“I would love too.” Sarah beamed at him.
Dalton walked her to the open area and clasped their joined hands to his chest and placed his other hand on her back to bring her closer. She laid her head on his shoulder and they began to move with the music. Since her dress left her back exposed, he hand rested on her warm flesh. Sarah groaned silently and whispered to him. “Your hand feels wonderful on my skin.”
“MmmHmm. Did I mention I love this dress?”
“Me too.” Sarah laughed softly “I had this in mind when I purchased it.”
“You are wicked.”
The dance continued for a few more minutes. Dalton couldn’t take the wait any longer. He was almost trembling with excitement to propose.
“Sarah, this has been the best day of my life so far. This morning when you told me that you love me and agreed to marry me, made me so extremely happy. I want us to build our life together starting right now.” He stopped dancing and knelt on one knee. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the jewelry case. He opened it and presented it to her. “ I love you so much. Will you marry me Sarah Dawson?”
Sarah had started crying the instant he knelt down so her response was a little watery and weepy. “I love you so much and Yes, Dalton Matthews I will marry you.”
He rapidly rose from the floor to pull her into a gentle but strong hug and kissed her. A few minutes later they stepped apart and he placed the ring on her finger. “It’s beautiful, Dalton.”
CeCe rushed to hug her friend. “Congratulations again. You are going to be so happy together, good times and bad times.”
Greg gathered Sarah in a hug after congratulating Dalton.
“Now, show me that ring.” CeCe exclaimed after hugging Dalton and warning him to treat her friend extra special. The ring was perfect for Sarah. It was simple elegance which was exactly was she wanted and it matched her personality. She told CeCe that she had picked several choices then left the store so Dalton could make the final decision.
“How did you get this so fast?” Sarah inquired to Dalton
“I own the hotel, remember.” Dalton stated smugly
“Yes, but still..”
“The ring was already the correct size so there were no adjustments needed. Our wedding bands will take a bit longer and will be shipped to me.”
Sarah’s brain finally engaged again and turned to her friends “You knew about this didn’t you? That’s why you weren’t dancing.”
CeCe laughed and agreed “Yes, he called us after you left the store and told us his plan. We couldn’t be happier for you both.”
“When are you going to tell your family?” inquired Greg as they all moved back to the sitting area. Dalton fielded that question. “Well, we have a plan but you two are sort of involved if you agree. If you allow, I would like to take Sarah home with me on Saturday and surprise my family. They knew I was supposed to be home on Sunday so it may throw them off if I come home a day earlier. Then we have a plan to announce it too them. My pilot and plane will be here Friday and then we will return to Arizona on Saturday with your permission.”
“Of course you have our permission. Sarah is on vacation.” Greg stated “It sounds like you have a great plan, good luck with the surprise.”
“I’ll be back to work on Monday as planned.” Sarah rushed to assure her boss.
“You better be, because I want details of the family’s reaction.” CeCe grumbled
Everyone laughed and got up to enjoy the dancing. The fun and laughter continued for a while. The four really enjoyed each other and had much to celebrate. As they parted for the night, CeCe hugged her friend again and told her happy they were for her. “We love you Sarah and want the best for you.” Dalton led a watery Sarah back to their suite; while Greg led his watery bride back to theirs.
Inside their suite, Dalton swept Sarah up in his arms and went to the sofa in the living room. He sat down and she wrapped her arms around his neck, “That was so wonderful Dalton. I am so happy. I love you very much.” She stated between kisses. Dalton shifted Sarah until she was lying comfortably in his arms and lowered his head to hers and kissed her hungrily.
Dalton caressed her body as he continued to kiss her. She made wonderful little noises that fueled his hunger for her. He finally lifted his head before his passion became too much to handle. “Are you too tired to join me in the hot tub?” Dalton asked
“No, I’m not too tired. That nap this afternoon helped.” Sarah replied “And I am too excited to sleep. I don’t get engaged every day, ya know.”
Dalton laughed and told her to go change. “Come to my room when you are ready.”
Dalton gathered some drinks and headed to his room to prepare the hot tub. He had asked for candles to be placed in there and the staff had found tons of them. He had changed and was busy lighting them when Sarah came in.
She was wrapped in the hotel’s guest robe and looked so adorable. “Dalton, I left my suit on for now. I am a little nervous but in a while I may feel more comfortable and ready to take it off. Okay?”
“Perfectly okay my Sarah.”
Sarah relaxed and looked around the room. “My word Dalton, this is decadent. That size hot tub in a hotel suite is amazing.”
“I spoiled myself a little at this hotel. I love to come here and totally relax.”
“I can see that. I’m glad you brought me here.”
“We can come here whenever we want to get away. Or to the other dozens of hotels we own.” Dalton said as he directed her to the tub. He climbed in and helped her to settle next to him. The water was perfect and so was the company.
“Do you have one of these in your room at home?”
“It isn’t quite this big but it will work for a start.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well, we have to decide if we are going to live at the main ranch house or build our own house on the ranch. If we decide to stay at the main house, then we will remodel my wing and put in a bigger hot tub. If we build our own house, we can put in the largest hot tub we can find if that is what you want.”
“Where do you want to live?”
“I think I would prefer to re-model and enlarge my wing at the main house. The plans have been drawn up for a remodel of all of our wings whenever we wanted to implement them. But if you want to live in a separate house, that can be designed also.”
“I wouldn’t mind living in the main house except that your room is upstairs. Sometime stairs are too hard for me and eventually they could become extremely dangerous for me.”
“We can plan around those things, love. Never worry about that. You know what you need and we can work with the plans to make them perfect. And we don’t have to decide right now. And even eventually we can change plans and build a separate house. I want to you always feel safe in your home and have lots of help nearby when it’s needed.”
“Thank you.”
“You are most welcome. Now relax against me. Do you like my touch?”
“I have liked it since the first day you touched me.”
“Tell me more sweetheart.”
“That first night we went out, I really did kiss your cheek without thinking about it. I had temporarily forgotten we were at odds and just leaned over and kissed you. It was a shock; my lips tingled when I drew back. I was taken aback about what I had done so I apologized. Then you knocked me for a complete loop. Telling me I could do that whenever. We weren’t supposed to be more than two people who got along for Lindsay’s sake.”
“At the restaurant when you would touch my hand, I would feel a jolt clear to my heart. What you were saying to me would not register. I had to be dreaming. You and I would not be sitting together having dinner ever. You wouldn’t be telling me that we would get married someday. I could not wrap my mind around it.”
“The next night when we were at my house and you asked me if you could kiss me on Friday. I sudd
enly couldn’t wait that long to feel you that close to me. So, I practically told you to kiss me that night. And that kiss was indescribable. There is a blank spot in my journal where I was trying to find good words but couldn’t. I can’t believe that was just two weeks ago and now we are engaged. You captured my heart so fast.”
“I know that feeling. That first day I met with Greg and you walked in, I didn’t recognize you at first. It dawned on me who you were about the time Greg said your name. After all that time, you had been found. You were so professional and cool towards me that I was a bit dumbfounded. We had gotten along before, or so I thought, I didn’t understand your behavior. And every time we talked on the phone, you said Mr. Matthews and I wanted to reach through the phone and strangle you.”
Sarah giggled at him but he just squeezed her tighter and continued his story. “At the gala, we looked for you mainly for Lindsay’s sake. We didn’t know you were avoiding us. But when you walked across that stage to do your speech; my heart skipped a beat and I was stunned. I really wanted to dance with you and when I caught your arm and swung you around I was hoping you would agree. That was about the worst thing I could have done to you physically, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, I did have a momentary vertigo spell. Thankfully it passed quickly. Sometimes they do that.”
“Thankfully my behavior did not ruin your night physically anyway. Knowing what I know now, I probably didn’t do much to help you enjoy that night as you should have been able to. I’m sorry.”
“No apologies tonight. Go on with your story.”
“Yes, ma’am. Anyway, I was sure now that we had found you again that you would become a regular visitor at the ranch and I could see if the attraction I was feeling towards you was real or not. But you refused to go to the ranch. After our first outing to the park, I didn’t think you would ever speak to me again. Then after your surgery you wouldn’t contact anyone, I was miserable.
“And then David and Lindsay started the ball rolling by contacting you again and now here we are. When I called you after David’s phone call to you and you laid into me like it was my fault, you sounded so fierce on the phone and I remembered how beautiful you were and I again wanted to reach through the phone, but to kiss you senseless this time. Then that night when you called me to tell us to ease off, my heart took a tumble and I never looked back. I loved you from that moment and wanted to protect you forever, even from my big brother if necessary.”
Sarah turned a little to face him and he saw the tears on her cheeks. He had touched her heart again.
“At the park, when you told me about your disease you mentioned that there were two reasons you never came back to the ranch, one is you can’t drive to it, what is the other reason?”
Sarah stiffened as he began to ask the question, he was probably not going to be thrilled with this reason at all. She cleared her throat and began “Well, I am almost 100% sure this reason doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Uh huh and what is that reason?”
“You didn’t ask me to come.”
“What? Yes we did.”
“No, they did. David did, Nick did, Lindsay did, Gabby and Nathan did, but you did not. And since you were the reason for leaving all those years ago, I wasn’t going back unless you said it was okay.”
“Are you serious?”
“Absolutely, I wasn’t setting one toe on Stage West unless I knew you were okay with it.”
“Sarah, will you come to live with me forever at Stage West?” Dalton asked reverently
“Yes, I would love to.” She said through her tears. Dalton squeezed her tight and kissed the top of her head again. His emotions were pretty ragged right now too and he needed a moment to relax.
“As much as I am enjoying this, we have been in here too long. We have to get out.” Dalton stated regrettably. Sarah groaned and moved to stand up. Unfortunately she was momentarily disorientated and had to grab him to steady herself. He panicked and almost upended them both in the water. “I’m sorry” he said frantically. But she was laughing so hard she didn’t hear him. “Relax. It was a momentary thing. I’m okay; I just needed to balance on you.”
He grabbed her close. “Oh, Lord. You scared me to death. I thought you were falling and reached to grab you and almost took us both out.”
“Dalton, look at me.” She cupped his face in her hands “The movement from laying down to sitting or standing is very disorienting. This will not be the only time in our life I have to grab you for balance. Get used to it and don’t panic. Just hold on to me but don’t do sudden movements.”
“I’ll get it right eventually.” He said “I have lots to learn.”
“Remember this, my love. I will teach you and we will learn more together. Each day will be special if we are in this together.”
“Always.”
“I may need you to remind me of that sometimes too.”
“Deal.”
He helped her out of the hot tub, safely this time. He wrapped her in a luxurious towel so he would not be tempted by her again; swept her up in his arms and carried her to her room. He told her to go get dressed for bed and bring her brush and he would brush her hair. He left the room saying he would be right back.
Dalton rushed to his room to put on his pajama pants and hurried back to Sarah. He was lounging on the bed when she emerged from the dressing room. His hand flew to his heart again because she was wearing another spectacular nightgown.
“I can’t wait to see what you wear on our wedding night. Of course, don’t plan to have it on all that long.”
“Well, actually, I have always had kind of a fantasy about that.” She said as she sat in front of him on the bed.
“And what is that?”
“Well, I always wanted to wear lingerie that my husband had chosen for me to wear on our wedding night.”
“You want me to choose the nightgown you will wear on our wedding night?”
“Yes, will you do it?”
“With the utmost pleasure. Any preferences?”
“No, whatever pleases you.”
“You please me!” He said as he began to brush her hair. His mind was flooding with possibilities on how he wanted to her to look for him. But as he said, it wouldn’t stay on very long.
Sarah began to fade a few minutes later so he gently laid her down. “We can either go back to the cottage tomorrow or stay here a few more days, your choice.”
“I’ll ask Greg and CeCe tomorrow. I have my support group meeting tomorrow night, so I need computer connections so we might have to be at the cottage.”
“This suite is wired and you should be just fine to get online here.”
“I’ll ask tomorrow.” She was fading fast.
“I love you Sarah.” He said as he kissed her good night.
“I love you Dalton.”
Chapter 17
The next morning, the limousine drove all four back to the Davis’ house. Dalton and Sarah had received their blessing to stay the rest of the week at the hotel. They would return on Friday night for dinner though.
“But call me if you need me, I can be here in a moment if necessary.” Sarah insisted and went to pack her belongings.
Upon their return to the hotel, they unpacked and freshened up and met up again in the kitchen. “What do you want to do today?” Dalton asked
“Do you mind if we just hang around here today? I am a little tired.”
“I don’t mind that at all. I have a good book to read and we can relax and talk.”
“Sounds heavenly. I am going to go get comfortable.”
Sarah went and changed into her big t-shirt and bike shorts. They were her comfort clothes. She grabbed her book and headed for Dalton’s room. Sarah snuggled in and rested for a while. He soothed the muscles in her back and helped her to relax. “Do you want to cuddle and watch a movie or read?”
“Movie. If we can find a good one” she
said
“Settle in and I’ll be right back.” He went to freshen up and get them something to snack on and something to drink.
They got comfortable on the bed and he was her pillow again. A good drama was on television and Sarah watched about half of it until she fell asleep. Dalton stroked her hair because he just couldn’t stop touching her. His dreams had come true and she was lying in his arms.
He didn’t let her sleep too long because her online support group would start soon. Dalton gently touched her arm to wake her up. “Sweetheart, you need to get your computer ready for the support group meeting.”
“Do you mind if I check my emails and stuff too?”
“No, I don’t mind. While you splash some water on your face to wake up, I’ll set up your computer. The kitchen table would probably work the best.”
“Ah, Dalton? Do you want to sit with me and read while I do the emails and the support group?”
“Yes, I would. I can use the time to learn more about you.”
“You are the best” she said as she ran to kiss him.
Sarah signed on to read her emails. Some were just saying “Hi and checking in” and some Tyler or one of the counselors had already answered and there were a couple that she needed to handle. The clients need some encouragement and Sarah did an excellent job at that.
She logged out of email and changed to the foundation’s site. She was opening the meeting and started to explain to Dalton what would happen. “The clients on the meeting do not know I am the foundation’s president. Some of them are not clients even, they just found our group and joined in. I sign on with a code name that only the two doctors and I know. The doctors are the same way.”
“When the people contact us to join, we ask them to provide a name other than their own that displays on the screen. I, however, know their real names and code names so I can watch for any troubles. After the meeting, the doctors and I switch to another meeting and discuss any troubles that may have noticed. If necessary, the clients are contacted by the appropriate individuals to provide assistance.”
“Like what?”
“Well, if one of the group mentions a new symptom or problem and the doctor thinks that it needs to be checked out. The doctor or I will email the individual and suggest it.”