Road Not Taken

Chapter 13: The Love Expert

I'm upstairs in my room, folding laundry when I hear the sound of little footsteps. I smile when I turn around and see her. "Hey there, Barbie."

She gives me a big toothy grin. "Hi, Mr. Cowboy." Her hands are behind her back.

"What do you have there?"

She keeps her hands behind her back as she speaks. "I was watching a show with Liz and people gave each other flowers if they liked each other."

I nod; they must have been watching some reality tv dating show. "Okay."

"And since you like mommy, I thought you should give her this." She shows me a single rose in her hand and my heart melts right there at her sweet gesture.

I take the rose from her hand. "Thank you, Mallory. I'm pretty sure your mom knows I like her."

"But you love her?"

"Of course, I do." I care about her more than I have ever cared about anyone else. I am going to keep my promise, no one will ever hurt her again.

"Does she know that?"

I realize I never told Tessa that I love her, she knows how I feel but I have yet to say the words out loud. "She will now." I crouch down and give Mallory a hug. "You know you give the best dating advice for a little kid."

She pulls away and pouts. "I am not little! Amy says I'm getting taller!" She says and stomps away into the guest room.

I shake my head and look down at the rose again. Maybe it's time I tell her. I walk downstairs and find Tessa sitting down at the kitchen table with tears running down her face as Elizabeth is hugging her tightly. I frown as they both look over at me. "Am I interrupting?" I ask and hide the rose in my back pocket.

Elizabeth pulls away from Tessa. "No." My sister walks over to me and whispers. "If you hurt her, I will beat you up with that rose." She says and goes upstairs.

"Jeez." I whisper to myself. I walk over to Tessa and hug her from behind as she wipes her eyes. I lean down and kiss her on the forehead. "Tess, are you okay? What happened?"

"I told her what happened to me.... with the Harrisons and Hunter."

I hold her tighter. "And what did she say?"

"That I was really brave for going through all that and raising Mallory all by myself."

I lean down again and kiss her on the cheek. "Well, you are brave...and until you believe me, I'm going to keep repeating it. You are so brave, baby."

She smiles and notices that I'm hiding something in my back pocket. "What are you hiding?"

I don't think that right here and now is the perfect time to do this. "Um.... nothing. Do you feel like going outside?"

"Sure." She says and we go outside.

The sun is setting, and the stars are starting to come out, it's like a picture-perfect moment. We sit down on a bench that is outside. I wrap an arm around her, and she rests her head on my shoulder.

She sighs. "I will never get tired of this view." I don't say anything as I pull the rose from my back pocket and hand it to her. "What's this?" She picks it up and smiles. "How did you know that I like roses? I never told you that."

I shake my head. "Your daughter really does give the best dating advice."

"Explain." She says with a chuckle.

"Well.... she said that she was watching some show with Liz, and then something about giving someone a rose if you liked them. And she knows that I like you, so she handed me the rose so I could give it to you. Then she asked if you knew that I love you."

"And what did you say?" Tessa asks and looks into my eyes with a little bit of uncertainty.

"I said, she will now." I lean down and kiss her on the lips. I pull away and say, "Tessa, you have no idea how much I love you."

She smiles and holds up the rose. "Well, now I do." She looks down for a moment. "You know what's funny?"

"What?"

"I always thought I would end up alone. Sure, I would always have Mallory.... but I never thought I would find someone like you." She pulls me into another kiss. "I love you too." She says against my lips and kisses me again.

I pull away with the biggest smile on my face and she chuckles. "What?"

"I like it when you smile, it's cute."