them but hadn’t acknowledged it as such.

Although he should have been getting dressed, he sat back on his bed to take a few minutes to think.

The last two days were supposed to have been just fun. The old him would have considered it as such, and he might have been persuaded to now if the woman of thought wasn’t her, his Babydoll.

Scott would be some kind of idiot to think of all that had happened as just fun. It wasn’t. He didn’t know at what point it stopped being about fun, but that point had already come, and they had already turned into something more.

He didn’t want this to be some kind of fling or some kind of hookup with his ex during his sister’s wedding. It was more than that. It was crazy to have even had that thought.

Last night was something else. It felt like some sort of energy and force had filled him as if all that he felt for her was gathered into one mass of emotion and that he couldn’t get it all out. That was the best way that he could describe it, and all he knew was that he wanted to be with her.

He’d been thinking about on the journey yesterday. There were three weeks before the summer camp. He was supposed to go rock climbing with the guys but he’d pass and spend those weeks in New York with Abi. The biggest chunk of his time for the rest of the year would be taken up by the camp, training and, of course, he’d be playing when the season kicked off.

During that time while she may not see him during the week he’d mapped out his weekend travel to New York. Depending on when he was playing he was sure he could fit time in to see her.

Whatever happened he would make sure things would be different this time if she gave him the chance. He knew he was going out on the limb, making an assumption that she wanted to be with him, but he also knew how he felt. Scott knew he couldn’t be without her. He didn’t even want to contemplate it and he hoped that she felt the same.

On that thought, he got up again and started getting ready.

* * *

The artist had done her makeup beautifully and, like the rest of the bridesmaids, she had her hair rolled into something Romanesque with loose tendrils caressing the edge of her cheeks and white lilies that matched her bouquet adorning the back. It was beautiful and complimented the peach-colored dress she wore. It made her feel like a princess.

The others looked amazing, too. There was Alana and Elizabeth -- who were Margo’s older cousins -- and Rachel -- one of Margo’s work friends.

Margo, however, was the very definition of beauty. The Vera Wang gown she wore was stunning, and she looked breathtaking.

It was hard not to cry -- harder because Abi had spent the morning crying over Scott.

At the thought of him, tears threatened to come again, but she held them back. She didn’t think the makeup artist would be too happy if she had to redo her makeup.

Margo came over to her and smiled the smile of a woman in love who was over-eager to get married to the man of her dreams.

“Hey, can we talk?” she asked Abi and motioned for them to go outside.

“Sure.” Abi nodded, putting on a brave face.

They walked out onto the patio and sat in the white wicker chairs that added to the ambiance of the scenery.

“Are you okay?” Margo asked, running her hands over her dark mane of hair.

“Yeah. I’m good. I’m so excited about today.” Abi probably sounded way too perky, like she was trying too hard. She’d have to tone it down a notch when she next spoke.

“It almost didn’t happen. Thank you for coming to get me, and for just being there.”

“You know I’ll always be there for you whenever you need me,” Abi assured her.

“Abi, If I know nothing else, I know that.” Her bright blue eyes sparkled with appreciation.

“How are you feeling? I know you’re excited, but are you and Gale okay with … you know, his revelation?” She had to ask and felt it was her duty to. As friends, they’d always promised each other to be real, and not step around a problem.

“After the last two days, I realize that sometimes you just have to let things go. Abi, the man treats me like a queen, and I know he would never hurt me. He’s it for me. Gale is it for me. To say I love him doesn’t quite seem enough, and I think that I panicked when he told me what happened.”

Wow. Margo’s words were full of strength and power, full of confidence in her decision.

“I won’t say that I wasn’t upset. I was livid and furious, but leaving made me see how much I love him, and when you love someone like that, they’re worth holding on to.”

Abi nodded in agreement, feeling so happy to hear that. She was truly happy for Margo and Gale, but, at the same time, she couldn’t hide the fact that she was sad for herself. The truth of the matter was she loved Scott but would never have the kind of love Margo spoke of with him.

If she continued this wild saga of theirs, even for another day, it would be to her detriment. Being with him would be like watching a movie you’d already seen before, knowing how it ends and wishing for it to change.

“That’s really great, Margo. I’m so happy for you guys.”

“Thank you. So, is there any chance of you telling me what’s wrong?” Margo raised an intuitive eyebrow.

Abi smiled. “I’m okay. Maybe just tired.”

“I saw you leaving last night with Scott.”

“Did you?” it was more of a statement than a question.

“Did you two get along on the journey?” The inquisitive look she now gave made Abi smile.

“We did.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Abi shook her head, and the tears threatened to fall again. She pulled in a breath of the clean, fresh air to clear her mind and keep the tears at bay.

“Maybe some other time.”

Margo looked concerned now. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. My God, woman, today is your wedding day!”

“But you’re sad, and when you’re sad, I’m sad too. How long have we been friends, Abi? You’re like a sister to me.”

Abi couldn’t stop the tear that traveled down her cheek. Sometimes she forgot that she was alone in the world. She had an uncle on her father’s side, but she’d never met him. That was it, though -- one living relative. Everyone else had died. Margo was the only real family she had.

“That means a lot to me. Thank you. You are my sister, too, and I want you to be happy today. You’ve been through enough over the last two days.”

Margo reached across and took her hand to give her a gentle squeeze.

“Hey, there.” The makeup artist came up to the door and stood there with a warm smile. “Sorry to interrupt. I need to fit your veil,” she said to Margo.

“Oh, sure.” Margo stood up and beamed at her. Abi rose, too.

“I’m gonna go for a little walk in the garden,” Abi said.

A walk would help. They had about twenty minutes before they had to do pictures. She wanted to clear her head before that.

Margo gave her a little hug before she left, and Abi made her way through the boutique to get outside that way. There was a lake in the garden on this side. She wanted to go and sit by it.

She opened the door and proceeded to go but stopped on hearing her name being called.

It was Scott.

A bright smile lifted his handsome face. Wow, he looked really good.

The kind of good that should come with a warning label. He’d dressed casually the last few days, but now he was in a suit and looked even more like he’d stepped off the cover of GQ or Vogue.

“Babydoll...” He looked so happy to see her that she almost rethought this whole realization. He kissed her and didn’t seem to care who saw them.

“Hi.”

“I’m sorry I overslept. I wanted to spend time with you before we got busy with wedding stuff.”

“That’s okay.”

“Baby, you look beautiful -- really beautiful.”

“Thanks. You too. I mean, you look great, too.” She couldn’t think straight, and her head was ringing with the truth trying to flag itself to her, warning her away from the man she wanted to be with.

“What’s the matter?” he looked concerned.

“Nothing. I…”

She couldn’t. She couldn’t talk about this now. She didn’t want to talk about how she felt.

“Abi, if you’re worried about us, don’t. How would you feel about me going back to New York with you? When we leave here, I could go back to New York. We can have a road trip. I have a few weeks before camp, and I want to spend it with you. And not just those weeks. I’d try to be with you whenever I can. I want to be with you.”

She would have been thrilled to hear those words if not for the fear that overwhelmed her. The fear that took her back to years ago when she left him.

The fear made her shake her head, much to his surprise. “No,” she heard herself say. “You can’t.”

“What?” the crestfallen look on his face and in his eyes pained her heart, but she couldn’t go back on her words.

“Scott, you can’t come to New York with me.”

“Why? Baby, why? I thought that you… Look, I know we said ‘fun.’ We definitely said that, and it was fun. But then it changed, and it wasn’t just about fun. I didn’t want this thing between us to be just for the wedding. If that’s what it was for you, then I understand.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I wish, though, that it could have been. I wish to God that it could have been and that I had no feelings for you.”

“What’s the problem, then? I don’t understand.”

“We did this before, and it didn’t work. I’m me, and you’re you. Scott, I don’t know how we lasted as long as we did before, but I knew you didn’t want to be with me. I know that maybe it was because I was Margo’s friend why you just kept me there like I was part of the furniture.”

“No, Abi, no. I’m sorry if I made you feel like that. I was a complete jerk.

Things will be different now. I’m different. I am. Abi, surely you can see that I’m different. We’re different.” He looked desperate.

But she shook her head. “Scott, you hurt me. You hurt me so badly.” That was it; the tears came again. “Every time you looked at me, you looked at me like I was nothing to you. And, worse, I’ll always remember how relieved you looked when I told you I was leaving you, and then you never came after me.”

“I’m sorry, Abi.”

“I believe you, but I can’t risk putting myself through that again. It will be worse for me if I do.”

“Abi, I swear it will be different. If you want me to beg, I will.”

“No, Scott.”

“How do you know it will be worse? How can you know?”

Her heart ached even more when she watched a tear ran down his cheek.

“Because I love you. And I didn’t know until yesterday just how much. If you break me like you did before, I won’t be able to come back from that.”

Shock filled his face at her declaration.

“Babydoll…” he reached out to her, but she stepped away from him.

She gulped hard, hot tears spilling down her cheeks. It was too much. She couldn’t do this and, with only a few minutes until they had to do wedding pictures, she needed to go and get her head together.

Before he could say anything else, she rushed away from him.

* * *

What happened?

How could that have happened? Scott thought things would be simple -- that he could show Abi he was willing to make every effort to be with her, and that would fix it.

He was stupid to think that.

Fuck.

Why had he been such a stupid jerk in the past? Why did he treat her like she was nothing? Why couldn’t he have seen that she was everything and that he would never be able to find anyone like her?

She was right. All the things she said were all true. All of it. He couldn’t even protest because he thought all of that himself.

What was years of mistreatment in comparison to two days?

He watched her, feeling jealous of the groomsman that had walked up the aisle with her, holding his girl.

He watched her standing there only breaths away from where he sat with his parents.

She stood next to the other bridesmaid, looking radiantly beautiful. Her beauty would have been more enhanced if she smiled like the others, but he knew why she didn’t smile.

He couldn’t take his eyes off her; he just couldn’t, and it was worse as Margo and Gale started sharing their vows.

But something happened then. Abi looked at him. Maybe she felt the weight of his gaze on her, and she looked over at him.

For the few minutes that Margo and Gale declared their love for each other, Scott stared at Abi, looking straight into her eyes so that there was no mistake that he was looking at her. He didn’t know what she was thinking, but he hoped like hell she could see how much he loved her, too.

Their attention was only drawn away as the guests started clapping. Scott didn’t even hear what the priest had said but guessed he’d declared Margo and Gale married.

In that moment, an idea broke through the despair he felt. It was a wild idea but, oh, so clearly obvious in its entirety.

Abi may have been right, and she may be scared to be with him, scared of heartbreak and what it would do to her. However, that didn’t mean he should give up. It didn’t mean he shouldn’t try. This wasn’t years ago when he was an asshole that allowed her to leave him, and he wasn’t going to give up and let the one woman who could make him feel like this out of his life.

No, that was the very last thing he would do. Somehow, someway, he’d get his Babydoll back.

* * *

Abi thought she’d done well to last for as long as she did.

She’d gone through the motions for the last few hours, putting on a brave face for Margo and Gale, all the while pretending that she was fine.

She was far from fine and, now, she couldn’t get the image out of her head of Scott looking at her while Margo and Gale gave their wedding vows. Her defenses had weakened then and, like always, he had paralyzed her with his stare.

She thought she’d get a head start and leave before the traffic got bad. She’d checked earlier, and all flights were back to normal. If she left in an hour or so, she could be back in New York by about 10:00 and could drive on back to her little apartment where she could have her own space to get over the last two days.

As soon as she kicked off her heels, a knock sounded at her door and she wondered who that could be.

She didn’t think it would be Scott because it looked like he had gotten the message earlier. He didn’t come after her again when she ran off years ago, and, apart from that intense moment during the vows, he had kept himself to himself throughout the wedding.

She opened the door and was genuinely surprised to see him.

“Hi,” he began.

Her breath stilled within her chest as she looked at him. “Hey.”

“Can I come in?”

She nodded and stepped aside so that he could come in.

“Just so we’re clear, this is me coming after you. I saw you leave the reception. I didn’t try earlier when we spoke because I thought you needed time to cool off.”

“Scott, it doesn’t matter.” She was trying to be strong, here, but was finding it hard.

“It does, Abi. Tell me something… Will you forget me when you leave here?”

She narrowed her eyes at him thinking the question strange. “No, of course not. I’ll remember you.”

“Will that be because I’m Margo’s brother, or because I’m Scott Emmerson.”

“Scott, that is a fruitless question. What kind of an idiot question is that?”

“It’s not an idiot question if you think about it. So just answer it.”

She sighed, feeling frustrated. “I’ll remember you because you’re Scott.”

“And you love me?” He looked down at her, holding her gaze.

“I can’t do this.” She shook her head at him. Telling him she loved him earlier had been a mistake. It just came out beyond her control.

“Please, just tell me. Tell me again.”

It was only because it seemed important for him to hear it again that she decided to say, “I do love you. But it doesn’t matter.”

“It does, Abi.” He released a breath and pulled in another. “I love you, too, and I’m going to ask you to marry me.”

Her eyes widened with pure shock. There was no way she expected or anticipated him saying that and it stunned her to her core.

“What?” she gasped.

“I said I love you, too, and I’m going to ask you to marry me,” he repeated.

All she could do is look at him, open-mouthed, feeling her heart race and her breathing speed up.

“Now?” her voice was barely audible. “You’re going to ask me now?”

“No,” he shook his head. “I’m going to ask you when I’ve earned the chance to. I don’t deserve you. I never did, but I’ll die trying to.”

“Scott…” All the love she could possibly feel for him swelled within her chest.

“Please, give me a chance to prove myself to you, to prove that I am committed to you -- just you. Abi, I screwed up the seven years that we were together, and if it takes me seven more years to prove myself, I’ll do it and make sure that when I ask you to marry me, you’ll say yes.”

Abi blinked several times to be sure she wasn’t dreaming. To add to the perfect vison of him and all that he’d said, he got down on one knee and looked up at her. “Please, will you give me a chance?”

She reached out and rested her hand on top of his head, loving the silky feel of its texture between her fingers. “Yes,” she breathed. “Yes.”

“Yes?”

He took her hand, brought it to his lips and kissed her knuckles.

“Yes, Scott.” After hearing that, and seeing how he looked with so much love in his eyes, ‘yes’ had to be the answer.

“Oh, God.” He pressed his lips together and gazed up at her with his bright blue eyes that she could almost dive into. “Babydoll…” He stood up and took her into his arms, once again holding her close to his heart. “I’m never letting you go again. Never. And I will always make sure you know every day how much you mean to me and how much I love you.”

She believed him. “And me?”

“No, Babydoll. You don’t have to do anything else. You always showed me.”

She leaned into the kiss he gave her, relishing the difference in how they felt. “I love you, Scott.”

“And I love you, Abi.”