Page 70 of Forever Yours
“Wait, Devlin, please,” Gabe begged, knowing that once the door closed it would be an end to their relationship. He wasn’t going to stop her, but he hoped that the tone of his voice would give her enough pause for him to plead his case before banishing him from her life forever.
“I love you,” were the only words he could think of saying. He’d come up with a whole impassioned speech, all the right words to make her reconsider, but these three words—short and sweet—were the only ones that mattered now. The trajectory of the door slowed, and he saw his opening to continue, grateful he didn’t have to rush when the door opened back up and she let him in. She sat on the couch and looked at him expectantly, then motioned for him to sit in a chair.
“I fell in love with you in Boston and this last month I’ve only fallen deeper in love with you. You said once that you didn’t know what it was to be in love like nothing else in the world exists, but I do. I love you, Devlin, and nothing else matters, not the shop or my expansion. Only you. I want to see you succeed and your vision to be a reality.” He shot her a rueful smile. “I had this whole thing planned out. At the meeting tonight I was going to withdraw my bid for the property. I don’t need to expand now. I don’t want anything to come between us.” She started to speak but he had one more thing he wanted to say. “Don’t give up your dreams for me. I want to be here, with you, cheering you on every step of the way.”
Her eyebrows shot up at these words and he waited in misery for her to speak.
“Why did you do it?”
Gabe psychoanalyzed his whole life up until now in a split second. “I don’t clue people into my plans until they’re in motion or already done, and what happened here was no different. I’m not trying to deflect from my behavior, but once Grey got famous no one paid attention to me—which I didn’t mind—but that meant I could do what I wanted when I wanted and no one…cared isn’t the right word. People cared, but what I was doing was never as important, so I just went ahead and did stuff without telling anyone. I ended up being cautious about who comes into my life because of Grey’s fame. I was always like this, but I hadn’t realized how bad it had gotten until now.”
Devlin closed her eyes and spoke, so softly that he moved closer to hear her.
“He weaponized intimacy.”
Gabe felt his stomach turn at these words but didn’t speak. He knew she needed to let this all out, but when she opened her eyes the sadness he saw there was almost unbearable.
“With him it was his way or the highway. Nothing I did was good enough and anything I wanted took a back seat to his needs. I didn’t realize how much he was still affecting me and my decisions—I thought that when I left him I left him, but that’s not how it works. He’s this voice in my head whenever anything gets too good, or I was getting too happy that would tell me I was worthless. I should’ve known that you were different, that you weren’t him, but I couldn’t separate the two and I started making irrational decisions like pulling my proposal and expecting you to do the same and if you didn’t you would be just like him. I was sabotaging us from the start and I’m sorry.”
Gabe moved from the chair to the couch, taking Devlin’s hands in his as he sat next to her. “I’m not him and I will do everything in my power to help you believe that.”
“I can’t promise that I can change overnight, but I think that together we can make this happen.”
Relief washed over Gabe and his skin tingled from the emotion. He gripped Devlin’s hand, hoping to never let it go. “You should’ve seen the face on the clerk when I went to town hall to submit. She asked me if I was sure, like she could read the hesitation on my face and wanted to stop me from making a big mistake. But why didn’t you submit yours? You made it clear after you’d pelted me with at least hundreds of snowballs that you’d changed your mind.”
“It wasn’t hundreds,” Devlin exclaimed. “I’m sorry I started that. I didn’t expect the whole town to join in, either. The truth is that I was miserable after it happened. I had my proposal all printed out and ready to go when I started feeling sick. I had a fever that spiked, nausea and body aches. I felt like my bones were glass and if I moved too much I’d just break.”
Gabe reached his hand and touched her forehead. “You don’t feel hot now.”
“My fever broke overnight.” Devlin ran her thumb over his hand before continuing. “Annabelle has told me that I need to listen to the signs the universe is sending me, and I figured this was yet another sign and this time I was going to listen. So, I let myself be miserable and wallow all weekend. I watched bad movies and slept a lot. The universe was telling me that I needed to stop and think this whole thing out, to stop acting irrationally and to think something through, but I couldn’t stop thinking I messed everything up. I let what happened in my past dictate how I’m acting now. You’re right when you said you’ve just been chasing me since we met. I’ve led you on from day one and that’s been unfair. I should’ve known—I do know—that you’re so different from anyone else I’ve met, and I didn’t give you enough credit that we could do this without bad feelings getting in the way. I should’ve recognized that, and instead of running away from it, I should’ve embraced it. I realize now that giving up on my dream wasn’t the way to go about this. I’ve always tried to please other people and I was still doing that when I decided not to submit my proposal. I should’ve known that we’d get through whatever happened, good and bad, and to trust my feelings for you.”
Gabe listened to Devlin. He knew she needed to talk through her feelings, and he was overjoyed that he was the person she decided to open herself up to. Right now he wanted to do nothing more than sit on Devlin’s couch and listen to her pour her soul out to him. When she stopped speaking, he leaned over and kissed her on the mouth.
“No, don’t! I’m sick and I don’t want you to get anything.”
“Right now, I’ll take anything just to hear you say that you’re mine.”
“I’m yours,” Devlin promised.
“Forever?” Gabe asked.
“Yes, forever yours.”
Epilogue
Winter melted away and the sweet smell of spring was in the air. Trees and flowers were blooming, and Gabe couldn’t stop smiling. He hadn’t for months.
The Spring Fling was in full swing in Amber Falls as Memorial Day was fast approaching. They were at the Spring Fling dance, the kickoff to the annual celebration.
Gabe and Devlin were dancing, their arms around each other and everyone else tuned out. Gabe could hear the music, just enough to sway to the beat, but everything else around him was muted, quiet, so he could focus on Devlin. The music stopped and he leaned his forehead against hers, not wanting to let her go.
Her winter wear of jeans and thick sweaters had changed over to a spring wardrobe of flowy dresses, and he relished in the shape of her body under the thinner fabric. She’d pulled on a cardigan as the night took on a seasonable chill and gave a little shiver now.
“You ready to go home?” he whispered, and felt her shiver again as his warm breath hit her ear.
“I’m ready,” she agreed. “Let’s go.”
As they were walking over to say goodbye to the rest of the group, they were stopped by a familiar face. Joe, the man that had given Gabe life changing advice, waved them down.