Deeply Personal

Chapter 46

Jessica

It was the end of August, and Jessica and Paul strolled hand in hand through Kensington Gardens in London. They were there to attend Jessica’s father’s wedding. Her father getting married again. Jessica still could hardly believe it.

They had a few hours to themselves and were walking past the area in Kensington Gardens where the famous fight scene between Hugh and Colin in Bridget Jones’s Diary had taken place. The trees were shedding golden leaves, piles already gathered at the foot of the Peter Pan statue.

The look on Paul’s face shifted into something close to fear, concern, almost out-and-out terror, and Jessica wondered why. It had been almost nine months since they’d met, and this look was new to her. Sweat beaded his brow as the lines around his mouth and eyes contorted, seeming to reflect something close to real inner pain, while his George Washington jaw was rigid with tension. She didn’t know what to make of it. Earlier, he’d been opening doors for her and bringing her everything she needed in a rush and had gotten her coffee twice by accident, forgetting he’d already done it once. He just seemed so distracted.

Suddenly, he stopped walking and started breathing in stops and starts. He ran a hand through his hair and began blinking rapidly. He let go of her hand. Was there some kind of bad news he needed to tell her?

“Paul?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”

He didn’t answer. He just rubbed the back of his neck and dropped his noble jaw, closed it, then dropped it again.

A laugh escaped from her lips. “Are you okay?”

“I’m . . . I’m . . .”

“What?”

Jessica arched her eyebrows. What was going on? A thousand possibilities raced through her mind. Was he regretting giving Albert, his chimpanzee statue, to Goodwill after all? Was he going bankrupt? Did he have some kind of disease?

A bird landed in front of them and then quickly flew away. Paul looked right and left, took a long breath, and among the lush foliage, got down on one knee.

Jessica’s body seized up. She put a hand to her mouth and stood there, paralyzed.

He pulled a red box from his pocket and opened it.

“Paul!” Jessica started trembling.

He revealed a sparkling diamond ring, and her body tingled as he took her hand and held it gently in his own. His touch sent shockwaves through her. Her heart pounded in her ears and she felt the color rise to her cheeks.

Words slowly poured out of him. “I have never known life to be as good as it is with you, Jess. I want this to be how I spend every moment of every day for the rest of it.” Jessica’s body tensed up. “W-will you marry me?” he asked, looking up at her.

She could barely get a sound out. She just stared at him, her heart pounding in her ears. Growing hot and then light-headed, she waved her hand in the air like a fan. She was sure her eyes were glittering as brightly as the diamond. “Paul, really? Seriously? Of course! I love you.”

“And I love you.” Paul’s face filled with a wellspring of joy. “Is that a yes?”

“Yes!” she cried.

He slid the ring on her finger, the gorgeous, sparkling stone as bright as the North Star. They kissed to seal the deal, and Jessica felt embarrassed and joyous, about to fly to the moon as a crowd gathered around them, everyone with smiles on their faces, a few even applauding. It felt as if a furnace inside Jessica was melding with Paul’s. When love was in the air, everyone felt it.

She stared at the diamond on her hand. It looked so good there. For a moment, words felt useless.

“I called your dad last week to tell him my plans,” Paul said. He’d met her father in February when he’d come to Nashville after working on the bridge in Roanoke. “Got his number from Lenny, and he said, ‘Sure, you can marry my daughter. But you need to ask her. She could be a tough sell.’”

They both laughed joyously, then hugged.

“I’m not a tough sell with you, Paul,” Jessica said in a soft voice, smiling broadly. She ran a hand through his hair and stroked his chin. “Not at all.”