Chapter 9 - The Second Proposal
One year later, Damian invited me to the estate.
Lily knew something was happening.
She refused to tell me.
“You’ll see.”
That was all she said.
At dinner, the room looked different.
No business executives.
No political figures.
No Selene.
Only family.
Damian stood.
He looked nervous.
I had never seen him nervous before.
“Mara.”
I laughed.
“You look terrified.”
“I am.”
Lily giggled.
Damian reached into his pocket.
Not a ring.
A key.
He placed it on the table.
“What is that?”
“The study.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Because I want you to have access.”
I stared at him.
He continued.
“That room used to hold everything I was afraid to lose.”
He placed another key beside it.
“The old archive.”
Then another.
“The main house.”
My eyes filled with tears.
He looked at Lily.
“Your mother taught me that a home isn't the place with the biggest walls. It's the place where nobody has to ask whether they're allowed to belong.”
Then he turned back to me.
“I don't want you standing outside my life anymore.”
He went down on one knee.
Lily gasped.
He smiled.
“Mara Bennett, will you marry me?”
I looked at my daughter.
She was crying.
Happy tears.
I looked at Damian.
The man who had once sat at the head of a table surrounded by powerful people.
The man who had let a frightened little girl sit beside him.
The man who had given me something I had stopped believing existed.
Security.
Trust.
A future.
“Yes.”
Lily screamed.
“I knew it!”
Everyone laughed.
Damian stood and kissed me.
The entire room disappeared.
For the first time, there were no locked doors.
No lies.
May you like
No empty chairs.
Only home.
