Chapter Twenty-Eight

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

One Month Later

“Dear Ms. Dawn,” Theo read from the letter in his hand — the one I repeatedly tried to jump up and snag for myself, but he kept out of my reach. “It is with great pleasure that I write to you with an exciting offer that I hope you will receive with as much enthusiasm as I have sending it.”

“Theo, give it to me!” I tried to jump again, but he spun away from me, waltzing over to the oversized window with a reading nook that overlooked Central Park. The leaves were just beginning to turn, their greens fading to faint shades of orange and yellow and red.

We’d been “home” at Theo’s penthouse in New York City for two weeks now, flying back to the States on his jet as soon as we were both cleared from the hospital and took care of the affairs with the yacht in Athens. We were set to fly to Colorado for him to meet my family in just two days.

That was, if he was still alive by then, because I was about two seconds from strangling him if he didn’t give me the mysterious letter that came addressed to me that morning.

“My name is Dorothy Hammerstein, and I was blessed enough to be in Santorini on the night of your stunning exhibit at the Blue Top Gallery. I was also surprised to find such exquisite work from a photographer unbeknownst to me, and even more surprised to find that my generous offer to purchase my favorite photograph of the lot was declined.”

I waited until Theo was by the couch, then I jumped on top of it, launching myself onto his back and clinging on like a monkey. He laughed as he caught me, but still kept the letter out of my reach as he continued.

“Admittedly, I broke the rules of the gallery and snuck a few photos of your work to show to my boss. I’m hoping you will forgive me once I tell you this next part, which is that we would like to offer you a large sum of money — to be discussed in person — for the photographs that were on display at the gallery that evening, as well as a permanent spot on the TIME Magazine photography team.”

“Oh my God!” I squealed. “ TIME Magazine ?!”

Theo ignored me, continuing. “Your photographs haunt me still to this day, Ms. Dawn, and I look forward to the day when the rest of the world gets to have their hearts split open and their minds warped the way I did that evening in Greece. Please give me a call at the number below at your earliest convenience to discuss the details further. Until then, may your focus stay sharp. Respectfully, Dorothy Hammerstein, Director of Photography, TIME Magazine !”

Theo said the last part in almost a giddy squeal of his own before he dropped the letter to the ground and reached for where I was saddled on his back. He spun me around to face him, wrapping me up in his arms and kissing me hard.

At least, until I pinched his nipple and made him drop me.

“Ouch! What the—”

But he was already laughing as I dove to the ground for the letter, reading it over again myself.

I shook my head in disbelief, and then I shot Theo an accusatory glare. “Did you do this?” I asked, slapping the letter against my palm. “Did you invite this woman or pay someone off? Because I swear, Theo, if you—”

“I didn’t, I didn’t!” he said, laughing as he dropped down to the floor with me. He pulled me into his arms with a wide grin. “This is all you, Aspen. All. You.”

I stared at him for a long time, brows furrowed, shaking my head over and over. I read the letter again, then a third time, and even then I didn’t believe it.

“I think I’m in shock.”

Theo chuckled, and then he fished something out of his pocket, and for the first time — at least that I’d ever seen — a faint blush touched his cheeks. “Well, hopefully this won’t add to that.”

“What?”

Theo swallowed, holding his fist out in front of me. When his fingers uncurled, there in the center of his palm was a teal Montana sapphire ring so big and beautiful I lost my breath at the sight of it.

“Theo…”

“I know it’s different,” he said, picking up the ring. It looked small between his large thumb and forefinger. “And we can return it and get what you want, if this isn’t it. But… I wanted something blue, like the water was the day I first met you, and the sky.” He paused. “And your eyes. God, this sounds so corny now that I’m saying it out loud.”

“I love corn,” I said on a laugh that made tears spring to my eyes. “Kettle corn. Creamed corn. Corn on the cob.”

Theo chuckled, too, holding the ring up and waiting for me to offer him my hand. When I did, he held it in his own, thumbing my skin as his eyes searched mine. “I know I asked you this already in the most romantic way, while you were hooked up to an IV in a hospital bed.”

I laughed.

“But I want you to know that I’m just as serious now as I was then, and that if you put this ring on your finger, I will do everything in my power to give you the happiest life.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then I’ll jump off the roof.”

“Theo!”

“Kidding,” he said with a smile. “Sort of.”

I shook my head, wiggling my fingers where he held them. “Put it on me, already, you big ball of cheese.”

Theo grinned, sliding the white-gold band over my knuckles. When the ring was in place, I pulled it closer, inspecting the elegant pear shape of the sapphire, the twinkling shades of teal and turquoise and almost a green-blue that made up the stone, and the tiny diamonds that framed it on either side.

Then, I looked into the eyes of the man I would call my husband, the man I never saw coming, the man who changed my life in just one unforgettable summer, and I wondered if God was having a laugh, if He was looking down with a big bucket of popcorn at the wild love He’d made out of the messiest of situations.

“This is a conditional yes.”

“Conditional?” Theo asked, arching a brow.

I nodded, and then I climbed into his lap, pressing a long kiss to his lips before leaning in to whisper in his ear. “You’ve got to pass the baby sister test to be official.”

Theo barked out a laugh at that, tickling my sides before he pulled me to stand and swept me up into his arms. “I’ll buy her a Maserati,” he said. “That oughta win her over.”

I smacked his chest with a laugh, but it faded quickly when he kissed me hard and deep, carrying me through the penthouse to the master suite. He laid me gently in the sheets, and I rubbed my fingers over the fresh pink scar left from Ace’s misfired bullet.

“I’m going to make you the happiest woman in the whole damn world,” Theo said, kissing my neck, down my chest, over my navel once he peeled my shirt up. “Mark my words.”

I pulled on his arms until he crawled back up, granting my plea for another kiss. This time, I deepened it, wrapping my arms around his neck and holding him to me as my heart surged in my chest. I caught a glimpse of the ring shimmering on my finger, and with that, there was no use in trying to fight back the tears that stung my eyes when I pressed my forehead to his and told him the most irrefutable truth.

“You already have.”

The End