Author's Note: I do apologize for how long it's taken me to finish this story. I had a laptop crash and a lot of lost work… well that's a boring story. I'll just say that I never forgot about this, and I'm thankful to all of you who have stuck with me since I first started it. We're in the home stretch, but I promise I won't make you wait so long again.
Mary's eyes widened. She opened her mouth but couldn't speak. Tom remained on one knee, patiently waiting. Tears came into Mary's eyes and spilled onto her cheeks. She tried to wipe her face with the back of her hand, knowing full well how idiotic she looked. Being now completely out of defenses she turned away.
Tom watched her reaction with genuine pity. As Mary tried to calm herself, Tom reached into his pocket and produced a handkerchief. He lightly touched Mary's face with it. She looked at him in surprise and he offered a friendly smile, but she quickly looked away again in embarrassment.
"I… I do not understand you at all!" she gasped. Her shoulders shook and she rubbed her eyes into the handkerchief, unable to meet his gaze.
"Breathe," he advised. "Just breathe."
Mary met his eyes, remembering when he had first given her that advice. She looked at him with a hundred questions in her eyes, yet was unable to form any of them aloud.
Tom waited quietly, still on one knee, as she gathered herself together. "Take your time," he said lightly. "I'm not going anywhere."
Mary looked at him and despite every other thought that was going through her mind, she realized in amazement that he was teasing her. Yes, teasing her! It lit enough of that original spark of frustration within her to make her find her voice.
"I don't know what to make of you!" she cried. Without realizing it she had started wringing her hands. "I haven't understood anything you've done since you've returned from Boston!" Tears came pouring down her cheeks before she could stop them. Tom looked as though he were about to answer but she cut him off. "I turned you down and you didn't even care!" she nearly screamed.
"Care?" he repeated with a little surprise. "Is that what you thought?" he almost laughed but quickly stopped himself. "Of course I cared," he said seriously.
"You certainly didn't act that way," she mumbled.
"Well, what would have been the point in my acting upset? You were clearly upset enough for the both of us." He smiled at her and she met his eyes with confusion… then slowly, very slowly, realization dawned on her.
"Are you… are you saying that – that this whole time, you – "
Tom watched with some amusement as the woman he loved slowly put the pieces together. "Didn't I tell you that I would be patient?" he asked. "Didn't I tell you that I would wait?"
"But you... you never said a word," she said slowly. "You acted as though it never happened! You even made me start to question if it was just my imagination," she admitted without meaning to.
"I didn't need to press you, you were punishing yourself far worse than anything I could ever come up with."
Mary's mouth hung open. "So you just allowed this to go on? For what purpose? Your own private amusement?"
"No," he grinned. "That wasn't the reason. Well, not the main one, anyway."
Mary stood up and walked to the windows looking out. She breathed. She wasn't even angry, she was too stunned. "So you admit it then?" she asked, still facing the windows. "You drove me crazy and enjoyed doing it."
"Nobody knows you better than I do, Mary," he answered, standing up, neither confirming nor denying her accusation.
Mary spun around. "Tom Branson, that is the meanest, cruelest revenge I ever –" she was stopped as Tom crossed the room and kissed her.
Mary's heart completely stopped for a minute.
She hadn't expected that to happen, yet she hadn't expected any of this to happen.
All she knew was that she had spent the past few weeks wishing that Tom would magically come back to her, that she hadn't completely destroyed everything… and yet here he was, telling her not that he was back, but that he'd never left in the first place! It was too wonderful. And frustrating! She was torn between laughing and crying as she eagerly returned the kiss.
She felt the tears start to fall down her cheeks again as she kissed him. Was she upset? Was she feeling guilty? Or was she crazy, stupidly happy? Or all three? She wasn't sure.
Tom ended the kiss with a smug smile on his face. He was extremely confident in himself which Mary found both arousing and infuriating. "Well," he said with a smile. "Have you decided?"
"Decided?"
"I asked you to marry me," he reminded her. "You haven't answered." He still held the ring in his hand.
Mary looked amazed, flattered, and frustrated all at the same time. She looked at the ring, then looked at Tom. He noticed with a little amusement that despite it all she still looked as though she wanted to yell at him. He waited patiently for her to settle some sort of inner-argument she was having with herself. Finally, she seemed to give up and threw her hands into the air. "You are the most exasperating person I've ever met in my life!"
"Likewise," he answered readily.
She nearly rolled her eyes, but in spite of herself, she smiled. "No one could ever succeed in making me so crazy as you," she said with a hint of admiration.
"Likewise," he repeated.
"I rejected you and you retaliated by making me question my own sanity," she slowly shook her head in amazement.
"Yes, I love you that much," he answered. "But I'll tell you a secret," he said, stepping close to her. "It wouldn't have worked if you weren't in love with me."
Mary couldn't help but smile. "I am madly in love with you," she admitted out loud for the first time.
"Likewise," he answered with a broad smile.
"Tom," she burst into a huge smile. "Of course I'll marry you!"
