38. Gage

Chapter Thirty-Eight

GAGE

This was probably a mistake, but it might just be the best idea I’d ever had.

The sun was just dragging its lazy ass over the horizon, splashing the garden in pale pink and peach. It was the kind of light that made Eden look like a castle from a storybook, with its white pillars, steepled roof, and sprawling green lawns. The air was warm and damp and scented with the lingering perfume of night-blooming jasmine. Dew clung to the leaves of each freshly planted tree and flower, glistening and magical in the early morning light.

If my stomach stopped doing cartwheels, I might have even enjoyed it.

I’d been second guessing my timing all week, wondering if I should have chosen sunset or even the full dark of night. I could’ve set up some candles, made it real nice, but the full heat of summer had flattened the South. Even the most romantic scenario would be ruined by standing in a puddle of sweat. So, I’d chosen dawn…but I was sweating anyway.

If he noticed my clammy palms, Wyatt didn’t mention it. His hand was rough and warm in mine, a steady grip I’d leaned on more times than I could count. Even though he was the one wearing a blindfold, it felt like his support was the only thing holding me up.

I glanced over my shoulder and was struck dumb by how handsome he looked. I’d diverted him on his way to work, so he was dressed for business in slacks and a crisp white button-down. A gold badge was clipped to his leather belt. Just last night, I’d laid in bed with him, tracing the blue letters on the metal shield with one fingertip: Investigator, State Attorney. After an agonizing month of healing and paperwork, he was a sworn law officer again. The job didn’t make the man, but Wyatt was absolutely the best man for this job.

He was wearing a bemused smile as he followed, but his free hand kept twitching at his side like he half-expected me to walk him straight into a tree. Sure, he trusted me, but he must’ve picked up on how close I was to losing it right now.

I was clutching his hand so fiercely his knuckles shifted in my grip. I hadn’t felt so unsteady since I was a kid, first getting my bearings in the strange new world outside the bayou. But this was different. This wasn’t fear of losing something; it was fear of offering it. Nothing was more frightening than laying it all out there to be rejected.

“Gage,” Wyatt said with a dry chuckle, “this is cute and all, but I watched you plant half this garden. Pretty sure I know what it looks like.”

I grinned despite myself. “Yeah, well, since you decided to hightail it back to your own house as soon as you could walk without wheezing, you missed the finer details.”

“Finer details, huh?” His tone was skeptical but affectionate. This must seem ridiculous, but he’d always had endless patience for my bullshit. “What’s next? A roller coaster for the kids? Maybe a statue in your honor?”

“Nah, that would ruin the aesthetic,” I shot back, laughing so he wouldn’t suspect how close I was to puking. “C’mon, we’re almost there. Keep up.”

The blindfold made it impossible to fully read his expression, but his sculpted lips were pressed together in that stubborn way that made me want to kiss them. I couldn’t see them, but I could imagine the lines crinkling the corners of his eyes, the ones that only appeared when he was secretly enjoying himself and didn’t want to let on. God, I loved every expression this man made. I knew them all, and they delighted me every single day.

I wanted to see them for the rest of my life.

I’d never been good at planning things, but for Wyatt, I wanted this to be perfect.

“Okay, stop here,” I said, dragging him to a halt beside the pond we’d installed near the greenhouse. Ivy had made it her special project, and I’d helped her plant a lush border of deep green vegetation that was starting to thrive. Irises and cattails hugged one side of the pond, and a young willow tree dipped its branches in the water. A pair of dragonflies darted near the pond’s edge, their wings catching sunlight like tiny prisms. Everything was just right. The more I absorbed the tiny details, I began to settle.

“This is the strangest way I’ve ever started a day—” Wyatt was saying, but I reached up and tugged the blindfold free before he could finish.

He blinked against the light, and then his gaze swept the garden, taking in the newly restored greenhouse with its sparkling glass panes, the flower beds bursting with color, and the winding paths edged with stones we’d pulled from the creek ourselves. The kids had loved every minute of it. They’d never had the responsibility of building something before.

“Wow,” he said, sounding genuinely impressed. “I barely recognize the place.”

Even though he appreciated the transformation, I could tell he was nonplussed. He liked it, sure, but he didn’t understand the importance. Not yet.

“Do you know what today is?” I asked, shoving my hands into my pockets to hide my shaking.

“The twenty-second.” He gave me a confused frown. “What, am I forgetting someone’s birthday?”

“In a way.” I swallowed hard and licked my dry lips, but I was so scared, I could barely work up enough spit to talk. “It’s the day you found me.”

That stopped him cold. His eyes narrowed, brow furrowing as his mind raced to make the connection. “In the bayou?” he asked quietly.

I nodded. He didn’t seem to know what to say, but that was fine. I’d been saving this up for what felt like my entire life. Swallowing thickly, I managed to say, “You came out of nowhere like some kind of miracle. I was so scared, I nearly ran back toward my old man. The devil you know, huh? But you were so patient. I remember how you knelt in front of me, and it felt like you’d wait right there a million years if that’s what it took for me to trust you. You didn’t just save my life that day, Wyatt. You saved me from thinking I’d never been worth anything. Every good thing in my life since that day is because of you, but the best thing—the only thing I’ll ever need—is you. I need you more than I need for my heart to keep beating. If I dropped dead right here, it wouldn’t matter, so long as you’re beside me when I do.”

His eyes were dark, and for a moment, I thought he might say something. Then his hands came up to cup my face in a touch so gentle it stole my breath, and he kissed me, slow and deep and reverent. When he finally pulled back, he didn’t go far. His forehead rested against mine, and his breath was warm on my lips when he whispered, “I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything,” I said hoarsely. “Just…look around. Really look.”

He took a deep breath and stepped away from me, scanning the clearing with that professional attention to detail that used to drive me nuts. His gaze landed on a bronze plaque at the base of the willow, and he tilted his head curiously. Slowly, he approached the plaque and crouched to read the inscription.

To the man who turned dark into light, lost into found, and broken into whole.

–GB

“This garden was the start of a second life for Atticus and Rosalind,” I plowed on, twitching nervously when he didn’t look up at me. I couldn’t see his face or read his expression. I was flying blind, on faith alone. “That’s what you are for me, Wyatt: a chance to be more than I ever thought I could be. It’s…it’s like this garden, you know? Every day, you show me ways to keep growing and changing, no matter what odds are stacked against me. And I…I was hoping…I wanted…” I trailed off, and my mind went white with panicked static.

He pinched the corners of his eyes, and his shoulders heaved in a deep, body-wracking breath. When he finally lifted his head, there was a shine in his eyes that had nothing to do with the rising sun.

“You didn’t need to do this,” he rasped hoarsely.

I shrugged, trying to play it off, but I was in too deep for nonchalance to ever be believable. “I did it because I love you. I wanted to give you something that will last. Something that says…I’m all in. Forever.”

My knees were stiff with fear, but somehow, through sheer force-of-fucking-will, I managed to drop to one knee. At first, he shot to his feet in alarm, like he thought I’d fallen. Then he realized it was on purpose, and his eyes shot wide.

“Gage…” he whispered, but I didn’t let him finish.

If he stopped me now, I’d never have the courage to start again.

“I never thought I’d get this,” I admitted in a voice that wouldn’t stop shaking. “Not with my past. Not with who I am. But you…you made me believe I don’t need to prove myself to you. I don’t need to earn your love. I might not be where I want to be yet—maybe I’ll never get there—but I know you love me anyway. And I promise, for the rest of my life, I’ll keep trying. Every damn day, I’ll prove that you chose the right man…if you’ll marry me.”

Wyatt was in front of me in an instant, decisive and commanding as always. Even if he stomped on my heart and rejected me right here, part of me was just relieved to have him taking control. He carried himself like the strongest man in the world, and that’s what I needed right now, or I was going to go crazy. I wrapped my arms tightly around his waist and pressed my face against his stomach, holding on for dear life.

For a moment, I thought he was going to haul me to my feet, but he didn’t. His fingers threaded through my hair, stroking firmly, and then he gave a gentle tug, coaxing me to look up at him. I was caught instantly in his warm, steady gaze. There was no judgment there, no hesitation, nothing but love—unwavering and solid as a stone wall.

“I didn’t just save you back then,” he said in a low voice. “I was saving my future self. You became a part of me that day, and I didn’t even know it. Hell, I couldn’t have known. But those years weren’t wasted, Gage. Not a single one.” He tipped my face up further, forcing me to hold his eyes. “I got to watch you become the man you are now. Every minute was worth it, just to get to this moment, standing here with you. I’m so damn proud of you, Gage. You’re it for me, and I promise to spend the rest of my life proving that I deserve to be it for you.”

“Is that a yes?” I asked, feeling my lips twitch into a small, self-deprecating smile.

He cradled my cheek, heartbreakingly tender, swiping one callused thumb over the dampness I hadn’t even realized was there. “It’s a yes, baby. You and me, we’re more than our past. We’re a beginning. Whatever comes next…we’ll face it together.”

“Together,” I whispered, swallowing the lump in my throat.

For a moment, we stayed just like that: my arms locked around his waist, and his hand gentle on my cheek. Morning light warmed my back and fresh air filled my lungs. It was peaceful, but more than that, it was whole. Here, in this garden, our future had already taken root.

I’d never felt so content.

Wyatt broke the spell first, leaning down to brush his lips against mine. The kiss was slow, lingering, and filled with deep, earth-shaking promise.

The promise of forever…and we were just getting started.