Chapter 216

We hold the press conference in front of the headquarters, setting up a podium outside the double doors. The news media organizations have been notified, so they send reporters and cameramen, who have set up around the podium.

The release we sent out already told them that the conference would be Miles’s response to Edward’s statement on me, so they know some of what to expect. They likely have no full idea what they are in for though. But then, neither do I.

My nerves are spiking. I go through phases of pacing back in forth in my office, to nervously wringing my hands, to checking and rechecking my makeup in the mirror.

I trust Miles, but I have no idea how the public is going to react to whatever he’s going to say. I’m also worried that I’m going to continue to be a dark stain on his campaign. Maybe I should have left a long time ago. Without me, he wouldn’t have to go through all this.

Yet Miles seems confident and sure. When he sees me worrying, he walks over to me, places his hands on my shoulders and kisses my temple.

“It’s going to be alright,” he says, voice soft.

I sway towards him, leaning into his warmth. We stay like that for a few minutes, standing in my office. Too soon, Crystal knocks on the door.

“It’s time,” she says.

Miles and I give each other one last look. Then we step out of the office together.

Outside, at the podium, Miles steps up to the microphone.

“Hello, everyone. Thank you for coming out today.” He looks over his shoulder, back at me, and motions for me to step closer to his side.

Gathering my courage, I do, moving closer to his side. There remains about six inches between us, but all it would take to close that distance is for one of us to reach out to the other.

“There’s been a lot of rumors swirling around about my campaign manager Esther Owens, including some direct, and frankly disgusting accusations from my opponent Edward Zimmer. But we aren’t here to discuss Edward. Today, I want to focus on Esther.”

I nervously glance out among the reporters, but they all seem to be listening with apt attention. Only a couple are stealing occasional curious glances at me, but they remain silent and respectful.

“Not only is Esther an exceptional campaign manager, but she is also the kindest, strongest person I have ever met. She quite literally saved my life, though… I’m not sure she remembers, as it was many years ago.”

Wait… what?

I snap my attention to Miles to find him already looking at me.

“Years ago, before Esther had been adopted into the Owens household, Thea Owens had been kidnapped. Out of gratitude toward her adopted parents, Esther searched out and eventually found Thea. During that search, she also found and rescued many other children – including me.”

“Miles…” I whisper, taken aback. I remember being so disappointed when Thea never seemed to be among the children I’d found.

I’d been too young then myself to give much thought to the lives I did help save. I could only see that I had yet to find Thea. I felt like a failure, not a hero. For years, I felt that way. Even after finding Thea and returning her to our parents, I’d thought that if I had done a better job, a quicker job at finding her, maybe I would have received more love from our parents too.

“She didn’t know who I was,” Miles says. “She was in and out of my life in a flash, like a dream. I knew she wouldn’t remember me beyond that night, but I did and will remember her every night for the rest of my life. For a time, I searched for her myself, but she seemed to have vanished from the public eye. You can imagine my surprise when an off-chance meeting placed her right in front of me again.”

In Miles’s eyes, I can see a devotion that had been many years in the making. All along, I have questioned his affections and his dedication to me and our relationship. Now, I recognize that I am the one who’s been purposefully blind to his adoration.

He has looked at me, just like this, since our very first meeting. I’d taken it for lust, and then for gratitude, and other things.

I hadn’t considered, this entire time, that it might just be love.

Miles gives me a small kind of smile, private and shy, before looking at our reporter audience once more.

“There is only one rumor about Esther that I’ve heard and know to be true. Esther and I are in a romantic relationship.”

Some of the reporters gasp. Others diligently take down notes. All lean forward, just a little, invested in what Miles has to say next.

“We have been for a time,” Miles says, “Though we decided to keep it private at first. Our relationship has had its ups and downs, unfortunately not being entirely certain at times. But now, there is no harm in telling you. We are set on each other.”

Miles takes a deep breath.

“When I saw Esther again for the first time since the night she saved me, I could tell that she had experienced a hard time in the interim. It was in that moment, looking at her, that I knew it was not just my duty, but my honor and privilege to love her for the rest of my life.”

My breath caught in my throat.

“Esther made a sacrifice back then. She saved Thea, even knowing that it would cost her the favoritism of her parents. But, if she hadn’t been that kind, that selfless, then only God knows what would have happened to me. She saved me, and now…”

He looks at me again, with the full intensity of his gaze. The rest of the room seems to vanish. No cameras, no reporters, no one in the entire world but him and me and this thing between us.

“Esther, I love you. I’ve loved you since that night when I thought you might have been a dream. The years since haven’t dimmed that love at all. And since getting to know you, I have only grown to love you more and more. Every single day, when I think I have reached to full capacity of my ability to love you, you do something and I feel it even more.”

Turning more fully from the podium, he clutches my hands in both of his.

“There’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask you. I was ready to ask you even on that first night we met, but I knew it wasn’t time then. Every day since, I’ve ached, longing to ask you, wanting so desperately to make you mine.”

“I’m already yours,” I tell him in a whisper.

He smiles. “Mine forever, I mean.”

Suddenly, he drops down to one knee. Reaching into his suit jacket, he retrieves a small velvet box. Opening it reveals the largest diamond I’ve ever seen, on a slim silver band.

“Esther,” Miles says, looking up at me. “Will you marry me?”