Dancing in the Rain (25 page)

Carolyn tightened her grip on the chair as she continued to look at Dwight. “I know I hurt you, and that was wrong.” Thank goodness, her voice no longer quavered. Though so much depended on Dwight’s reaction, she would not let herself cry, for she wanted his love, not his pity. “Hurting you was one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made.”

Dwight’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly when he heard her admission. Though his lips remained in a straight line, he hadn’t been able to hide the fact that her words had touched a cord inside him. Carolyn chose to regard that as a positive omen. At least he hadn’t refused to listen to her. At least he seemed to care.

“I wish I could undo that day,” Carolyn continued. “I know that’s not possible, but …” She felt a moment of panic as her voice trailed off. Though Dwight was staring at her intently, she had no way of reading his thoughts. For a second, she was tempted to run away. She had known this moment would be difficult, but even her worst fears hadn’t prepared her for the reality of facing Dwight, of opening her heart to him, of facing possible rejection. Was this how he had felt, each time he had asked her to marry him?

Carolyn swallowed deeply. She was not a coward, she told herself. She could do this. She had to do this. She swallowed again, then opened her mouth to ask the question whose answer would determine her future happiness. “Dwight, will you …”

Before she could complete the sentence, he interrupted. “Will I dance with you in the rain? Of course.” A smile teased the corners of his mouth, and Carolyn took that as another good sign. If Dwight, the man whom the nurses had believed was born without the ability to smile, was now smiling, it had to be a positive omen.

“That was not what I was going to ask,” she said. Her question was far more serious—and infinitely more important—than an invitation to dance in the rain.

As if he understood, Dwight nodded. Though the smile had disappeared, his eyes were no longer cool. Instead, they blazed with fire, a fire that began to warm Carolyn’s heart.

“I hoped that wasn’t your question,” he said. He leaned forward and took her hands in his. “Carolyn, I’ve made mistakes, too. I let my pride and anger take over. That was wrong.”

His mistakes were nothing compared to hers. When Carolyn opened her mouth to tell him that, he shook his head slowly. “Let me,” he said. For a moment Dwight was silent. He held her hands gently, and Carolyn knew that if she wanted to pull them away, he would not stop her. But she did not pull away. Instead, she tightened her fingers around his, trying to tell him without words that she never wanted to let him go. She would not reject his caress any more than she would reject him. That was one mistake she would not repeat.

Dwight looked down at their hands. When his eyes met hers again, Carolyn saw an emotion she recognized in them. Hope. Dwight hoped. So did she. Oh, how she hoped!

“I can’t undo my mistakes any more than you,” he said, “but perhaps we can put them behind us.” Carolyn nodded, unable to speak. Was he going to say what she hoped he would? He had told her he would never say those words again, and yet there was no mistaking the emotion she saw blazing from his eyes.

Dwight smiled at her and said, “Carolyn, I love you.”

They were the words she had wanted to hear. She had dreamed of this moment; the thought of it filled her waking hours; now, the warmth that flooded Carolyn’s heart shocked her with its intensity. Three words, eight letters. Who would have dreamed that they held the power to heal so many wounds, to turn a day from gray to glorious, to make the future seem bright and shining?

“These last weeks have been horrible,” Dwight said, his eyes closed with remembered pain. “I felt as if nothing had any meaning, because half of me was gone.”

The look he gave her said he hoped she understood. Indeed she did. Carolyn swallowed, then found her voice. “I know. That’s how I felt, too.” The emptiness had been worse than anything she had felt before. When she had been alone in the past, she hadn’t minded, but that had been before she knew how wonderful it was, being with Dwight. Dwight had made her complete; without him, she was only a shell.

He rose, tugging her to her feet, then looked down at her, his eyes once more serious. “I know I told you I wouldn’t ask again, but I need to know. Do you love me, Carolyn?”

Surely he had never doubted that. But he had. His expression told her that he had not believed her when she had told him she loved him. All that he had heard was her rejection. Now was her chance to correct one of her mistakes.

Carolyn gripped Dwight’s hands, willing him to believe what she was about to say. “Oh, Dwight, I love you. I love you more than I ever dreamed it was possible to love a person. I love you with all my heart.” Carolyn looked into those hazel eyes that she loved so dearly, searching for a sign that he understood. Dwight’s smile and the warmth that filled his eyes told her that this time he heard—and believed her.

“Then will you share all my tomorrows?” he asked. The note of uncertainty in his voice wrenched Carolyn’s heart, for it was a measure of how deeply she had hurt him. Even now, when she had declared her love, he wasn’t sure of her response.

She smiled and nodded, her heart so filled with emotion that she wasn’t sure she could speak. But she had to. She had to ensure that Dwight knew she would never again reject him. “There’s nothing I want more,” she told him.

To Carolyn’s surprise, he chuckled. “There’s something I want more. I want to marry you.” Dwight’s face turned serious again. “Will you marry me, Carolyn?”

This time, there was no hesitation. “Yes, my darling! I want to marry you more than anything on earth.”

As she moved into Dwight’s arms and turned her face up for his kiss, the happiness that had been building inside Carolyn burst forth like water from a broken dam, flooding her with a joy deeper than anything she had ever experienced. No matter what the future brought, nothing could take away this moment, for in this moment, Carolyn had found her heart’s desire: the man she would love for the rest of her life, the man who could turn sorrow to happiness, the man who would laugh with her as they danced in the rain.