Chapter 7 - The Woman He Could Never Hide From
One year later, rain returned to Chicago.
Heavy rain.
The kind that erased streets beneath sound.
But this time, I wasn't lost.
I stood beneath the awning outside the Bennett Mobility Center, listening to guests arrive for the opening.
The center was mine.
Mostly.
Adrian had provided the building.
I had refused to let him name it.
“You could have called it Moretti Center,” he'd complained.
“That sounds like a place where witnesses disappear.”
He had laughed for five straight minutes.
The center offered mobility training, technology classes, job placement, and emergency assistance for visually impaired adults.
Lena ran community outreach.
And Adrian?
Adrian stood beside me pretending he hadn't secretly paid for half the equipment.
“You're smiling,” I said.
“No.”
“You are.”
“How would you know?”
I turned toward him.
“You're impossible.”
“You started it.”
His hand found mine.
There was something inside his palm.
Small.
Round.
Metal.
I froze.
“Adrian.”
He dropped to one knee.
I heard Lena gasp behind us.
Luca whispered, “Finally, part two.”
“Shut up, Luca,” Adrian said.
Everyone laughed.
My throat tightened.
Adrian held my hand.
“One year ago, you found me bleeding in an alley.”
“You found me.”
“Technically, I crashed into you.”
“Violently.”
“I apologized.”
“You absolutely did not.”
“I was bleeding.”
“Excuses.”
More laughter.
Then Adrian became serious.
“You saved my life before you knew who I was.”
His thumb moved across my fingers.
“And afterward, you did something harder.”
“What?”
“You taught me how to live it.”
I couldn't speak.
“Claire Bennett, I can't promise normal.”
“Good.”
“I can't promise quiet.”
“Obviously.”
“I can't even promise Luca will stop listening outside doors.”
“Impossible,” Luca said.
Adrian ignored him.
“But I can promise this.”
His voice lowered.
“You will never have to face anything alone again.”
I knelt in front of him.
“That's not the promise I want.”
He hesitated.
“What do you want?”
“That you never face anything alone either.”
Adrian went silent.
Then I felt his forehead touch mine.
“Deal.”
“Then ask me properly.”
He laughed softly.
“Claire Bennett, will you marry me?”
“Yes.”
Applause erupted.
Lena started crying.
Luca claimed he had predicted everything.
Adrian slid the ring onto my finger.
Later, after everyone left, we stood beneath the awning listening to the rain.
“Remember this sound?” Adrian asked.
“Yes.”
“The worst night of my life.”
I shook my head.
“Really?”
“You were bleeding to death.”
“You were lost.”
“You lied about being my boyfriend.”
“You lied about your name.”
He laughed.
“Fair.”
Thunder rolled somewhere over Chicago.
Adrian wrapped his coat around my shoulders.
I leaned against him.
People sometimes asked me how I could trust a man whose world contained so many shadows.
The question always made me smile.
Because shadows had never frightened me.
I didn't need to see Adrian Moretti to know him.
I knew the rhythm of his footsteps.
The pause he made before saying something difficult.
The quiet laugh he tried to hide.
The way his breathing changed whenever he worried about me.
And the heartbeat I had first felt beneath my hand in a rain-soaked alley when neither of us expected to survive the night.
Adrian squeezed my hand.
“Ready to go home?”
I smiled.
“Lead the way.”
He didn't move.
“What?”
I lifted my cane.
“I was joking.”
Adrian laughed.
I took his arm anyway.
May you like
And together, we walked into the rain.
This time, neither of us was lost.
