Ten Million Reasons by Heather Gray

Author:Heather Gray [Gray, Heather]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Astraea Press LLC
Published: 2013-08-12T04:00:00+00:00

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Richard took her to an exclusive restaurant. They were in a quiet corner, tucked away from the foot traffic and out of eyesight and earshot of other people. The menu was in a language Genevieve didn’t recognize, and there were no prices listed. She reviewed it for a moment then closed it and sat it down on the edge of the table.

“Do you know what you’d like?” Richard asked. His eyebrows lifted in question as he awaited her reply.

Genevieve shook her head. “Would you please order for me?”

They sat there in silence for a while. Genevieve was still in shock. “I should have gone home,” she finally said. Who am I kidding? He’s out of my league. He takes me out to eat, and I can't even read the menu!

“I’m glad you didn’t.”

“I don’t know what to say.” After she rearranged her silverware – I think that’s real silver! – she looked up at Richard and, finally pulling her thoughts together into something cohesive, said, “I was so shocked by what you said, I never gave you a chance to explain what you had in mind.”

“You gave me a chance,” he said, “but I kept bungling it.” He gave a self-derisive smile then continued. “Do you want me to put all the cards on the table?”

Her voice strained, she said, “That would be my preference.”

He gave a quick nod then said, “I have a general idea what this whole thing will look like. Some points are set in stone, like the deadline. Others are flexible. Everything is open for discussion. This is nothing but my idea of how it could go. In order for this to work, we need to be able to function as a team. Your input is essential.”

He took a deep breath before continuing, “The way I see it playing out is like this: There’s a quiet ceremony in which we get married. I file all the paperwork necessary to meet the terms of my grandfather’s will. We live in the same house together, but we don’t need to share a room if you’re not comfortable with that. Once we’re married, we can take time to get to know each other and go through all the normal courtship steps. It wouldn’t be fair of me to expect you to fall madly in love with me the moment we sign on the dotted line, but I do hope you’ll give me a chance. I think we could build something solid and lasting.”

“What about kids?” I can’t be seriously considering this!

Drawing in his breath, he held it for a minute before saying, “I’d like to have a family. Maybe it’s asking too much too soon, but I’d like us to get to a point where we have a real marriage. If you never feel comfortable like that with me, we can always adopt. I want to be a dad, but I want our home to be stable before we think of bringing any children into it.”

“How many kids do you want?”

Richard shrugged, “I grew up kind of lonely.

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