The Redemption (36 page)

There’s more?

“But none of that answers the question why we’re about to jump
off
the highest peak in Greece, does it?” He looks like he’s bursting to tell me a grand secret.

I shake my head, grinning. He’s so damned cute. How on earth did his beautiful mind come up with all this? “Please, love. Tell me why, oh why, we’re jumping off this mythical mountain? I’m hanging on your every word.”

“Because, lovely Sarah, you and I are ready to leap to the next level. We first leaped off a thirty-foot waterfall together—because that’s what we could handle at the time. But now we’re ready to leap from heaven itself.”

I feel like he just made love to me with his words. Is he making some sort of eternal commitment to me—right here and now? Is this all some elaborate, metaphorical commitment ceremony?

“Which brings me to our next metaphor. We’re about to take a giant leap off a mountain, My Magnificent Sarah. And yet, you’ll notice I’ve provided you with a parachute for your landing—well, a paraglider, technically, but for purposes of our metaphor, we’ll call it a parachute—because, no matter what happens, no matter how we wind up leaping in life, we’ll always do it together—and your safety and protection and comfort will always be my greatest priority.”

This is insane. I’m melting here.

Jonas’ face is adorable right now—he’s euphoric. He’s the most beautiful man in the world. And I’m the luckiest girl in the world. Yes, he’s metaphorically marrying me right now; I’m sure of it. I touch the bracelet around my wrist.

“I love you, Jonas,” I say. Oh good Lord, I want to say so much more than that—but if I know my Jonas, he’s been planning this speech for quite some time and I don’t want to knock him off his game.

“So you’ll jump off Mount Olympus with me, then?” he asks. He looks unsure of my answer.

“Of course, I will, baby. I’ll jump off any mountain with you—not to mention any waterfall, tree, ladder, bridge, footstool, or curb—as long as I’m with you.”

He practically jumps up and down with glee.

“Oh, Jonas.”

“But wait—there’s more,” he says. He stops to think. He suppresses a humongous smile. “But not now. Later.”

My stomach flips. More? My mind is spiraling out of control, having all kinds of crazy-ass thoughts—thoughts I absolutely shouldn’t be having. Thoughts he couldn’t possibly live up to.

“I’m only sorry I can’t pilot you myself. You being strapped to some random Greek dude when you leap off Mount Olympus really fucks up my metaphor. But I figured leaping and dying wasn’t really optimal in light of the metaphor I’m going for here.”

I laugh. “I’ll just imagine I’m strapped to you the whole time.”

“Please do.”

A pilot approaches. “Are you ready?” he asks us in a thick Greek accent.

“Yeah. I’ll be going first,” Jonas tells him. “Okay, baby?”

“Great.”

“I want to be down there waiting for you when you arrive.”

“Another metaphor I presume?”

“No. I just want to take pictures of your face during the landing. It’s gonna be hilarious.”

I laugh.

“But there
is
yet another metaphor awaiting us down at the bottom—the biggest metaphor of all, my precious baby—which I’ll tell you about in great detail after we land.”

My stomach flips. Electricity courses through my veins. “Can you give me a little hint?”

“Nope. I’ll tell you after you land.” Jonas leans in and kisses me. His tongue parts my lips and jolts my entire body. “Enjoy your ride, my precious baby,” he says. “Just sit back, relax, and take in the beautiful views.”

I have the urge to applaud raucously—holy hell, I’ve just been treated to the most magnificent declaration of love ever bestowed upon a woman throughout the history of time—this was the
Iliad
of love declarations, people—but I somehow manage to control myself. “That was beautiful, Jonas,” I say. “I’m swooning—literally, swooning.”

“Really? I’m doing okay so far?” He grins shyly.

What the heck does that mean? “Of course. You’re doing great
so far
,” I say. “You’re a poet—the most romantic man who ever lived. An absolute master of Valentine’s Day bullshit.”

He grins.

“I pity the poor fool who even
thinks
about declaring his love to a woman after what you just did—I just experienced the divine original form of declaring-love-ness.”

Jonas flashes an exuberant smile that lights up his entire face. “It’s easy to deliver the divine original form of declaring-love-ness to the divine original form of woman-ness.”

A giggle escapes my throat.

He laughs. “So are you ready to leap?”

Well, that sure makes me stop giggling in a heartbeat. Holy crap. I’d kind of forgotten about the actual jumping part. “Sure,” I squeak out.

He laughs and kisses me on the cheek. “Then I’ll see you down on the glorious, white-sand beaches of the Aegean, my precious baby.” He turns to his pilot and flashes him a thumbs-up. “Let’s do it.”

Jonas
 

Here she comes, floating down from the sky like the beautiful butterfly she is. Oh my God, her face is gorgeous right now—bursting with excitement and accomplishment and awe. I can almost hear her squealing from my vantage point all the way down on the beach. I laugh out loud as I crane my neck up to watch her descend. Wow, she’s
elated.
I take a million pictures of her with my phone as she waves and mugs for the camera. Oh God, she’s adorable in her little helmet with her cute, flushed cheeks. She’s positively glowing.

Her pilot yells something to her—I’m sure he’s prepping her for landing, probably telling her to stand up in the harness and get ready to hit the ground running. As he speaks, her happy expression completely vanishes. If I had to caption her face right now, it’d be,
Holy shit.
I can’t help but belly laugh.

They’re coming in fast. There’s no turning back. Oh, my poor baby. She looks scared to death—in a sudden and total panic. I feel an acute pang of guilt for forcing her to do this. Maybe there was a kinder way to impose this last, glorious metaphor upon her? Oh well. It’s too late now. Here she comes.

Their landing is perfect, thank God—soft as a feather, a gentle touchdown followed by an adrenaline-fueled run. Sarah and her pilot run, run, run together—oh man, look at her go—she’s like a pro—for a solid five steps, that is, and then she crumples to the ground in a relieved heap.

I bound toward her, shouting her name as I approach.

She’s thrashing around on the ground like an overturned turtle. Her pilot releases her tethers and she springs up off the ground. She runs toward me, shouting at the top of her lungs, and leaps into my arms, squealing and screaming.

“Did you see me?” she shrieks. “I did it!” She wraps her legs around my waist and clutches me, closing her eyes as I pepper her ebullient face with zealous kisses.

“You were amazing,” I say. “Incredible!” I kiss her and kiss her and kiss her.

“I did it,” she screams. She throws her arms around my neck and squeezes me tight. “I jumped off a cliff! I ran
toward
a frickin’ cliff—not away from it—and then I
jumped
. Oh my God, I was crapping my pants, Jonas, but I kept running anyway and then I
leaped
.” She kisses me again, but then she abruptly pulls away and swats at my shoulder, a sudden scowl overtaking her face. “I almost had a heart attack, Jonas Faraday. What the hell were you trying to do to me?” She’s trying to sound pissed, but her face is playful. “It’s not normal to run
toward
a cliff and jump, you know that, right?”

I laugh. “But it sure is fun, isn’t it?”

“So fun.”

“You did it, baby.”

“I did it. And so did you.
We
did it.” She beams at me. “And the view. Jonas, oh my God.”

“Gorgeous, right?”

“The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Just heaven on earth.”

“The color of the water—”

“To die for,” she says. “I’ve never seen water that shade of turquoise before.”

“And wasn’t it relaxing once you were up there?”

“Yeah, once I stopped having a heart attack from the takeoff, I was like, ‘Hey, this is really nice.’” She swats my shoulder again. “Until the
landing,
oh my God, you sadist.”

I burst out laughing. “You should have seen your face. Priceless.”

“Are you
trying
to torture me?”

I kiss her. “No, my precious baby. Quite the opposite.” My heart suddenly leaps into my mouth. This is it. The moment I’ve been waiting for. Oh my God. I take a deep breath. “Lemme put you down.”

She unwraps her legs from me and slides down to the ground.

My face feels hot. I can’t breathe. This is it. Holy shit. My pulse pounds in my ears. “There’s one more metaphor I want to tell you about—the biggest one of all.”

She shifts her weight.

I pat my pocket. Yep, the box is still there. “Sarah,” I warble. I clear my throat. “My Magnificent Sarah.” Oh God, my throat is closing up.

She unlatches her helmet and takes it off. She looks anxious.

I take another deep breath. “Thank you,” I begin. Shit. That’s not how I practiced this. Where did that come from? I’ve got to pull myself together and do this right.

She presses her lips together, gazing at me intently.

I take yet another deep breath, trying to gather myself. What did I plan to say? Whatever it was, it feels all wrong now. The only thing I feel right now is gratitude—love and gratitude. Fuck my planned speech. I’ll just say what’s in my heart right this minute. “Thank you, Sarah,” I say. “Thank you for loving me—for teaching me how to be
loved
. Your love is my savior.” My lip trembles and I pause, steadying myself. “Your love has given me life.”

“Oh, Jonas,” she says, her voice brimming with emotion.

I cup her face in my hands. “I got it wrong when I called our love madness. I’m sorry about that. Our love’s not madness, baby—our love is what’s finally made me
sane
.”

She smiles.

I rest my hands on her shoulders. “Sarah Cruz, when you crawled inside that cocoon-built-for-two with me, when you gave yourself to me, totally and completely, that’s when I discovered true happiness for the first time in my life.” I stuff down a sudden wave of emotion.

She blinks slowly, suppressing tears.

“And I thought . . .” My voice quavers, so I pause. “I thought there could be no greater happiness than that, than being inside that cocoon with you for the rest of my life.” My palms are sweaty. I pat my pocket and feel the little box bulging there.

The pilots and some other people milling on the beach are chatting in Greek around us. Sarah looks like she’s about to burst into tears. I feel light-headed.

“I thought our little cocoon built for two was the culmination of human possibility,” I say.

Her big brown eyes are smiling at me.

“But somewhere along the line, I’m not sure precisely when, I discovered an even greater joy than being inside that cocoon with you. It was watching you burst
out
of that cocoon and become the beautiful butterfly you were always meant to be, right before my eyes.”

Her face contorts with a thousand emotions all at once.

“When you became my beautiful, powerful, delicate, miraculous, glorious, iron butterfly,
that’s
when I discovered the divine original form of happiness.
Pure ecstasy
.”

Tears pool in her eyes.

Oh my God. This is it. My heart is going to crack my sternum from the inside.

I take a deep, steadying breath, pull the box out of my pocket, and bend down on my knee. I look up into Sarah’s beautiful face and . . .  she explodes into tears.

Oh my God. I haven’t even asked her yet—
I haven’t even opened the box yet.
I’m down on my knee with a
closed
ring box and she’s bawling like I just stole her lunch money. Should I stand and comfort her? No, I can’t. I’m gonna have a heart attack if I wait another second to say these words to her. I’m a runaway train.

I open the box and she turns into a certifiable maniac—she’s crying uncontrollably and laughing with glee at the same time. Oh, my baby. She’s a hot mess—and I’m loving it.

She puts a shaking hand to her mouth. “Jonas,” she breathes. “Oh my God.”

Our pilots and a few other bystanders milling on the beach have gathered around us. I guess a guy on bended knee with a ring translates in any culture.

“You’re the goddess and the muse, Sarah Cruz,” I say, hoisting the rock up. “I love you more than any man has ever loved any woman in the history of time. Our love is the joy of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the gods.” I pause, not because I’m scared, not because I’m unsure, but because I want to savor the moment. “Our love is the
envy
of the gods, my precious baby.” I inhale deeply and look into her big, brown eyes. “Will you marry me, My Magnificent Sarah Cruz?”

She drops to her knees right in front of me, leveling her face with mine, throws her arms around my neck, and kisses me voraciously, almost snuffing the life out of me as she does.

Our small audience on the beach applauds.

 “Yes?” I choke out. I can’t breathe. Good God, the woman’s suffocating me. “Yes?”

“Yes,” she shrieks. “Yes!” I grab her shaking hand and begin slipping the ring onto her finger, but she pulls away. Oh God, I’ve got the wrong hand. She laughs and gives me her other one and I somehow manage to slide the ring onto the correct finger. Oh my God, I can’t believe it. She’s wearing my ring. It’s official. Sarah Cruz is going to be my wife.

Sarah squeals, gazing at her hand. “Oh my God, Jonas. It’s breathtaking!”

I hold up her hand and take a look. Wow, it looks even prettier on her hand than I imagined it would. “It’s
magnificent,”
I say.
“Because nothing short of that would have been worthy of My Magnificent Sarah.” I stand and pull her up with me, and then I kiss her like I’m reviving a drowning woman—or maybe she’s reviving me.