Her finger pressed against his lips. “Someday, when you’re ready, you can tell me. You can tell me about Jessica then, too. But for now, I just need to hear that you love me.”

There was no doubt about that. None at all. If he knew anything, if anything made sense, it was that he loved Mandy. He kissed her fingertip. “I do love you. So much. In a way I never thought I could again. In a way that’s more mature and stronger than what I felt for Jessica.”

He needed to say that, to acknowledge that. It wasn’t his fault, and it wasn’t Jessica’s fault that their marriage had been riddled with problems. There had been mutual blame and circumstances and two selfish people who hadn’t wanted, or hadn’t been willing, to change.

“Jess and I had our share of problems, but she didn’t deserve to die like that.”

“Of course not.” Mandy stroked her fingers across his forehead, his cheeks, and he was comforted, strangely and completely comforted. His knees were up in the air, but she had inserted herself between them, using his left leg as support. Yet he had the feeling she was the one holding him up.

He couldn’t stop himself from stroking a soft curl that fell across her shoulder. Couldn’t stop himself from asking. “What do you see, Mandy, when you look into the future? What do you really see?”

She gave him a soft smile. “I see me marrying you quickly, before I look like a white inflatable pool toy floating down the aisle. I see a nursery, right on the other side of this wall in that second bedroom. I see pink gingham and white eyelet curtains, and a baby named Rebecca Sharpton who grows into a little girl who loves her daddy just as much as I love him.”

Pain and want and love rose up in him so sharp that he felt his vision blur. “Do you really want that? After everything you know about me? I have scars, Mandy, that will never completely go away.”

Mandy hadn’t felt confidence a lot of times in her life. She couldn’t say the right thing at social events, she couldn’t keep her clothes neat, and she couldn’t seem to figure out how to balance her checkbook.

But this she was sure of. She and Damien were meant to be together. They complemented each other, they brought out the best in each other. They had both been given a second chance and she was going to take it if she had to wrap her arms around it and wrestle it to the ground.

“You seem to think that I’m getting the bad end of the bargain in this. You’re forgetting that I have quite a few flaws of my own. I’m forgetful, a borderline slob, hopeless with money, and lousy in bed.”