Tori Carrington - Obsession

“I’ll…just…go…get…the last…bag,” he said.

Josie couldn’t help giggling.

Giggling! She couldn’t remember when-if-she’d ever indulged in the carefree act, no matter how young, no matter how long ago.

“I hope you tipped him well.”

“I did.”

And she knew he had.

While Drew’s actions in the beginning had been highly questionable, she knew in her bones that the man standing before her was a man of integrity, strength, goodness and love.

And she didn’t know how she’d survived her life so far without him in it.

He slid his hand into his pants pocket. “I may not have been able to decide on a proper engagement ring, but…well…I hope you’ll accept this until we can get you one you like.”

Josie blinked at the band of tiny white shells that matched her anklet. They were so perfect, so small and so her that the tears that had threatened before stated rolling over her lashes.

“Uh-oh,” he murmured, swiping the dampness from her right cheek with his thumb. “I’m not very savvy on the meaning of women’s tears. You’ll have to tell me-are these good or bad?”

She nodded, then shook her head. “It’s…they are…I mean…oh, I don’t know what I mean.” She swallowed hard. “It’s good.”

“May I?”

She held up her trembling left hand so that he could slip the shell ring onto her finger.

“Will you marry me, Josie?” he whispered, seeming to look beyond the years of independence, of trying times, of lonely nights, into the very depths of her soul.

“Yes,” she breathed.

There were hoots and hollers from around the corner. But Josie couldn’t acknowledge them. All she could do was marvel at the difference one man could make.

Granme’s words snaked through her mind as Drew held her so tightly she couldn’t breathe. “Sha bébé, you must always listen to the little voice inside your head. While your heart may lead you astray, your head never will.”

In that one moment, her heart and head were in complete agreement.

And just like that, the curse that had shadowed the Villefranche women for over two centuries was broken.

She smiled as she kissed Drew again and again. She couldn’t wait to share her own little surprise with him. And for some reason she couldn’t explain, she was convinced the life growing within her, the life they had created, would be a little boy.