Magnificent Folly (19 page)

“I think you’ve made yourself clear.” She smiled tremendously as she threw open the door. “Behold the declaration.”

On a large table beside the pool stood a splendid sand castle, whose intricately carved turrets and battlements towered six feet into the air. The scarlet rays of the setting sun bathed the structure in a rosy glow, capturing glimmers of gold in the sand that turned it into a fantasy castle straight from the pages of a child’s fairy tale.

Andrew stood very still in the doorway, staring at it silently.

“Do you like it?” Lily pulled him out on the
terrace. “I didn’t do it all my myself. Quenby, Mariana, Gunner, and Cassie helped. And Mrs. Muggins did those tiny windows in the tower. You’d be amazed how dexterous her metal fingers can be.” Lily released his hand and turned to face him. “But the idea was mine.”

He was still silent.

“Well, say something,” she said with a nervous laugh. “I’m beginning to feel foolish. I’m not used to making grandiose gestures like this.”

“Vive la déclaration.”
His gaze finally shifted from the sand castle to her face. “Now, can you put it into words?”

“Pushy. You’re always so pushy.” Her lids lowered to veil her eyes. “It’s not easy.”

“Neither was building that sand castle.”

“You’re right. It was damn frustrating, knowing all that effort was going to be history in an hour or a day.”

“But you did it.”

“I wanted to show you …” She gazed directly into his eyes. “I won’t ever believe entirely, as you do, but I can agree on fundamentals. I’ll trust
your integrity until the day I die, and I believe that there are some things that can’t be destroyed by time or circumstances. Is that enough?”

“Enough,” he said softly. “It’s the fundamentals that count. I never expected you to be a carbon copy of me, to believe all I believe.”

She nodded and took a deep breath. “Okay. Now for the big plunge.” She paused, then said in a rush, “And I believe one of those things that can’t be destroyed is love. And I do love you and intend to love you through hell and high water and—”

“Easy.” He took a step closer and drew her into his arms. “It doesn’t all have to come at once.”

“Yes, it does. I’m on a roll. You should have made me tell you this before, instead of being so damn patient. I was so scared I wouldn’t get the chance, when I saw you lying in that hospital bed.” She rested her head on his shoulder. He felt so good, so male, so … Andrew. “You’re an extraordinary human being, and I respect and admire you.” Her arms slipped around his neck. “But most of all I love you. You can be anything
you want to be, do anything you want to do, and that fact will never change. You can build sand castles to the sky and risk your life with scum like Kalom and I’ll still be here. I won’t change and I won’t go away.”

“That’s quite a roll,” he said thickly. “Am I allowed to say I reciprocate your feelings?”

“No, because you already told me in that idiotically generous way you have.” Her arms tightened around him. “You just gave it to me and didn’t ask anything in return. Something’s really got to be done about you.”

“Marriage?”

She stiffened. “I never thought—”

He pushed her back to look down into her face. “Since we have an nine-year-old child, I believe it’s time we did think about it.” His eyes were twinkling. “Think how much power you’d have over me if you had me all trussed up in the marital noose.”

She shook her head. “You’ll still do exactly what you want to do.”

“And I want to marry Lily Deslin. Now, since
you claim your affections won’t change, can you think of an argument against it?”

She shook her head as heady joy exploded within her. “Not even one.”

He kissed her gently. “Tomorrow?”

She shook her head. “You said your parents will be back from Marasef next week. I want them to meet me first.” A shadow temporarily banished the smile from her face. “I wish my mother could have met you, Andrew. She always wanted me to have a marriage as good as her own. Do you suppose she knows?”

His hands framed her face, and he looked down at her gravely. “I believe people don’t die as long as their memory lives on.”

“That’s not enough. I want to believe she knows and is happy for me. Perhaps I do believe it.” Her eyes glimmered with tears as she gazed up at him. “Another sand castle. Maybe I’m coming closer to your way of thinking than I first imagined.”

“Perhaps you are.” He kissed her with glowing sweetness and then let her go. “And now I want
to examine this magnificent sand castle you’ve built for me.”

Her eyes widened as she put out a hand to stop him. “You can do that later. Why don’t we go get Cassie from her room? I promised we’d have a really festive dinner.”

Andrew looked at her in surprise. “It will only take a minute.”

“But you know how testy Muggins is when you’re late to dinner. She’ll nag you to—” She stopped as she met his quizzical glance, and heaved a resigned sigh. “All right, you might as well know now as later. Go look at it.”

Andrew turned and crossed the few yards separating them from the sand castle on the table. “Now, what could you have done to make you look so guilty?” he muttered as he bent down and examined the wall surrounding the castle. “It’s a great castle, a fantastic castle. I couldn’t have done better myself. Why are you—” He reached out and touched the wall surrounding the sand castle with a probing index finger.

He stiffened in surprise.

He touched the wall again.

Then he threw back his head and started to laugh.

“I just couldn’t bear it,” Lily said quickly. “This sand castle was going to
mean
something. It’s all very well to believe in things that we can’t see, but won’t it be nice to have something substantial to look at and remind us of tonight and—”

“Lily, stop apologizing.” Andrew wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “What the devil did you use?”

“Quick-drying cement. I mixed it with the sand and water. We had to work very fast.”

“I just bet you did.”

“You’re not angry?” she whispered. “I told you I’m not like you. I need to have some of my dreams founded in cement, where I can touch them. You said it was only the fundamentals that mattered, and I promise you those will stand alone, Andrew.”

He shook his head in amusement as he turned to look at the sand castle again. “Why should I be angry? I think it will be great to have a castle
around the house. I’d like to put it in my pocket and take it with me everywhere.”

“Really?” She knew Andrew didn’t need to carry his sand castles with him, but he understood that she did. He always understood what was important and tried to give it to her. “You’d find that difficult to do.” She smiled brilliantly, her face illuminated with love. “And besides, it’s not necessary. No matter what road we travel, we’ll always know it’s here waiting for us.”

His joyous smile mirrored her own. “Yes,” he said softly. “We’ll always know what we have waiting for us.”