Part 20 (1/2)
Finally, the waiting ended. Because about six weeks after that awful afternoon in his hotel, she opened an envelope to find no letter. Just a plane ticket. And a note.
”Please come see this view for yourself.”
Annie didn't even glance at the destination. She was going.
THERE WERE SEVERAL oceans in the world, and Annie had seen none of them. oceans in the world, and Annie had seen none of them.
Sean would someday like to show her the Pacific-to take her to San Francisco so his mother could meet the woman he'd realized he couldn't live without. Then drive down the Pacific Coast Highway, stopping at little wineries and inns. They'd ride with the top down, as they'd done that weekend in June, with the sparkle of waves always visible around the next turn.
He also wanted her to see the other side of that ocean. He'd never been to the South Pacific and could imagine almost nothing better than lying with Annie on the hot, sandy beach of an exotic island, trying to decide whether the water could possibly be as blue as her eyes.
For now, however, not knowing if she had a pa.s.sport, Sean had decided on the Atlantic.
His choice wasn't merely because of its expediency-since it was closest to Chicago. But also because this was the ocean that touched his homeland, too. Now that he hoped to share his life with Annie, he meant to share all all of it. Including that troubled part of his past that had yet to be resolved. of it. Including that troubled part of his past that had yet to be resolved.
He sensed that with her by his side, he could make peace with that past.
”If she comes,” he reminded himself as he stared out at the water. It glistened now, vivid streams of orange and red-reflections from the sun dropping into the horizon behind him-dancing on the surf. she comes,” he reminded himself as he stared out at the water. It glistened now, vivid streams of orange and red-reflections from the sun dropping into the horizon behind him-dancing on the surf.
She'll come.
Sean had never spent much time in Cape Cod, but he'd chosen this place because it reminded him, at least a little, of home. The sh.o.r.eline wasn't as jagged or rocky, the water and the climate both much warmer. But something about the gray-greenness of the sea and the almost bruised quality of the darkening sky overhead, made him think of Ireland.
Someday he'd go back there. Now that he had someone he wanted to show it to.
Realizing how quickly that sky was darkening, he glanced at his watch. He'd been standing here at the top of a beach crossover for a long time. Annie's flight had been scheduled to land in Boston a few hours ago, and the car he'd had waiting for her at the airport should have had her here by now. If If she'd been on the plane. she'd been on the plane.
He hadn't even turned his cell phone on, not wanting to get a call from the driver saying she hadn't come. He'd preferred to wait, to stick it out, relying on his certainty that she'd show up, that she wanted this as much as he did.
That she'd understood his letters.
Lost in the rhythmic surge of the surf and the whiteness of the nearly deserted beach, Sean began thinking of the words he would use to describe the precise moment when the light disappeared. In case she didn't see it for herself. In case she wasn't ready and he was forced to keep waiting...keep writing.
In case he'd been wrong.
G.o.d, how he hoped he hadn't been wrong.
Fully intent on what he'd do to get her back, he was caught completely by surprise when a voice intruded from behind him.
”It's more beautiful than I ever imagined.”
Sean closed his eyes as Annie's soft words washed over him, more welcome and delightful and lovely than the salty breeze skimming across the sh.o.r.eline.
”Yes, it is,” he replied, so relieved he couldn't even turn around.
He remained still and silent. There was so much to say and he'd thought many times of how he'd say it. He needed to tell her where he'd gone, what he'd learned-about himself, about his past, his future. Words to let her know how much he appreciated her faith in him, how glad he was that she had come. Explanations to give about why he'd done what he'd done.
And yet, now, with her warm body moving in close, her soft arms wrapping around his waist from behind, her cheek resting against his back, he wondered if any of them needed to be said at all.
Sean moved his hands to cover hers and they stayed that way, standing motionless on the crossover, for a long time. Until the sun had set, the moon had risen, and the only sound was the never-ending churning of the waves lapping the sh.o.r.e.
And in the shared silence, everything was communicated even though all the words drifted away unsaid.
All but three.
Slowly turning around, Sean looked down at her beautiful face, touching a strand of her moon-kissed hair. And he smiled. Bending toward her, he hesitated for the briefest moment before bringing his lips to hers.
Long enough to whisper those three words. ”I love you.”
Epilogue.
Five Months Later ”ANNIE, SEAN, HURRY up, you're going to be late to your own engagement party!” up, you're going to be late to your own engagement party!”
Annie, who'd just stepped into her fiance's arms and lifted hers around his neck so she could draw him down for a kiss, sighed at the sound of her mother's raised voice. She supposed she should be grateful that they'd managed a whole half-hour alone in her old bedroom on the third floor before propriety demanded that somebody somebody from her family interrupt. from her family interrupt.
”I don't suppose there's any escaping?” she asked.
Sean smiled, kissed her on the tip of her nose and murmured, ”No, darlin', no escape. You're mine, now.”
Liking the way he'd purposely misunderstood her, Annie closed her eyes, savoring his touch.
His mouth moved across to her cheek, then down her jaw. Each brush of his lips on her skin elicited a tiny hitch of a sigh in her throat.
She'd known from the start that Sean was capable of great pa.s.sion. But, oh, the man's tenderness simply removed the breath from her lungs and filled her with so much lightness she'd swear she could float away.
They'd made love hundreds of times since the night they'd met, and he could still arouse her with a look. But moments like this truly touched her soul.
”Now, are you ready to be toasted and celebrated by every resident of Green Spring, Illinois?” he whispered before finally pressing his lips to hers for a sweet kiss that removed all worry.
When it ended, though, and he released her, reality quickly returned. ”Can't we just skip tonight and proceed right to tomorrow? Christmas Eve is always a lot of fun around here.”
He groaned. ”Tell me there's no football. I know Jed is looking for some payback for that black eye last summer.”
”In the snow? Don't be silly.” Teasing him, she lifted a brow. ”But, of course, there is is the polar bear dip.” the polar bear dip.”
”I'm afraid to ask.”
Though the annual event wouldn't be held until February, she let him worry a little longer. The man was the king of teasing. In the months that they'd been living together in a gorgeous brownstone he'd purchased in Chicago-with a home office he used for his thriving foreign-market consulting business-Sean had proved himself a master at getting exactly the reaction he wanted out of her. In bed, and out.
Especially in.
”The men all get...p.i.s.sed...on too much beer,” she said, having picked up a bit of his lingo in their time together, ”and they strip off their clothes and leap into an icy lake.”
He visibly shuddered. ”I'll pa.s.s.”