Last Chance Proposal (15 page)

Chapter Eleven

Late afternoon on January the third, Ellie stood in front of a projector screen in the memorial hall showing the townsfolk for the last time the amazing changes they’d see in the coming year. There’d be a fresh new look to everything, brand-new buildings and renovations for the old. Her mind, however, was fixed on where she’d be tomorrow—standing in a registry office with a ring that meant nothing and a marriage license that meant even less.

She, Cy, and Jonty had seen the new year in together, then walked back home a little after midnight, Jonty sound asleep in Cy’s arms. Cy had continued to thank her over and over, but when they parted at his holiday house she’d felt bereft all over again.

The last two days had gone by in a whirl. Cy had been busy on the phone much of that time, making wedding and travel arrangements, and today he and Jonty had taken the pukeko chick to the sanctuary. They’d said they’d come and tell her about it as soon as they got back, but she hadn’t seen any sign of them.

Yesterday had been her last full day with Louis and Fleur. This afternoon they’d gone into Papaatawhai to meet some friends and they’d arranged to come to the hall when she’d finished and walk back up the beach together one more time.

She clicked to the next slide and everyone exclaimed at her design for renovations to the hall. There’d be a new kitchen with a caterer’s oven to replace the one with the single element and the two temperatures—frozen and incinerator—as well as a bigger backstage area for shows and pageants. She looked out to the sea of smiling faces and realized that this place was part of her heart and she was going to miss it more than she wanted to think about.

She felt the warmth of the people around her, the joy that their town was coming back to life, but still her blood felt cold. Cy was sticking to his word. No more touching, no more getting close. Since they’d slept together, everything had changed, and now that Jonty was on the way to a recovery, Cy might not even need her for the whole year. But wasn’t this what she’d always wanted? For Jonty and his dad to be growing closer, for Cy to gain confidence in being a dad, and for her to have the time and space to go back to her business?

A headache bit deep behind her eyes and the strain of tears that begged release was too much to hold in. She swiped a hand across her face, drew in a sharp breath, and flicked to the next slide. Tomorrow they’d travel to Auckland to get married and then they’d fly off to the States, another day closer to when she’d finally say good-bye to Cy and Jonty for good.

“Ellie.” Her name called from the back caused the hall full of people to swivel in their seats. Cy stood at the door, just as he had two weeks ago, before she’d let him steal her heart. He wore a tight-fitting black T-shirt over faded jeans, his signature aviators hooked in the front. A smile glowed on his face.

“Cy,” she said. “I won’t be long.”

He strolled forward, one hand in a pocket as Fleur, Louis, and Jonty moved in behind him and took a seat in one of the back rows.

“Ellie, there’s something I need to tell you.”

The intensity in his tone nearly stopped her heart.
This is it.
He’d realized that with all Jonty’s progress, with the complicated relationship between them, he didn’t need her anymore. Her temples tightened and she put her hands behind her back so he couldn’t see them shaking.

He took a step forward. “Ellie, everything’s changed.”

“No, you’re wrong,” she said quickly, not caring that half the town was hearing this conversation. It didn’t matter who saw that she loved Cy now. “Nothing’s changed. Tomorrow we get married and move to the States.”

Cy reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “Before you say anything else. I’d like to show you, and everyone here, something.”

Ellie waited while he fiddled with his phone and then her laptop on a table in the center aisle. When he finally stood back, the chorus of “A Pukeko in a Ponga Tree”
was coming out of the hall speakers and a close-up of Jonty filled the screen. Despite her anguish, a smile pulled at her mouth and she chuckled. He looked even more amazing from the audience view. He’d been so brave, so gorgeous and so brave.

She turned to Cy and frowned. “I don’t understand. Why are you showing us this now?”

He turned the sound down, but still the images of the New Year’s Eve pageant played on the enormous screen. “Callum sent me the video clip of Jonty singing and I sent it to Maria and Jeff, Susan’s parents. Yesterday I called them and we had a really long talk. They can’t believe the progress Jonty’s made in only two weeks. They’ve dropped the custody case.”

“Oh, Cy!” Ellie pressed fingers to her lips. No wonder his face had been shining when he’d arrived here. This was the most incredible news. And the most devastating. If Cy didn’t need her for the custody case, then he was leaving here without her.

She straightened and moved to the edge of the stage, her hands across her stomach, bile rising in her throat.

Cy walked up the aisle between the rows, then up the steps and onto the stage until he was only a few feet from her. “I came here today to tell the truth, because everyone’s been affected by what I asked you to do.” He threw an arm wide. “I need everyone in this hall, everyone in this whole town, to know what an ass I’ve been in these last two weeks. I’ve been selfish. I’ve only thought about what I need, and I’ve lied to all of them. Now’s the time to tell them the truth.”

“Please don’t do this, Cy,” she whispered.

He took two steps toward her, but turned toward the audience and addressed them. “Two weeks ago I came back to the cove to ask Ellie to be my wife for the sole purpose of winning custody of my son.”

A communal gasp went up and Ellie steeled herself for what Cy would say next.

“Why did I come all the way back here to ask Ellie?” He turned to look at her again, his face filled with intensity and passion. “Because she has the kindest, most generous heart of anyone I’ve known. You all know how true that is, don’t you? Ellie’s the one you bring a sick bird to because she’s so smart and so gentle. She’s the one who can pull a broken community back together like she’s done for this town, and do it all for free.” Another gasp went up as people turned to each other.

If only the old wooden boards of this stage would open up and swallow her whole. She knitted her hands together to stop them trembling and waited for the sucker punch when he’d tell her in front of all these people that she was too good for him, that the community needed her more. She waited for Cy to tell her he was leaving tomorrow without her.

“Ellie, these last few days have been the first in months, no, in
years
that I let myself feel. When I saw what you’d done for my son at the pageant, when I realized what you’d done for
me
since I got here, it all became clear. I can’t lose you, and I can’t take Jonty away from Rata Cove.”

Her chest tightened and an icy blanket shrouded her body.

“Something you said to me when Jonty went missing from the hall suddenly made sense as I watched that pageant. For so long I’ve run when things got difficult. When my parents fought, when things became tough with Susan, when I didn’t know what to do after William died. Everyone in this room saw me do that after you’d found Jonty on the beach.”

Ellie looked down. Every muscle in her body had slackened and she held onto the lectern for support.

“I understand that deep down you still blame yourself for William’s death, that you wonder if you could let yourself be responsible for a child again, but I’ve seen you do it. In this last two weeks you’ve opened your heart to Jonty. You’re confident and calm around him, and you make him believe he can do things. Not only do I love you for the way you do that for Jonty, I love you for the way you do it for me.” His voice hitched. “The way you’ve challenged me in the last two weeks…you healed me. Made me whole. I want us to do that for each other, day after day.”

“Ellie, when I close my eyes I see your face. When I’m alone I turn to look for you. When I imagine my life, my future, you’re always in it. I love you. I can’t live without you.”

…

“No you don’t love me, Cy. You love the
idea
of me being with you and Jonty, to make things easier. But I don’t want a life like that.”

He shook his head. She was so damn rational. Didn’t she
feel
it—what was between them? His chest clenched tight. “No. You’re wrong.”

“What you and I have is a deep and precious friendship, and that friendship will last a lifetime. You can still come back to Rata Cove as you did this time, just as the children and grandchildren of everyone here will, every holiday every year, nothing will change that.”

A monster roared up in his mouth, ready to deny all she said, but he swallowed it away. She had to see that everything was different now. That
he
was different. She’d made him this way. He loved her with his whole soul. He’d never been more certain of anything in his life. It might have taken a crazy Christmas week in a tiny little corner of the world, but day by day she’d swum into his heart and he wasn’t going to let her leave it again. Ever.

“What you and I have is far more than friendship, Ellie.”

Lines dug into the smooth skin of her forehead.

“What you and I have is love, huge, undeniable love. God, I can’t believe I’ve blinded myself to it.”

“How do you know?” she said in a cracking whisper. “When do you know the line between friendship and love has been crossed? Need? Want? Love? It’s hard to tell which is which. I can’t risk the life I’ve built for myself by trusting something so fragile.”

“You won’t have to.”

She looked up at him and frowned. “What do you mean?”

“For some time now, my biggest competitor has been wanting to buy me out. Yesterday, I let him know I’m moving back to New Zealand and we agreed upon a price. I’d like to invest that money somewhere.” He smiled at the wide-eyed look on her face. “Preferably in a coastal architecture firm that specializes in safeguarding people’s memories. I want you to keep doing what you love so much, and I want to be by your side while you’re doing it.”

“I don’t know what to say.” Tears covered her lashes for a second before she blinked them away. “You’d do that for me? You’d help me build my business?”

“I’ve listened to you say you don’t want children because you’re too busy, too focused on other things. But I know the real reason is because you’re scared of losing someone. What if you could do both? What if you could have your career and a family who loves and supports you in it? I want to help you do that, Ellie.”

She blinked and hugged her arms tight against her body and he had to lock every muscle to stop himself going to her.

“I love you, Ellie. I want you. I need you. They’re all a part of me. I don’t need to know the difference.”

She drew a shaking hand across her forehead, and her eyes sparked. “Oh, Cy…”

He pulled her closer. “I don’t want to live in the past anymore. I want to build a future with you. A future where you can do the work that’s so important to you, but with me by your side. A real future with a real family and a whole lot of real love.” He pulled the ring box he’d collected from Auckland this morning from his pocket and dropped to his knee.

“I want to be your real husband. Will you marry me?”

…

Ellie’s mind froze and everyone in the room held their breath as she looked down at the diamond solitaire they’d picked out together in Auckland. He loved her. Wanted her. He believed she had what it took to be a real mother to his son. Her body buzzed as she tried to still her scattered thoughts. “What can I say, Cy?”

“Say yes and kiss him for God’s sake,” Betty Browning shouted from the back row, her camera lifted to her eye.

Ellie laughed out loud and a wave of joy began to take off in her body.

“Say yes,” Cy said as he looked into her eyes. “Just say that you feel the same and that you’ll be my wife, for real this time.”

“I love you, Cy. I’ve always loved you. Since you’ve been back, I’ve driven myself crazy trying to deny it, wanting to act like the friend I knew you needed. I buried it time after time. I can’t do it anymore.”

“I still need a friend.” His voice hummed in her ear. “And you’re the best there is.”

She reached up and hooked a hand behind his neck and he kissed her long and slow as the hall erupted in whistles and shouts.

When she finally eased her lips from him, she grinned as he slipped the ring on her finger. “And don’t we have a date at a registry office tomorrow, anyway?”

He shook his head. “Not anymore.” A smile lit his face. “I want everything to be real from now on. And that includes the biggest, best wedding when you’re ready. Not before. But there’s one more thing.”

“More?”

“Jonty’s grandparents want to move back to New Zealand now and I’ve offered them my holiday house. That means you, me, and Jonty will need a new one…” His lips lifted in a teasing smile. “I was wondering if you knew any good architects.”

Ellie pulled Cy to her again and pressed her lips to his. Creating a home for the man she loved and the little boy she couldn’t imagine living without?

That was one project she couldn’t wait to begin.

Epilogue

Jonty’s grandma Maria leaned in and whispered, her breath warming Ellie’s ear. “They’re on next.”

Ellie reached for the older woman’s hand and Maria’s deep brown eyes crinkled in a smile. “It’s so lovely being here together.” Ellie’s voice quaked under the words. “It means everything to Jonty. And to us.”

The older woman squeezed her hand. “Being here with you all is so special, Ellie. Especially getting to see our gorgeous grandson sing his lungs out with his cousin. This is really what the holiday season’s all about, isn’t it?”

Beside her, Cy leaned in. “Thanks, Maria. For the singing lessons. He’s found a big voice in that little body.”

Maria’s face softened. They’d come a long way in a year, Susan’s parents. Not only had Maria and Jeff moved back to New Zealand for good, at the beginning of December they’d moved into Cy’s holiday home for the summer with Ellie, Cy, and Jonty. They were having a whale of a time.

“If it’s another step in his recovery, that’s all that matters,” the older woman said.

Cy nodded. “Having you here has certainly helped him as well. He’s so excited that you’ll be seeing him onstage.”

Maria’s eyes glittered. “Susan would be so proud of what you’ve both done for him.” She turned to her husband who was trying to focus his camcorder.

The warm pressure of Cy’s hand slipping into Ellie’s caused her heart to leap, as it always did. With his business in the States sold, Cy had opened surf schools throughout New Zealand. They lived in the cove most of the year, except for the times the three of them would go and visit Ellie’s projects around the world.

“Here they come,” Cy whispered. “Our boy and our nephew.”

A moose took the stage—a little brown moose with cloth antlers that sagged over a small, round face lit like a city skyline. In a high and tuneful voice, he began to sing about life in the mountains—how he loved the sun on his hide and the grass under his hooves. Beside him, a woolly sheep in the shape of ten-year-old Louis joined in a chorus about being different but just the same.

Ellie smoothed the blue-and-green silk scarf that lay across her knee. Jonty never wore it these days but liked to keep it close by all the same. He’d left it in Ellie’s care and her heart burst with pride for all the progress he’d made.

She turned around in her chair and smiled at her parents and Fleur, then at Cy’s mum beside him. Nana Pat was back in the cove for the first time in years. Ellie and Cy were planning to build her a new house beside theirs. From deep within, a cocktail of tears and laughter fizzed through her. This place had always held such strong memories for them all.

Cy leaned in closer. “They’re the United Nations of flora and fauna,” he whispered. “Jonty’s graduated from tree to beast, and Louis is just perfect as a sheep.” Ellie turned her face to him and in the dim light, his eyes sparked.

They watched the rest of Jonty and Louis’s performance and when it was finished, Ellie’s hands ached from clapping, her mouth strained from smiling.

She snuggled closer to Cy and he kissed her on the cheek. “I love you, Ellie Hathaway. I love what you’ve done for our boy, for his grandparents, and I love you for what you’ve done for me. I can’t wait to move into our new house.”

Ellie grinned. “It’s looking so good. A brand-new house for a brand-new year.”

“I don’t know how we can beat the excitement of the last year,” Cy said. “A marriage, a thriving business, and a place of our own.” His smiling eyes sparkled and she pulled him closer.

“We’ll find a way.” Familiar contentment soaked her. “We’ve got a whole life full of Christmas days, New Year’s Eve pageants, and family get-togethers. They’ll all be exciting, as long as I’m spending them with you.”