His Love Came Too Late, I'm Already Another's Wife novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Done

I closed the bakery at four, and Eli's truck was waiting in the alley with the engine off.

He didn't say where we were going.

He drove us up Dock Road and parked behind the garage.

He led me up the outside stairs with his hand low on my back.

The kitchen smelled of cinnamon.

The table was set for two with the good plates, and in the middle sat a single cinnamon roll on a saucer, still warm.

On top of the roll, where the icing should have been, lay a thin gold ring.

I stopped in the doorway.

"You baked," I said.

"I tried. Bev gave me the recipe." He rubbed the back of his neck. "She said if I burned it, I wasn't to propose."

"Did you burn it?"

"The first four."

I laughed, and my eyes stung.

He took the ring off the roll and wiped the sugar from it with his thumb.

Then he went down on one knee on his own kitchen floor.

He didn't take my hand yet.

"At the courthouse I gave you terms," he said.

"I wrote the rules so I'd have a reason to stand next to you. I was afraid that if you knew what I wanted, you'd say no."

"I wouldn't have."

"You might have. You were angry."

He looked up.

"So I'm asking now, with nothing in the way. No spite and no Preston. No debt, and no one watching."

"Eli."

"Maia Hensel. Stay married to me. Not for a year. For the rest."

The kitchen was very quiet.

I looked at the man on the floor, at the scarred arm resting on his knee.

My chest ached with gladness.

"Done," I said.

His face went still. All the color left it.

"Maia..."

"Done with the terms," I said fast.

"Done with the year, and the rooms, and the rule about who's watching. Done with Eldon's lease and Preston's folder and every sorry thing between us."

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