exactly how to find my every insecurity and wrangle it to the ground? “Then there’s only one thing left to do.” I set the open ring box beside her on the bed and cradled her face in my hands. “Since the first time I saw you—no, before that, the first time I heard your voice, that determined, stubborn voice telling me how perfect you were for my project manager position—I knew I had to have you. You belonged in my life, and one way or another, I would have you.”
She inhaled sharply and smiled, pressing her lips together as the tears kept flowing. I brushed them away with my thumbs. “I don’t know how, or why, Rachael, but you get me like nobody ever has. You understand the circles of thought in my mind and why I do the crazy-stupid things I do.”
Rachael let out a small laugh and my heart leapt. I felt myself smile and clung to the hope that I hadn’t destroyed everything between us. “I want the world with you. I want what we already have and everything I see for us in the future. You’re my home, Rachael, the only one I’ve ever had, and I want you to be my wife. Will you marry me?”
Rachael nodded, her face still held in my hands. “I want that more than anything. I’d marry you this second if I could.” She started laughing and crying at the same time. “This is the most emotionally draining trip I’ve ever taken.”
I began to laugh with her, plucked the ring out of the box, stood, and pulled her up into my arms. “You justsigned on for a lifetime on this roller coaster, so buckle in.” I took her left hand and slipped the diamond ring on her finger. “I promise to be the best husband I can be until the day I die.”
Rachael grinned and pecked my lips. “I promise to hold you to it.”
Taking her hand, I lifted the ring to my lips and, like she taught me, sealed my promise with a kiss.
Twelve
Rachael
I examined my engagement ring with blurry, gritty eyes, strained and burning from all of my crying. The diamond was large but not pretentious, oval, resting in an antique filigree setting of what I figured was platinum. It was breathtaking.
My heart expanded and the salty wetness began to pool in my eyes again as I looked up at Merrick.
“It’s similar to Ingrid Weston’s ring,” he said, taking my hand and admiring the beautiful stone. “In the photo of her and Archibald on their family tree, her ring looks a little bit like this.” He brushed a strand of hair back from my face and tucked it behind my ear. “They brought us together. I wanted to acknowledge that in your ring, but it had to be all yours, too—ours. Just ours.”
Ingrid Burkhart Weston was the original matron of Turtle Tear. I recited the love story between her and her husband Archibald to Merrick during our interview. Ingrid’s parents forbade her to be with Archibald, so he climbed a ladder to her window and whisked her away to Turtle Tear. When I turned down the project manager position with Rocha Enterprises tostay at home with my mother—what she wanted, not what I wanted—Merrick wouldn’t let me sacrifice my desire to lead the renovation of the hotel. Being the impulsive, stubborn man that he is, he kidnapped me, although we like to refer to it as whisking me away to Turtle Tear as Archibald did with Ingrid. Waking up tied to a bed in the ruins of an historic hotel with a guilt-ridden man who has no interest in harming you, only talking you into accepting a position with his company, is insane, and at the same time, it was our perfect start.
Merrick slipped the ring from my finger and held it up so I could see the inside edge of the band, where a small turtle was engraved along with the words:
Forever My Home and Heart—M
.
Speechless and overwhelmed, I stood on tiptoe, tears falling freely, reaching for his lips as he slid the ring back on my finger. “That smile,” he said before I could kiss him, “it’s what I live for.”
“You could’ve been getting a lot more smiles if you would’ve
She inhaled sharply and smiled, pressing her lips together as the tears kept flowing. I brushed them away with my thumbs. “I don’t know how, or why, Rachael, but you get me like nobody ever has. You understand the circles of thought in my mind and why I do the crazy-stupid things I do.”
Rachael let out a small laugh and my heart leapt. I felt myself smile and clung to the hope that I hadn’t destroyed everything between us. “I want the world with you. I want what we already have and everything I see for us in the future. You’re my home, Rachael, the only one I’ve ever had, and I want you to be my wife. Will you marry me?”
Rachael nodded, her face still held in my hands. “I want that more than anything. I’d marry you this second if I could.” She started laughing and crying at the same time. “This is the most emotionally draining trip I’ve ever taken.”
I began to laugh with her, plucked the ring out of the box, stood, and pulled her up into my arms. “You justsigned on for a lifetime on this roller coaster, so buckle in.” I took her left hand and slipped the diamond ring on her finger. “I promise to be the best husband I can be until the day I die.”
Rachael grinned and pecked my lips. “I promise to hold you to it.”
Taking her hand, I lifted the ring to my lips and, like she taught me, sealed my promise with a kiss.
Twelve
Rachael
I examined my engagement ring with blurry, gritty eyes, strained and burning from all of my crying. The diamond was large but not pretentious, oval, resting in an antique filigree setting of what I figured was platinum. It was breathtaking.
My heart expanded and the salty wetness began to pool in my eyes again as I looked up at Merrick.
“It’s similar to Ingrid Weston’s ring,” he said, taking my hand and admiring the beautiful stone. “In the photo of her and Archibald on their family tree, her ring looks a little bit like this.” He brushed a strand of hair back from my face and tucked it behind my ear. “They brought us together. I wanted to acknowledge that in your ring, but it had to be all yours, too—ours. Just ours.”
Ingrid Burkhart Weston was the original matron of Turtle Tear. I recited the love story between her and her husband Archibald to Merrick during our interview. Ingrid’s parents forbade her to be with Archibald, so he climbed a ladder to her window and whisked her away to Turtle Tear. When I turned down the project manager position with Rocha Enterprises tostay at home with my mother—what she wanted, not what I wanted—Merrick wouldn’t let me sacrifice my desire to lead the renovation of the hotel. Being the impulsive, stubborn man that he is, he kidnapped me, although we like to refer to it as whisking me away to Turtle Tear as Archibald did with Ingrid. Waking up tied to a bed in the ruins of an historic hotel with a guilt-ridden man who has no interest in harming you, only talking you into accepting a position with his company, is insane, and at the same time, it was our perfect start.
Merrick slipped the ring from my finger and held it up so I could see the inside edge of the band, where a small turtle was engraved along with the words:
Forever My Home and Heart—M
.
Speechless and overwhelmed, I stood on tiptoe, tears falling freely, reaching for his lips as he slid the ring back on my finger. “That smile,” he said before I could kiss him, “it’s what I live for.”
“You could’ve been getting a lot more smiles if you would’ve
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