Magnificent Folly - Iris Johansen [58]
Andrew stood very still in the doorway, staring at it silently.
“Do you like it?” Lily pulled him out on the terrace. “I didn’t do it all my myself. Quenby, Mariana, Gunner, and Cassie helped. And Mrs. Muggins did those tiny windows in the tower. You’d be amazed how dexterous her metal fingers can be.” Lily released his hand and turned to face him. “But the idea was mine.”
He was still silent.
“Well, say something,” she said with a nervous laugh. “I’m beginning to feel foolish. I’m not used to making grandiose gestures like this.”
“Vive la déclaration.” His gaze finally shifted from the sand castle to her face. “Now, can you put it into words?”
“Pushy. You’re always so pushy.” Her lids lowered to veil her eyes. “It’s not easy.”
“Neither was building that sand castle.”
“You’re right. It was damn frustrating, knowing all that effort was going to be history in an hour or a day.”
“But you did it.”
“I wanted to show you …” She gazed directly into his eyes. “I won’t ever believe entirely, as you do, but I can agree on fundamentals. I’ll trust your integrity until the day I die, and I believe that there are some things that can’t be destroyed by time or circumstances. Is that enough?”
“Enough,” he said softly. “It’s the fundamentals that count. I never expected you to be a carbon copy of me, to believe all I believe.”
She nodded and took a deep breath. “Okay. Now for the big plunge.” She paused, then said in a rush, “And I believe one of those things that can’t be destroyed is love. And I do love you and intend to love you through hell and high water and—”
“Easy.” He took a step closer and drew her into his arms. “It doesn’t all have to come at once.”
“Yes, it does. I’m on a roll. You should have made me tell you this before, instead of being so damn patient. I was so scared I wouldn’t get the chance, when I saw you lying in that hospital bed.” She rested her head on his shoulder. He felt so good, so male, so … Andrew. “You’re an extraordinary human being, and I respect and admire you.” Her arms slipped around his neck. “But most of all I love you. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you want to do, and that fact will never change. You can build sand castles to the sky and risk your life with scum like Kalom and I’ll still be here. I won’t change and I won’t go away.”
“That’s quite a roll,” he said thickly. “Am I allowed to say I reciprocate your feelings?”
“No, because you already told me in that idiotically generous way you have.” Her arms tightened around him. “You just gave it to me and didn’t ask anything in return. Something’s really got to be done about you.”
“Marriage?”
She stiffened. “I never thought—”
He pushed her back to look down into her face. “Since we have an nine-year-old child, I believe it’s time we did think about it.” His eyes were twinkling. “Think how much power you’d have over me if you had me all trussed up in the marital noose.”
She shook her head. “You’ll still do exactly what you want to do.”
“And I want to marry Lily Deslin. Now, since you claim your affections won’t change, can you think of an argument against it?”
She shook her head as heady joy exploded within her. “Not even one.”
He kissed her gently. “Tomorrow?”
She shook her head. “You said your parents will be back from Marasef next week. I want them to meet me first.” A shadow temporarily banished the smile from her face. “I wish my mother could have met you, Andrew. She always wanted me to have a marriage as good as her own. Do you suppose she knows?”
His hands framed her face, and he looked down at her gravely. “I believe people don’t die as long as their memory lives on.”
“That’s not enough. I want to believe she knows and is happy for me. Perhaps I do believe it.” Her eyes glimmered