"It seems that I have." He sighed softly.
The two men chuckled at his beleaguered expression. "Believe me, it has its perks."
*****
After being slaughtered at the poker game, he took his losings and went to his suite, declining the invitation from several of the members to go another round. He had just stepped from the shower when his phone rang.
He felt his heart doing a quick dive when he picked up the phone and saw her name.
Sliding the icon quickly, he sat on the edge of the bed and answered.
"Hi."
"Hi."
He fully expected her to be sulky and angry, but her cultured voice was warm, filling him with a sense of contentment. He wasbeginning to realize that the woman he was about to marry did not bear grudges. It made her very unique.
"How are you?"
Lonely without you. Out of place and out of sorts. Missing you like crazy.
Instead, he answered, "I was trounced at cards. They took me for several thousand dollars." Leaning back on the pillows, he stretched his legs out. "Fortunately, it's for a very worthy cause." He paused slightly. "Are we okay?"
"I am. Are you?"
He smiled slightly. "I'm getting there. I apologize for bailing like that. I suppose you're wondering if it's still a good idea to spend the rest of your life with someone like me."
"I don't know, Dean, you didn't tell me you were perfect and I happen to be in love with you."
He felt a jolt at those words that he had avoided his entire life. Words he had heard only in the context of lovemaking. Empty meaningless words spoken in the throes of passion as a way ofgetting him to propose. And he knew without a shadow of a doubt that this one was meaningful.
"Catherine..." He barely recognized the sound of his voice.
"Just thought I would put it out there." There was a smile in that distinct voice of hers that warmed him from the inside out.
He had practically forced himself on her and after not getting his own way, he had simply walked away. On top of all that, he had refused to call her. For all that indignity, she was declaring her love for him. He didn't deserve her, but oh Christ, he didn't care. He was going to hang onto her until there was no longer any breath left in his body.
"Catherine..." He could not say the words. They were stuck inside his throat and refused to be released.
"Be mine," he whispered instead. "Please be mine."
"I already am," she told him gently. "I'll let you get some sleep..."
"No." He gripped the phone. "Talk to me some more. I just want to hear your voice. Tell me what you did today."
They spoke for more than two hours, and he found himself laughing when she told him about cleaning the house and Galahad tromping through after he had dug up a patch of dirt in the garden.
"I hope you meted out the appropriate punishment."
"I took him outside and doused him with some cold water, giving him a bath. I think he learned his lesson."
She spent another twenty minutes regaling him with some antics from some of her kids both at school and at church.
He waited until she had wound down before asking the question that was haunting him.
"Why?" he asked harshly.
"Excuse me?"