HE WAS WAITING at the fresh-water tap again the next morning, appearing like a wraith in the light sea mist.
‘So, shall we get married?’ he said as she bent over to catch her breath.
Catch her breath when he’d just made what sounded very like an extremely casual but probably serious proposal?
She straightened cautiously, and looked into the now-familiar blue eyes.
‘Why?’ she asked.
He kind of smiled and kind of shrugged, and reached out to touch her cheek.
‘It just seems like a good idea,’ he finally replied, no smile now, deadly serious.
‘For you, for Nikki, or for me?’ Izzy asked, the hammering of her heart against her sternum telling her just how important his answer would be.
Wishing...
Hoping...
‘For all of us,’ he said.
Wrong answer!
Her head dropped, her eyes watered, her body trembled in reaction and he reached out and put his hands on her shoulders, drawing her slightly closer but not close enough for body contact.
Just close!
‘And...’ he said, and she could read stress in his face, feel tension in his hands.
‘And...’ she prompted.
Wrong prompt!
‘Damn it, Izzy, you know why. I told you yesterday that I love you.’
‘You told Nikki that you love me,’ Izzy reminded him gently, although her heart had stopped hammering and was doing a little skipping thing in her chest. ‘Not the same thing.’
‘But you heard me say it,’ he protested, and she wondered if she should give him a break.
No way!
‘Not to me!’
He drew her close, clasped his arms around her back and rested his chin on her head.
‘Oh, Izzy, I have no idea why it’s so hard. Perhaps because I’ve thought for a long time that people say it too readily, too often, and the words lose their meaning. But I’ve known for days now, probably weeks, yet putting how I feel into words—’
‘You’re doing okay,’ Izzy whispered, feeling the love through the lips in her hair, the hands on her back.
‘I love you, Izzy. There, I’ve said it, but it wasn’t just words, it was a pledge of my heart, my life, my love for ever. All for you, my for-ever-and-ever woman!’
She raised her head to his for the kiss to seal the declaration, but put her finger to his lips before they touched hers.
‘Isn’t it my turn now?’ she asked, then had to laugh at the astonished look on his face.
‘But of course you love me,’ he said. ‘You must! We’re meant to be together. Even without Nikki it would have been you and me. Besides, you have to marry me, because being with you, loving you has stopped my nightmares.’
‘Well, there’s a good reason,’ Izzy teased.
But Mac was serious again.
‘Not as good as love,’ he said quietly. ‘I think we both knew there was something special between us from our first meeting at the beach that morning. It was as if a whole new world had started—for me anyway.’
‘For me, too,’ Izzy agreed, and now she did kiss him, revelling in the sense of belonging that filled every cell in her body.
‘I love you, Mac,’ she whispered as they pulled apart.
‘And I you,’ he confirmed, and he took her hand to walk back along the track—to a daughter, to marriage, to a family...and to happy ever after.
* * * * *