“I can change that. I will change it. Surgery isn’t that important to me anymore.”
He moved toward her again, and she took refuge behind the bed and stared at him in disbelief. “And when did that miracle occur?”
“Tonight. I realized tonight what’s important to me. You are, Melissa. Please give me a chance to prove it to you.” This was getting scary. She racked her brain for the items on her list and remembered a big one. “I have a demanding career of my own, and you’d expect me to make all the concessions. Well, I won’t.”
“I won’t expect any such thing.” He sounded outraged. “I respect and admire your career path. I’ll do everything I can to support you.”
He sounded so sincere that she believed him, but there was still something elemental missing, and it hurt her heart. “There’s more to marriage than support, James. I don’t want just support. When—“ The damn tears were threatening again. She sniffed and her voice wobbled. “When the real thing comes along, I want a man who doesn’t make a proposal sound like a business contract. I want a man who—“ She sniffed again, and the rest came out in a wail. “I want a man who loves me. The way that I love him.” Damn. She hadn’t meant to add that last bit.
He looked dumbstruck. “But that’s what I’m telling you. I do love you, Melissa. I love everything about you. God, I love you so much I’m half crazy with it. Why do you think I’m talking about marriage here?”
He strode around the bed and took her in his arms. “I’m so relieved you feel the same way.”
It felt so good to be held. But there was still something she needed to know. “Did you tell my mother that?”
“Tell her what?”
He smelled of hospital soap. He was stroking her hair. “That you loved me. She said you all but told her.”
He sounded a little embarrassed. “I might have mentioned it, when she was in the coma. You told me to talk to her, so I did.”
That changed things. He’d been willing to compromise for her once. He could probably do it again. It would just take practice.
“Do you want me to get down on my knees, Melissa?”
His arms were tight around her, and the nine pounds didn’t matter. She felt slender and fragile in his embrace.
“Because I will, if that’s what you want.”
“Not here. Not now. Not in the maternity ward.” Not wearing this horrible yellow tracksuit.
“Okay. Just tell me when and where.” He tipped her chin up and kissed her hard and deep and long. “But make it soon, okay?”
The sense of power was delicious. The kiss was as well, but there was a lot of planning to do. A proposal of marriage called for a “stellar look.” And then there was the wedding gown to think about.
She totally hated the prospect, but she was going to have to pay Barry another visit.
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About the Author
Bobby Hutchinson was born in a small town in interior British Columbia in 1940. Her father was an underground coal miner, her mother a housewife, and both were storytellers. Learning to read was the most significant event in her early life.
She married young and had three sons. Her middle son was deaf, and he taught her patience. She divorced and worked at various odd jobs, directing traffic around construction sites, day caring challenged children, selling fabric by the pound at a remnant store.
She mortgaged her house and bought the store, took her sewing machine to work, and began to sew a dress a day. The dresses sold. The fabric didn’t, so she hired four seamstresses and turned the store into a handmade clothing boutique.
After twelve successful years, she sold the business and decided to run a marathon. Training was a huge bore, so she made up a story as she ran, about Pheiddipedes, the first marathoner. She copied it down and sent it to the Chatelaine short story contest, won first prize, finished the Vancouver marathon, and became a writer. It was a hell of a lot easier than running.
She married again and divorced again, writing all the while, mostly romances, (which she obviously needs to learn a lot about,) and now has more than fifty-five published books.
She decided she needed something to do in the morning in her spare time, so she opened her first B&B, Blue Collar, in Vancouver, B.C. After five successful years, she moved home to the small coal-mining town of Sparwood, where she now operates the reincarnated version of the Blue Collar.
She's currently working on three or four or eight more books. She has six enchanting grandchildren. She lives alone, apart from guests and two rabbits, meditates, bikes, walks, reads incessantly, and writes compulsively.
She likes a quote by Dolly Parton: “Decide who you are, and then do it on purpose.”
Try some other books by Bobby Hutchinson:
HOW NOT TO RUN A B&B
EARTH ANGEL
A LANTERN IN THE WINDOW
A LEGAL AFFAIR
ALMOST AN ANGEL
SPECIAL EDUCATION
LOVE MEDICAL ROMANCE???
TRY THESE:
THE BABY DOCTOR
PICKING CLOVER
FULL RECOVERY
ARE YOU MY DADDY
DOUBLE JEAPORDY
DRASTIC MEASURES
NURSING THE DOCTOR
AND A FUN, EDUCATIONAL KID’S BOOK:
DEETER, THE DOG WHO DIDN’T LISTEN
Copyright 2013 by Bobby Hutchinson
This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express and written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Table of Contents
Copyright
Table Of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
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About the Author
other books
Copyright