"Hope springs eternal in the human breast:
Man never is, but always
To be Blest."
Alexander Pope

CHAPTER 7: HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL

I have no idea how I managed to leave her in the library, alone.

It took everything I had to leave her there—remembering how I'd been raised to be a gentleman, thinking of what my mother would say, what my sister would think of me. There was no doubt in my mind; I would have been taking advantage of her if… Things had gone any farther. And I loved her too much to do that. I could wait. For as long as she needed me too.

I smiled to myself as I was getting ready for bed remembering her deep blush. Ahhh, she was so enchanting. I closed my eyes and thought of her hair, her lips, her hands running through my hair…

I exhaled noisily and got into bed knowing that I would dream of her. Hopefully all night. I hope she dreams of me, too. I placed my arms behind my head and drifted off to sleep, with a deep sense of satisfaction in my heart.

~~:::~~

I awoke in the morning feeling very refreshed. But since I'd never eaten anything for dinner or even lunch, I also felt very hungry. When Lizzie had poured those glasses of milk for us and started to make our sandwiches, I had felt so dejected about the prospect of my rapidly approaching departure date that I went for a walk instead of eating.

My mind immediately shied away from what had happened at that point in my afternoon. I mentality hit fast-forward and thought of Edward's goodnight kiss instead.

My left hand went straight to my lips of its own accord. He was so… Good. Not in a sexual way, though that was something to mull over… I shook my head slightly while feeling my cheeks begin to burn.

He was a good person.

I thought about how he'd handled my hesitation about intimacy. I knew that he'd wanted me but he had put what he perceived to be my feelings first.

Sincere. Yes. That was the word I'd used to describe his personality, really his essence, last night.

My stomach grumbled and I quickly remembered why I'd woken up so early. It must have only been about 5:00 a.m. by that point. I didn't bother to change into anything from my P.J.'s, since I was only going to the kitchen and I was certain no one else would be up at this time. I thought of the strawberries I'd happened to see in the fridge the night before and my mouth started to water.

My bare feet on the aged wooden floors made no sound and I was glad. I didn't want to accidentally awaken anyone. I gave an involuntary yawn as I walked down the hallway.

Maybe I'd go back to bed after having a little snack. I wondered how Lizzie was... Perhaps she was still feeling pretty good and would want us to finish up the notes and ancillary items for her novel today.

As I reached the kitchen, my awareness of Edward in the house grew. Of course he'd been in the house for well over a month now but I'd never been so intensely conscious of it until this morning.

I stifled a giggle. I felt like I was a teenager again, wondering if he was dreaming about me, if he would be eager to see me today… Don't be silly. I grinned at myself.

I also felt… Complete. I felt my grin change into a more serene expression on my face. More so than at any other point in my life before, I felt complete.

Even with Jacob it hadn't quite felt like this. We had been best friends—they say that's how you're supposed to have a happy, long-lasting marriage, by marrying your best friend.

I would never know if that was true or not, since he had passed away before we'd even had the opportunity to have our fifth-year anniversary. I exhaled sadly.

I would always miss him. But I knew that I could give myself fully to someone now. I didn't really believe that I could have done that before the amazing events of the last 24 hours.

As I reached the fridge and pulled the door open, my eyes brightened as they found the strawberries and my mouth started to water again. I took the bowl over to the kitchen sink and rinsed two handfuls off and placed them in one of the pretty china bowls that were on a shelf to my left.

As I turned back to the fridge to put the rest of the strawberries away, I thought I saw movement down the hall. I stopped and waited to see if someone was coming down the hall towards me. I didn't see anything else, so I shrugged and went to sit at the kitchen island facing the direction of the large back windows to look out at over the ocean. It's so picturesque here.

As I slowly ate the strawberries one by one, I continued to think about all that had happened to me over the past five years.

For the first time I felt that I was in control of my own life.

Even if difficult things continued to plague me—and I had to admit it was very likely that there would be more difficulties coming my way—I felt I could face them without flinching. I felt… Empowered.

A slow smile slid onto my face. Yes. Empowered.

~~:::~~

My eyes had opened long before I'd really wanted them to. Apparently Bella and I had headed off to bed earlier than I'd thought. I gave a snort. Figures. I'm an early riser but this is ridiculous. I looked over at my travel clock sitting on my nightstand. Just after 5:00 a.m. I took a deep breath and ran my hands over my face. I needed to shave…

I got up, figuring I'd hit the fridge for a light snack before I changed to go for my usual early morning run. I headed for my door in my loose black boxers and t-shirt, which I usually slept in, not bothering to put anything else on. I assumed there would be no point since no one else could possibly be up this early.

I would still be careful and quiet, however. Bella had been through so much the day before and I didn't want to wake her. I reached for the door handle remembering how she'd looked as I'd left the library. She's in love with you, mate. I grinned. Good thing too because I'm madly in love with her.

As I turned the doorknob I heard something… I wasn't sure what it was at first, so I carefully opened my door only a few inches. My eyes grew wide as I watched Bella walk right past my door, with her exquisite mouth formed into a yawn.

I was mesmerized by seeing her in such a different light. I'd never seen a woman this… Unprepared. They always seemed to sense when I was going to be around and were therefore always already 'made up.'

It was like getting a glimpse of a brand new creature. I was seeing a side to her I might never have been able to witness for myself if she'd known I was standing there watching her.

I kept very still and quiet as I continued to watch her walk to the kitchen. A smirk played across my face. Her hair looked tangled but still fetching. Her skin looked like it glowed. I'd never seen this much of her skin… I felt my eyebrows raise slightly. She was wearing an old t shirt that was slightly too big for her, similar to mine but white, and I could just barely make out some dark blue, silky shorts… My God. She was gorgeous even when not trying!

I started to think back over the past month and a half, picturing her in different outfits I'd seen her wearing. I couldn't honestly remember her ever wearing a lot of makeup, if any. She always dressed casually, which made sense when she was basically working around the house most of the time with my Gran. What I wouldn't give to see her in something slinky… The smirk came back.

I felt drawn out of my room, pulled towards the kitchen and to her.

As I quietly came down the hall, my feet were bare so I wasn't making any noise as I walked. However, I still thought I saw her look down the hall for a few seconds. I stopped moving towards her until she had turned to sit at the kitchen island with her back to the door. I didn't want to frighten her but she seemed so relaxed, I figured I could get away with what I was planning.

As I came up behind her and reached her back, I carefully but swiftly moved my right arm so it encircled her waist. She immediately gasped and grabbed my arm with her left hand. "Good morning, my love." Before she could say anything in response to my greeting, I'd reached up with one finger to gently pull on the collar of her t-shirt, slowly moving it so that I could see the top of her shoulder. I stopped my movement as I reached the end of her shoulder blade, and I bent down and kissed her neck, where I'd exposed her skin. I even very gently ran my tongue in little circles at the top of her shoulder.

She gasped again and I even heard a small moan escape her lips. I smiled wide. "How are we this morning?" As I spoke, I let go of her shirt and moved my hand and arm around her front, so I was now holding her other shoulder, with my arm draped across her collarbones and my head lightly resting on the shoulder I'd just kissed.

"Oh Edward!" She let out a little puff of air between her teeth. "I thought I heard someone a few minutes ago!" She tried to sound annoyed but she did nothing to make me move my arms from around her body.

She'd already been grasping my arm around her waist with her left hand and, without warning, she reached up with her right, placed it at the back of my head while tangling her fingers into my hair. Now it was my turn to let a slight groan escape from between my teeth. "Bella…"

I was starting to feel intoxicated just from her mere presence.

She giggled. Giggled? I had never heard her giggle before. It was charming—a sound I could get extremely used to hearing.

I laughed softly into her shoulder. "Um, will you share any of that with me?" Her strawberries looked really appetizing, but not as much as her shoulder had been, however.

I could hear my voice grow slightly rough. "You're so appetizing…" I closed my eyes as I breathed in her scent. It was like clean linen hung on a line after a spring shower. Like lavender, gardenias and freesia in a tightly bound bouquet. "Ummm."

She giggled again. "Edward! You're being silly. Of course I'll share." She removed her fingers from my hair and reached into her bowl with her other to hand feed me some her strawberries.

"These are really good." I exclaimed after chewing for a few seconds. Again, not as good as her but still... I had come to the kitchen for a little bit of a snack. I smirked at my own innuendo.

She suddenly seemed to tense. God, I hope I hadn't said that last part out loud. For a moment, I wondered if I'd crossed some line or other physically. But I hadn't done anything since kissing her shoulder except eat a strawberry or two from her hand.

"Bella, what's wrong?" I hesitatingly removed my arms from around her and stood up straight, putting only one of my hands lightly on her back.

She had moved her arms so that she had them loosely crossed in front of her body. She slowly turned and stood so that she was blocking my view of her face. "Umm." She sounded embarrassed. I looked at her in confusion, until she spoke.

"I have to go change my clothes. I didn't exactly come out here dressed… Umm, appropriately." She was blushing so hotly that I thought I'd be able to feel the heat on my hand if I'd reached out to touch her face.

I felt my eyebrows pull together. "I don't understand. Did I do something wrong…?"

She stopped me by looking over at me—without turning her body to face me, though. "NO. No, I'm just not… I don't have enough clothing on… Oh God. I'm so embarrassed." She gave a little shake of her head. "This is going to sound a little crazy to you, probably, but…" I could just make out that she now held her lower lip in her teeth. "Could you please turn around?"

I looked at her dumbfounded… And then I put two and two together. "Oh. Oh! I'm so sorry, Bella." I immediately turned around. I had realized she didn't have a bra on. I was glad I hadn't picked up on that before, otherwise, while I'd been holding her, I might have…

Don't go there Cullen. I'd said I would give her as much time as she needed, and if I'd meant that promise to myself and to her, I would gladly turn around now if that's what she wanted.

She laughed nervously. "I'm so sorry… I'm being sort-of silly, I know, but…"

"Sweetheart, you have nothing to apologize for. Don't worry about it." I meant it. I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable around me. Besides, I still had my dream of seeing her in something silky and sexy. I'm going to call Alice today and have her start making arrangements for a dinner party at the estate. I smiled. Hugely.

I couldn't wait to get her to my ancestral home and lavish her with all the attention she deserved. My darling girl, what have you done to me? I thought wryly.

Bella had definitely changed me. Permanently. For the better.

~~:::~~

So that Bella wouldn't overhear my plans for her, I did call Alice later that day when I knew that Bella would be working with my Gran. My sister sounded rather surprised that I'd be bringing, as I'd put it to her, 'one of Gran's best friends' back with me to visit the estate and the rest of the family.

I smiled wickedly as I realized that I'd finally be able to surprise Alice. An almost impossible thing to do. I quickly muffled my laugh. No reason to make Bella suspicious. Her liquid dark brown eyes seemed to see everything. I had to watch myself around her if I expected to pull off any surprises now or in the future.

That made me go over my conversation with Alice again…

"Look, I just want to have the family, a few friends, and a few of the neighbors over for a formal dinner, Alice." I was starting to get frustrated with my sister. She was trying to make this into the event of the autumn season.

"Come ON, Edward. You've hardly had any events at ALL at the estate since you graduated from college." I could see her little brows knit together from memory. I rolled my eyes.

"Look, I would like this to be an intimate affair, if that's alright with you." I told her in an exasperated tone. Then I heard Jasper in the background. "Alice, leave your brother alone. He's apparently got designs on impressing this friend of your grandmother's."

I grinned as I listened to one of my best friends get through to my sister in a way I never had been able to. I sighed.

"O.k., well, I've got to go now but you've got all the critical details, right?" Alice told me she did and that she would be at the airport to pick us up. "Good. That'll help. Thanks, Alice. Give my love to everyone."

As I hung up, I thought I'd better give Rosalie a call too. I'd need her help in taking Bella shopping for a formal dress.

I knew that they had one major item in common: Rosalie had a degree in Comparative Literature and Bella's degree was in English Literature. I hoped that would help them bond a little bit.

I was aware that Rosalie was worried about me, especially since everything that had happened with Lauren. I also trusted Rosalie more than Alice to not turn Bella into a runway model. Not that she couldn't pull that off… I grinned to myself, then grew contemplative. I just wanted her natural beauty to be accentuated, not hidden under ridiculous and overly frivolous high fashion.

I slowly smiled at the thought of her natural beauty. Oh, man… Did you get lucky Cullen. I ran my hand through my hair as I pictured her in different formal gowns. Then I remembered how she'd looked in just a t shirt and those petite, dark blue silk shorts… I shook my head to clear it a little bit. Call Rosalie, yeah, that's what I'm supposed to be doing. Not daydreaming about my girlfriend.

That made me pause.

Is that what she was? No. Not even close.

She was much, much more than that.

But could I consider marriage now? Most definitely. The thought of going through any part of my life without Bella… It made my heart ache excruciatingly.

But I didn't think I could tell her yet how deeply I was in love with her. I didn't want her to feel uneasy around me, I wanted her to be free to be herself—I worried that I would make her feel too self-conscious if she knew just how besotted I was with her.

"Hi Rose! Yeah, it's been great here. I got an amazing number of things worked out by spending this time with my grandmother." She was very pleased for me. I listened to her tell me about Emmett's latest cricket team predictions and then shared a little more with her. "Look, I'm going to be bringing one of my Gran's best friends back with me to visit. I've already spoken with Alice and you know how she gets… I wanted to have a quiet dinner party and I was hoping you could take Isabella with you shopping, since she won't really have any formal dress wear." She agreed and I relaxed a little bit.

Good day's work, Cullen. I grinned at my own ingenuity.

~~:::~~

I was helping Lizzie with the finishing touches on her novel when my mind drifted back to the early morning hours of the same day…

Good grief. I was so embarrassed that I'd gotten all weird with Edward about not having a bra on. It's not like I'm exactly, well, a double-D or anything but still… It seemed inappropriate to have him hugging me like he had been when I was in a state of undress. That and he was so gorgeous and I had looked… Well, morning-ish. I hadn't brushed my hair or even my teeth yet. Ugh. I rolled my eyes at myself.

I got back to the task at hand since there wasn't any point in worrying about this morning any longer. It was now midday and that was past history.

I had a sudden intake of breath and had a small smile on my lips. I was proud of myself—I'd managed to not get worked up about it and move on. I guess there's hope for me after all. It was all because of Edward. He was definitely bringing out the best in me.

"O.k. Quit daydreaming about Edward. We're done. You can send these last files to Angela, eat some lunch, and then you can go hang out with him ALL afternoon if you want." Lizzie was scolding me while trying not to laugh at me. I laughed first instead, which then got her going.

"Goodness though, I am going to miss you. Both of you, really." She got a little melancholy. Then she got a really mischievous look in her eyes. "But I tell you what, I'm gonna miss you more." She came over to me on the sofa and gave me a big hug around my shoulders.

I reached up and kissed her cheek. "I'm going to miss you so much. But I'll be back in a few weeks."

Being asked on a trip to a European locale was rather romantic. But you needed a passport to travel to those kinds of places. I'd never been out of the country before but luckily when I was in my sophomore year of college, a bunch of the girls from one of my English Lit classes wanted to go to England, to see some of the sites that the authors we were spending so much time studying about would describe in so much detail. I'd gone ahead and gotten my passport even though we never did go. Another good omen for the trip was that since I always took it with me whenever I traveled, I had it with me at Lizzie's.

We'd figured that I would be able to stop at Lizzie's on my way back to San Francisco. I didn't dwell on what that meant, since I knew neither Edward nor I wanted to be apart. However, I didn't want to invite myself into his home as a permanent fixture, either.

After the two weeks he'd asked me to stay with him, I supposed that I'd see where things went from there. I figured I would talk to Angela about working temporarily from England… Just in case.

Edward had already changed his own ticket and bought mine. We were leaving in just a few days and we'd be in London right before the end of November.

I wouldn't be home for Thanksgiving and honestly my dad wouldn't have expected me to come visit him in Forks, but I thought I'd better give him a call anyway. Something told me he needed to be semi-prepared for the possible changes my life could be taking.

We spoke for only fifteen minutes. But he knew. He knew something was going on with me. I had never really been able to keep things from him. I was just too easy to read.

"Char… Dad, I'm fine." I huffed at him.

"Look, I can tell that… You're… Well, you sound really happy, Bells. I'm glad you've been able to do some traveling with your job. I think it's a great thing for you. Expand your horizons and all that."

I smiled involuntarily. I'd called him after I'd arrived in Connecticut to let him know I wouldn't be at the office but would be working back east for a while. If only he knew how far I'd be traveling shortly… And then I thought, why not?

"Look dad, I'm actually going to be visiting Mrs. Masen's family for a few weeks." I'd e-mailed him about Lizzie a few times, so I knew he was basically aware of who she was and that she was an important author for the company I worked for. But I hadn't said much about her family. "Um, yeah, I'll be in England."

Silence. And then… "Wow, Bells… That's… Wow."

I let out a breath I hadn't known I'd been holding. "I'll call you as soon as I get back, o.k.? I'll be back in San Fran before Christmas. So don't worry about me. I'm really, really excited about this trip, dad. I'm definitely expanding my horizons." I laughed nervously. He didn't seem to pick up on my nervousness, however. Thank God.

"That's great, Bells. Well, I guess I'll talk to you as soon as you get back, alright? But, you know… Your cell phone will work over there so don't hesitate to call me."

I rolled my eyes dramatically. "O.k., dad. I gotta go now. I'll talk to you soon. Love you." I heard a mumbled 'love you' in response. As I hung up I swept my hair away from face nervously.

I'd known Edward for just over one and a half months.

And now he was taking me to meet his family.

In England.

And we were… Say it. You believe it, so it's o.k. to say it. Deeply in love. I almost immediately felt calm.

I may have had doubts about how his family and close friends would take to me, I may have worried about where our future together was headed, but doubt regarding his love for me? Absolutely not.

The most important thing in my world—Edward's love for me. I smiled widely as I thought of that.

~~:::~~

Lizzie had said her goodbyes to us before we left the house and when George dropped us off at the airport, he coughed roughly to cover a few tears that he was almost able to completely hide.

As we moved through the airport hand-in-hand, and especially when we reached the 'special' seating area that served complimentary cocktails, I started getting a little suspicious about exactly which section our seats were located in on the plane.

I had assumed after spending so much time with Lizzie, that the Masen's and the Cullen's were fairly well off.

And then I had to wonder exactly how well off they were as Edward sat next to me in the aisle seat to my window one in first class. I was a little uncomfortable, since he hadn't given me any warning of this fact. I got paid fairly well for my job but I could never have afforded first class plane tickets to anywhere in Europe. I didn't really worry about it… At first.

I guess my brows were pulled together in a worried expression as we were flying somewhere over the Atlantic after our plane change in New York, when Edward reached over and gently rubbed his thumb on my forehead above my eyebrows. "Don't worry. I love you, so they're sure to love you too." He smiled encouragingly at me.

"Actually, that's not what I was thinking about, but thanks for reminding me about something else I have to be nervous about." I said this a little too sharp and now he was truly concerned.

He turned in his seat to look at me more easily. "Bella, please, what happened to you being completely honest with me?" He was very serious now. And he was right. I was holding back… And I wasn't completely sure why.

I blushed. Would I ever be able to speak to him about something I had concerns about without blushing? I doubted it. I sighed and reached for his hand. He squeezed it gently and starting rubbing small circles into the back of it and then raised one eyebrow at me. I still hadn't told him what was really bothering me.

I decided to go the blunt route again. "Edward. I… I can't afford to pay you back for this airline ticket." He stared at me. Waiting for more of an explanation, I guessed. "Look, I don't expect you to pay for everything, I make pretty decent money myself but you need to give me some warning if you're going to do something so… Extravagant."

He coughed. Then he started to fidget.

That's when I realized my mistake.

This wasn't extravagant to him.

This was normal.

"Oh my God." I started to hyperventilate slightly. "You're very, very wealthy, aren't you?" I was starting to feel too hot, too confined in my seat and I realized I wanted to bolt.

But he realized that too and he certainly wasn't going to have any of that. "Listen to me," He picked my hand back up, bringing it to his lips and started kissing my fingers one by one, before he told me what I'd suddenly guessed. "Yes. My family is rather well off. But it doesn't matter. I know for a fact that you don't look at me that way."

I must have looked more confused, because he tilted his head down and added, "You don't look at me as anything other than a good person. Does it really matter that I can take care of you in a manner that you're perhaps a little bit unaccustomed to?"

My fears calmed. He was right. It didn't matter. I'd fallen in love with him, not his money. I hadn't even known he'd had a lot of money. It shouldn't matter.

But I had my pride. "But, how can I contribute to our finances if it's… Unnecessary?" I said this to him a little too fretfully.

He barked off a laugh. "Bella… One of the first things I fell in love with about you was your sincerity and openness. You never disappoint on those counts."

He took a deep breath and gave me a sideways glance. "And, apparently, you have a rather well-placed sense of pride." He gave me one of his crooked smiles but it faded, and his brows knit together slightly. He whispered, "I can't even think about a life without you in it."

He shook his head a little and grew thoughtful. "…I wonder if it would distress you…"

I titled my head to look across our seats at him, narrowing my eyes a bit. "You have an older brother chained up in a tower in one of your castles, don't you?"

I thought he was going to choke he laughed so hard. One of the stewardesses walked by and gave him a stern look and he quieted down. "Oh my God, Bella. I love you so much." He was still laughing, though a little more quietly, while shaking his head at me.

"No, that's not it." He gave another chuckle. "I… I want to… I need to know…" He was struggling with his words. He'd never done that before and I looked at him a little more closely.

He'd stopped chuckling.

"I want you to be my wife, Bella." He said this with the most serious and tender look on his face, leaning his head back against his seat as if he were suddenly tired.

It was my turn to choke a little bit. "Edward… We've known each other for just barely over a month and…" I was feeling a little panicked but I completely stopped speaking when I looked up at his face again.

His eyes, for the first time since I'd met him—even when he'd been so, so angry with me that one fateful afternoon—had never looked as cold as they did now.

"I see." He let go of my hand and turned back in his seat to face the front of the airplane, lacing his fingers together and resting them across his stomach.

I felt sick. He'd taken it completely wrong. I wasn't rejecting him or our feelings for each other, I was just feeling very scared.

I felt tears begin to quietly slide down my cheeks. "Please, Edward, it's not that I don't want to be your wife, it's just… That's so incredible. That you'd want to… Be my husband. It's a little scary for me, you know. It's just that… I've been married befo…"

He had abruptly turned his body back towards me and placed his thumb over my lips, with the rest of the fingers of his left hand curled around my neck below my jaw. His right hand was suddenly tightly holding onto my forearm.

He didn't let me finish what I was about to say.

That I'd been married before and look how that had turned out… He knew exactly what I had been about to say. It had been written all over my face. The look of contrition in his eyes when I met them with my own took my breath away.

He almost had tears in his eyes. "My Bella…" His voice caught as he said my name. He brought his hand up, now in a fist, up to his mouth and gave a little cough. He nervously placed his fist back into his lap, relaxing his hand, slowly spreading his fingers out on top of his thigh.

"I'm so, so sorry. I don't know what possessed me just now. That was… I'm sorry." He reached over and wiped the tears from my face, placing one hand back on my arm and with the other he curled it around my neck and pulled me towards him. He then leaned over hastily and kissed me deeply.

I felt his tongue on my lips and I parted mine so he could reach my tongue with his. It was… Exquisite. He was practically leaning over on top of me by this point and I couldn't have been happier.

I accidentally let a small moan escape. I felt him pull his tongue back and chuckle deeply against my mouth as he moved slowly away from me, pressing himself back into his own seat. One of his hands was still possessively wrapped around my arm, however. "Well, that's probably not a good idea, for me to attack you like that… Since we're on an airplane… With all these other people… Which means we're not actually alone."

I giggled and he grew somber. I immediately sobered. "I'm sorry, Bella. I thought… I thought you were discounting the depth of our feelings for each other, that you didn't look on us as being in a rather serious relationship." I started to attempt to explain to him what I'd been thinking but he placed one of his fingers back over my lips.

"I know. I saw it flicker across your face. You weren't rejecting me." He moved his hand to curve back under my jaw, running his thumb over my lower lip. He leaned in and kissed me gently. "I know this is strange for you, with us only knowing each other for what seems to be such a short period of time. I'm fairly astounded myself. But I know that what has happened between us is meant to be."

I sighed, leaned forward, and placed my forehead against his. After several minutes of us resting our heads together, I leaned back in my seat and I gave him my answer to his unusually worded marriage proposal.

"Yes." I looked as deeply as I could into the green pools of adoration that were his eyes. He smiled, showing me his perfectly straight teeth—his smile lit up his whole face, his eyes, even his cheekbones. For the first time, I noticed he has a slight dimple in his chin when he smiled so blissfully.

"Good." Then he added, "But I hadn't actually proposed just now. I just wondered if you'd accept me as your husband. I don't even have a ring for you yet." He looked away rather sheepishly, then looked back at me and moved his right hand across his chest to soothingly stroke the hair on the opposite side of my face from him.

I could see that this was going to be a very interesting two weeks. I put my head back against the headrest, wrapped my fingers around his and closed my eyes—to try and get some sleep before we arrived in his homeland, to meet his family.

And seal my fate.

Because I knew, without any doubt now, I wouldn't be going back to California.

~~:::~~