“Go right ahead. We’re listening,” Blanche added.
His smile appeared and the dimples followed, his eyes never leaving her face. “Okay. Let’s try this again. This time without being thunderstruck by how beautiful you are and how even though I’ve envisioned your face every moment of every day, I still wasn’t prepared for the reality of you.”
“It’s the spot of black paint on her nose that does it,” Betty said.
Mia wiped her apron across her nose and Betty gave her a thumbs-up, indicating she’d gotten it.
“I asked you a question and you answered with a resounding no. It was the wrong question and you answered it correctly.”
“You’re not making any sense, young man,” Blanche observed.
“Shhhhhh,” the others said.
His hand rose to his chest. “I’m changed. You changed me.”
Mia was certain her own features matched the awed, open-mouthed expressions of the B’s.
“You’ve made me better. I want you to know that,” he continued.
When she glanced around the room, it seemed that half of the residents and staff were crowded right inside the door of the rec room, but he didn’t seem to notice at all as he spoke, wearing that preposterous sweater and an expression so sincere it made her dizzy.
“I could make a multitude of excuses or throw out a lot of blame for what happened, and so could you. In your heart, you know what really happened and so do I.”
“What happened?” Bernice asked
“Shhhhhh!”
“Do you know what else I know, Mia?”
Unable to speak, she could only shake her head as he took her hands in his. The contact was exactly what she needed. His touch grounded her and gave her focus. As she reveled in the comfort of his warm hands enveloping hers, she realized he was trembling.
“I know that I love you. That my life is so much better with you in it. That I can’t imagine it without you.”
A collective “awww” traveled through the room. Mia took a deep breath and shifted her weight foot to foot, reticent to look away for fear this whole amazing moment would be a figment of her imagination, and that when it ended, she’d still be sitting at the table, caught up in her painting.
“Nothing. Not money nor power nor work comes close to you. I’d give it all up to have you.” He grinned. “Though, I’d rather it not come to that.”
She giggled, and he wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb, bringing home the fact that this was, in fact, real. She sniffled and he ran his fingers across her jaw as if touch grounded him as well.
“You told me that sometimes you do things just because you love someone.” He stretched the front of his sweater, displaying the crooked “M” on his chest. “Like wear a…” He glanced at Gladys. “…an interesting sweater. Or maybe even rethink your entire life.”
There was not a peep in the room when he paused, his shoulders lowering as he relaxed slightly.
“So, having done both of those things, I would like to now ask you the correct question.” He took her hand. “Please come with me.”
The crowd parted and they walked down the familiar hallway of Heart’s Home to the stoop outside and he came to a halt at the top of the stairs. Mia gasped. Standing in the street near the carriage were several photographers. One of them, a man with a huge lens on his camera, she recognized from the wedding. Mia sucked in a startled breath.
When she glanced up at Michael, he winked and she exhaled in a sigh. He wasn’t surprised by this. He wanted to be seen with her—had obviously planned it. The control freak. The beautiful, amazing, surprising control freak. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and she squeezed his fingers back, knowing full well this had to be hard for him. Ridiculously difficult after working on his refined public image, to be seen in that…ghastly—yes, the word totally fit—sweater in public.
“Thank you all for coming today,” he said to the photographers. “I’d like to introduce you to someone, but first, I need to ask her a very important question.”
No. No, surely not. A million possibilities flooded Mia’s mind, but one impossible scenario he might have planned kept popping to the forefront. She shook her head to clear it and stared at his beautiful face. Only then did she notice the dark circles under his eyes. Like her, he’d suffered, and she wanted nothing more than to kiss those circles away.
When he dropped to one knee on the stoop of Heart’s Home, Mia was certain she’d fall to her knees herself. Instead, as the cameras clicked, she supported herself on the railing.
“Hang in here with me for a moment longer,” he whispered as he pulled a small box out of his pocket. He opened it and she covered her mouth with her hand, grateful for the support of the railing. It was the ring she had described at the restaurant. A huge blue stone the color of his eyes was surrounded by gold ones that were almost the shade of the flecks in his irises.