Chapter 9 - HIS TURN TO ASK
Michael refused to propose with a plastic ring.
Zach was deeply offended.
“I used my allowance.”
“You paid three dollars.”
“Exactly.”
I laughed until my stomach hurt.
Michael didn’t propose that night.
He waited.
That mattered.
For most of my life, other people had decided what happened to me.
Where I lived.
What I owed.
What I was worth.
Michael gave me time to decide what I wanted.
Six months passed.
My bakery job became something larger when the owner offered me a partnership.
I invested part of the money recovered from my father’s estate.
For the first time, my future belonged entirely to me.
Michael never interfered.
Well.
Almost never.
When the bakery’s refrigerator broke, a new commercial refrigerator mysteriously appeared at six the next morning.
I called him.
“You bought it.”
“No.”
“Michael.”
“Could’ve been anyone.”
“It has MORETTI INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY printed on the invoice.”
Silence.
“Administrative error.”
I hung up laughing.
Zach recovered beautifully.
His doctors remained optimistic, and his energy returned with vengeance.
He joined soccer.
Michael became the most intimidating youth-soccer father in Brooklyn.
“You’re scaring the referee,” I whispered during one game.
“He missed a foul.”
“They’re six.”
“Rules exist.”
“Sit down.”
He sat.
Immediately.
Teresa nearly fell off the bleachers laughing.
Then came the trial.
Regina pleaded guilty rather than face a jury.
I attended sentencing.
She looked older.
Smaller.
When she saw me, she cried.
“Aurora.”
I stopped.
“I’m sorry.”
For years, I imagined hearing those words.
They didn’t heal me.
But they didn’t destroy me either.
“I hope someday you understand what you did.”
“I loved your father.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“You loved what he gave you.”
Her face crumpled.
I walked away.
Outside the courthouse, Michael waited.
He didn’t ask what she said.
He simply offered his hand.
I took it.
That evening, Zach demanded we visit Bellarosa.
The restaurant had changed ownership after Vale’s arrest.
It had been renovated.
I hesitated outside.
“This place has terrible memories.”
Zach looked offended.
“It has one good one.”
“What?”
“You met me.”
I smiled.
“Fair.”
We entered.
The dining room looked nothing like the cramped place I remembered.
Flowers filled the tables.
Candles glowed beneath chandeliers.
Too many candles.
I looked at Michael.
He suddenly looked nervous.
Suspiciously nervous.
Then Zach disappeared.
“Where’s he going?”
“No idea.”
“Michael.”
Music began.
I turned.
Zach returned wearing the gray suit from the night of his second proposal.
He carried his teddy bear.
A blue bow tie had been tied around its neck.
My hands flew to my mouth.
“No.”
Michael stood.
He reached into his pocket.
“Oh my God.”
“Aurora.”
Every conversation in the restaurant stopped.
Michael Moretti lowered himself onto one knee.
I started crying before he said another word.
“The first Moretti proposal you received was admittedly difficult to compete with.”
People laughed.
Zach nodded proudly.
“But I’m going to try.”
Michael opened a small velvet box.
Inside was a delicate ring.
Nothing enormous.
Nothing designed to display his wealth.
Simple.
Beautiful.
Perfect.
“You entered my life terrified and still put yourself between danger and my son. You taught him courage didn’t mean pretending not to be afraid.”
His voice broke slightly.
“And you taught me the same thing.”
I covered my mouth.
“I don’t want to save you, Aurora.”
His eyes held mine.
“I want to stand beside you while you save yourself, while you build whatever life you choose, and if you’ll let me, I want to spend mine building it with you.”
Tears ran down my cheeks.
“Aurora Bennett, will you marry me?”
Before I could answer, Zach whispered loudly:
“Say yes.”
Everyone laughed.
I looked at him.
Then at Michael.
The man I once feared.
The man who had never asked me to surrender myself in exchange for his love.
“Yes.”
Applause erupted.
Michael slipped the ring onto my finger and stood.
I kissed him.
Zach hugged both our legs.
For one perfect moment, I thought our story had finally reached its peaceful ending.
Then Elias approached Michael.
His expression was wrong.
Michael pulled away.
“What happened?”
Elias whispered something.
Michael’s smile vanished.
“What?” I asked.
He hesitated.
Then looked at me.
“Someone broke into your father’s old house.”
My blood went cold.
“They found something hidden inside the wall.”
He handed me a photograph.
It showed a sealed envelope.
My name was written across it.
May you like
Underneath were four words in my father’s handwriting.
FOR AURORA’S WEDDING DAY.
