Chapter 39

Valentine was beginning to fear that Dusty wouldn't show. She considered calling her again but thought better of it. She'd told her where she was, begged Dusty to meet her, it was up to her now. She stood awkwardly near the fountains, trying to distract herself by watching the passing people, unable to silence her mounting nerves. Her hand kept sliding down over the box in her pocket, double and triple checking that it was still there.

She was on the precipice of a moment that could change everything, and she felt sick with anticipation. What if she didn't show? She tried to push away her doubts, refusing to believe that all her efforts would be in vain. Dusty'd be there; she had to be. Finally, Valentine looked up and saw the familiar golden halo of hair walking towards her.

When Dusty caught her eye, she smiled. She was wearing skinny jeans beneath a long, green duffel coat with a knitted hat pushed down on her head and a black scarf wrapped around her neck. Valentine froze when she saw her. She was so strikingly beautiful that each time she looked upon her, she felt rooted to the spot, unable to move. She'd had that effect on her even as a student. But her beauty didn't define her. She was neither cruel nor arrogant because of it, which made falling in love with her so easy to do.

"Hey," Dusty greeted her, her voice small and unsure.

"Dusty," Valentine said her name and felt her voice catch in her throat. The emotion of the moment was getting to her, but she had to press through it, had to get her words out. "I'm glad you came," she admitted, her eyes watering. "I was afraid you wouldn't."

"I thought about it," Dusty told her, noticing how beautiful she looked in her familiar wool coat pulled up high to protect her against the cold, her hair slightly damp with snow.

"But you did come." Valentine reached out and took Dusty's gloved hands in her. "And I'm so glad you did because I need to tell you something."

"Oh?" Dusty tried to remain composed, to keep a look of cool indifference upon her face.

"I quit my job in West."

"You quit?" Dusty's eyes widened with surprise.

"Yeah, I finish teaching there at the end of the summer, and then in the fall I start teaching at a new school, here in New York City." Dusty stared at Valentine in disbelief. She was moving to the city. Her city. But why? "Dusty." She squeezed her hands, a soft shy smile upon her features. Around them, people slowed and hung close, anticipating that something momentous was about to happen.

"I'm moving to New York for you. I fear that I may have realized too late that I was wrong to wait for you to return to West when I should have been running after you. I should have told you how I felt when you left for Princeton, but I thought I was doing the right thing in letting you go. You needed to live your own life." Remembering that moment on the station when they parted made Dusty's lips tremble. She looked to the heavens, trying to force back the tears that were so eager to fall. "Dusty, you changed me. I didn't know what love was until I met you, and the love we shared defined me. I'm tired of letting things come between us, of watching you slip through my fingers. You are the woman I love and adore, and I've loved you ever since the day we first met. I risked everything to be with you, and I'd do it all again in a heartbeat. I know I don't deserve a second chance, but I'm asking for one anyway."

Valentine released Dusty's hands and dropped one knee down on to the cold, hard ground as around them some onlookers gasped in glee. Dusty looked down at her. She was shaking and noticed that Valentine was too as she fumbled in her jeans pocket and eventually produced a small black ring box, which she popped open to reveal the most beautiful princess-cut white diamond sparkling atop a white gold band. She offered the ring up to Dusty, tears wetting her cheeks.

"Black Dusty-Rose, I've loved you since the moment I met you, and I know that I will go on loving you for the rest of my life. Will you do me the honor of making me the happiest woman in the world and agreeing to marry me?"

Dusty heard the words and tried to get her brain to remember the moment in all its magical glory. She knew that this was a point in her life she'd never want to forget. As she stood there by the fountains, looking down at the woman she loved who was proposing to her, she finally felt like a princess in a fairy tale. Only this was no fairy tale, this was her life, and she was finally getting the happy ending she'd always dreamed of.

"Yes!" Dusty gushed after the briefest of moments, hastily casting her left glove to the ground so Valentine could slide the ring onto her slender finger, cementing their promise to one another. "Yes! I love you!" she declared as Valentine got up on her feet and then leant in and kissed Dusty as the gathered crowd around them erupted in euphoric applause and whoops of joy. It was the most brilliant, most magical moment of Dusty's life.

****

"We're a package deal, you see," Ashley told Valentine as she handed her yet another box to be carried up to her apartment floor. "Dusty and I, we come as a pair." She smiled.

"She's not joking," Ricardo declared in his European accent, weighed down beneath his own stack of boxes.

"We're going to be one big happy family, just you wait and see." Ashley beamed.

"Are you sure you've got enough stuff?" Dusty asked as they headed back into the apartment building, laden down with boxes.

"Darling, you can never have enough stuff!" Ashley declared, wrapping an arm around her best friend's shoulders. "I hope New York is ready for us," she mused. "This city isn't going to know what hit it."

"I don't know, I'm sure it can handle two more couples having drinks and games nights," Dusty quipped.

"Hey, don't knock it. You loved our last games night." Ashley smiled. "You got pretty competitive playing charades."

"I like to win." Dusty shrugged casually, though she was flashing her friend a devilish grin.

"Well, no one deserves a victory more than you," Ashley said, becoming sincere. "When I met you, you were this shy girl from a small town who had suffered a devastating loss. I always admired your strength. You held your family together even when your world was falling apart."

"I didn't do anything," Dusty said, looking down at the ground.

"But you did," Ashley confirmed, hugging her friend close to her. "All of this." She gestured up at the luxurious apartment building she was in the process of moving in to. "You made all this happen, Dusty. No one else. You fought hard to make your dreams come true, which means it is my privileged job, as your best friend, to make sure that you enjoy the life you worked so hard for to the fullest."

"Is this just a ruse for another games night?"

"Am I that transparent?" Ashley laughed.

"We should go help the them," Dusty suggested, noticing that the trunk of the car was finally empty of luggage.

"She's a good one, you know, Valentine."

"I know." Dusty smiled contentedly.

"Aren't your mom and brother coming down next weekend?" Ashley asked as they headed into the building and the vast open foyer that housed the reception desk for the apartments.

"And Dust's girlfriend."

"Ooh, great!" Ashley cooed.

"Why do you sound so excited?" Dusty asked.

"Nothing, it's just more people for games night!" Ashley giggled. "I may have to break my game of Twister out!"

"You never change, do you?" Dusty smiled.

"You'd be disappointed if I did," Ashley quipped. "Come on, let's go see what those fiancés of ours are up to."

As they rode up the elevator, Dusty glanced at Ashley and gave her best friend a sincere smile. She finally felt true contentment. Knowing that despite all that happened in her life, she was happy and was exactly where she wanted to be.

The End