She threw back the covers and came to him, not as fluidly as she could have in the past, but she made it. And, except for the casts, and his ring, she was stark naked. Elodie reached up to his neck as best she could with her broken arm, then showed him the ring deliberately, before wrapping that arm around his neck. "I got the mail today."
His eyebrow went up. What did that have to do with anything? "Uh, that's good." He started to carefully guide the both of them to the bed. He had become instantly aroused as soon as he saw her rise from the bed in all her gloriousness, but he wanted her someplace safe where he could examine her. Maybe she'd had too many pain pills...
"There was a bill—or rather, not a bill—from the hospital."
He went rigid in her arms, and not in a good way. "Oh." He had a fairly good idea what that bill had said.
"Yes. You paid my bill, didn't you, Clay?"
They had made it to the edge of the bed, where he laid her down gently then joined her on his own side, sidling up close to her and drawing her back into his arms. There was no sense in denying it. She didn't seem to be too mad about it, anyway. She obviously knew. "Yes, I did."
Elodie swallowed, barely choking out, "Thank you."
"You're welcome." He hugged her tight, having learned how to do it without hurting her, but touching her like this, when she was naked and vulnerable, was just about killing him. He literally throbbed with the need to be inside her, but he didn't want to hurt her.
"Clay?" She was struggling, and it seemed she could barely speak through the tears.
"Yes, Elodie?"
"My answer is... yes."
"Yes?" He looked her in the eyes, knowing exactly what she meant, but wanting to hear her say it.
"Yes, I will marry you."
He wanted to swing her around the bedroom by her waist. He wanted to fly under his own power. His heart burst painfully in his chest, again and again with each beat.
She was going to marry him! She said yes!
He settled for kissing the life out of her, and growling, "Thank you. You brought me back to life."
"We brought each other." Elodie snuggled as close to him as she could get.
They cuddled quietly together for a minute, and then Clay said in a soft voice, "I talked to someone a day or so ago who wants to see your paintings."
She went stiff in his arms. "Excuse me?"
"He's someone who might want you to have a show at his gallery in San Antonio."
"A show?"
Clay laughed. "You sound like a parrot. Yes, a show. And I want you to show him all of your paintings—even the one of me."
"I'm not going to let him show that one," she said adamantly.
"No, but I think it—and the one of April—are your best, and you should show him your best work."
*****
Elodie was surprised that the idea of a showing didn't seem that scary—she knew Clay would be by her side. "Well..."
"In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not giving you much of a choice."
"I've noticed that a lot about you," she responded wryly.
Clay hugged her close, then tipped her face back so that he could see her eyes. "I love you. Everything I do is because of that. I don't love lightly."
"I love you, too. I feel like I can't say it enough—I have been holding it inside for so long…" Elodie sighed.
"Yeah—I'd like to talk to you about that..."
She wanted to run and hide, but there was no way she could get away from him when he was holding her so close, and she was also hindered by her casts which, thankfully, were scheduled to come off within the next week. So she wasn't going anywhere.
"How long have you loved me?" he asked.
Elodie squirmed and wiggled as much as she could, but Clay held her fast. "I don't want to tell you," she whispered, not looking at him.
"Why not?" He made his voice as soft as it could be.
"Because—because I would never dishonor April."
His eyebrow rose. "That long?" He watched Elodie nod slowly. "Well, you never did dishonor April in any way. We never knew. I figured you didn't like me very much, frankly, but April always just said that you're shy and quiet and to give you time to warm up to me. But you never did."
Elodie couldn't think of anything appropriate to say, so she didn't say a word.
"My God, you have loved me for so long—I can't believe it. When I saw that portrait... it's incredible. The emotion you put into it. It's like looking at something tremendously intimate. I want to look away, but then it's me. You painted me like that."
"I have never loved anyone else." There. She had said it. It was like having a boulder moved off her heart.
Clay looked like she had pulled a gun on him. "Never?"
"Never." Another painful swallow, but if this was Confession 101, and he really did love her, then she needed to get it all out. "I have loved you since that night when April first introduced you to the family. I knew then that you were the only man for me."
"And what if April had never… if she hadn't—"