Patrick had one mission on the holiday designated for lover's , to win his back. Robin had moved out of their home a month before, after he suggested they push the date they were planning on getting married back for the third time.
He knew it was his cold feet talking. And if she would have said, "Lets do it tonight" he would have been up for it. It was the waiting that drove him crazy and made him think about how he was sure he couldn't be a good husband to her.
But he wanted to be. He was desperate to be.
So he sat on her stoop and waited for her to come home. He prayed she would be more willing to talk to him than she was over the last few weeks at work.
An hour passed and it started to snow.
Patrick thought about all the nights he spent missing her, and the nights before that he had spent loving her. He ached for that future he had been too scared to grab and claim as his own: that house on Elm Street Robin wanted to make on offer on, the three kids and a dog she had already named before any of them existed, and the years where she would be the one he came home to every night.
A car splashed through the puddles and parked at the curb. Robin, Lainey and Kelly piled out. They were laughing and Patrick was sure he heard Kelly say "Screw men!" and Robin mutter some curse words before they spotted him.
They stopped dead in their tracks. The snow pounded down onto all of them.
Kelly said to Robin, "You don't have to talk to him."
Robin whispered, her eyes locked on Patrick, "I want to."
Lainey said, "Then we will get out of your way. Here, take my keys. You can have some privacy in my car."
The roommates dashed inside and Robin moved over to the car and unlocked it. She crawled into the backseat and Patrick joined her.
For a long moment, no one said anything. They wiped the snow off as best they could.
Robin said, "Should I run the heater?"
"I will. Or we could go somewhere else?"
Robin shook her head, no.
Patrick took the keys and started the car, cranked the heat, and then settled down next to her again.
He thought of his big speech to win her back. But, since his whole life depended on this going right, Patrick hesitated on starting it.
He opened his mouth and then Robin blurted out, "Why are you here anyway? I thought you didn't want me."
"Robin..." the word was a broken sound, two long hurt filled syllables.
She crossed her arms over her chest. "Or, at least, you didn't want to marry me."
Patrick threw the speech out the proverbial window and said, "Lets do it tonight."
Her head jerked to look at him. "Convenient, Dr. Drake. It wouldn't be legal since we didn't get the license yet."
"So we redo the vows later but you would still be my wife... in my heart you already are, Robin. And I am sorry if I ever made you doubt that. I just get nervous about all this marriage and babies and having a dog to feed on top of all that stuff." Patrick took her hand, " I get nervous but I still want it all. And I want it will you and I want it to start tonight."
Robin let out a ragged breath, "I want to believe you but..."
"Believe me, please." He kissed her. "Marry me." Again his lips were on hers. "Stay with me forever." Robin kissed him "Ignore my nervous ways." Another kiss, and Patrick kept talking like this. "Love me." She wrapped her arms around his neck and he said "Tell me you are my wife, Robin. Say those words and it will be set in stone, I swear to you."
She eased her head back and looked in his eyes, slowly she smiled, "You drive me crazy."
"In a good way?"
"In a crazy way."
"I love you, Robin. Is that enough? I can be better, do better, tell me what you want, tell me the kind of man you need, and I will be him. I will. I can."
"You're already him. You were born him, Patrick."
His eyes filled with tears. He had tried so hard to live up to some ideal and then kept falling short. But, in truth, he saw now, all she wanted was who he was at his core.
Robin cupped his cheek, "I'm your wife."
The tears spilled out of his eyes.
"Why don't you take your wife home, doctor, and show her a proper Valentine's Day?" Robin said, her voice low and sexy and making him want her, right there and right now in the backseat of a borrowed car.
"First we go and see that priest that baptized Nikolas' son. What was his name? And then you get your Valentine's day night honeymoon."
Robin kissed him, long and hard, letting her very soul be exposed in that moment.
Then she pulled back and said "If I ever leave you again, will you promise to come and find me? No matter what I say, come and find me, Patrick."
"Every single time."
(I've
dreamed of this a thousand times before
But in my dreams I
couldn't love you more
I
will give you my heart
Until
the end of time...
You're all I need, my love, my Valentine)
