If I Were Allowed To Love You

Fifty

Throughout the entire procedure, Ryan remained by Melissa's side. He wasn't allowed in the operating room with her, but he was allowed to wait in her room for her to return. From the moment she was rolled out of the room, he held onto her hand. And the moment she returned, he grabbed hold of her hand once again. She was still under from the medication, so she was unable to grasp back onto his hand.

When Doctor Thompson entered the room, she explained how the surgery was a success. They would just need to wait twenty-four hours to find out of Melissa would be able to see or not. But her body reacted well to the transplant, so everything would hopefully work out well in the end.

Ryan planned to spend the night in the room with Melissa while she recovered, so Theo came by with an overnight bag for him. He glanced at Melissa's sleeping figure on the bed and smiled. "How did it go?"

"Transplant was successful. We'll find out if she can see or not in twenty-four hours."

"I hope she can see again," he said as he grabbed her hand. "She deserves to be able to see."

"Thankfully she can still strike her target without needing to see."

Theo smiled. "I knew she was going to accept you. She had such a crush on you back in high school. She tried to ignore it since we were related, but I kept trying to push her back towards you. I thought after your date, she would."

"I was hoping so." Ryan grinned. "Now I really can help take away her troubles. Everything I promised her back then can happen now." He ran his fingers along her cheek. "This was well worth the wait."

"I agree." He slid into the seat opposite the bed. "These past few weeks with Lucas have been some of the best weeks of my life. And he asked me to mark him! I thought it would take a lot longer than three weeks to mark him, but he was so excited over being marked. And when he received Melissa's blessing, it was as though he couldn't hold himself back anymore."

"Are the two of you planning to mate soon, then?"

"Soon, but I can wait forever to mate with him. We have time." He clasped his hands in front of him and stared dejectedly at Ryan. "I'm not so sure about you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Lucas is sitting with Mike in the waiting room."

"So?"

"Apparently Melissa is wanting to go back to the circus. As long as this transplant works, she plans to go back."

"I know."

"You do?" he exclaimed.

"Yeah. She's not ready to give up the circus yet, and I'm going to go with her."

"You are?"

"Yup," he said, smiling cheekily. "Looks like you and Lucas are going to have the house all to yourselves for nine months a year, maybe longer depending on what we do during our off season."

"I can't believe this," he mumbled. "You're giving up the job you love with be with Melissa?"

"I can become a librarian again whenever she decides to retire. This is her time right now, and I'm not going to keep spending time away from her if I can be with her. Why should I?"

"Yeah, Theo, why should he?" Melissa rasped as she chuckled, rolling her head over to him.

"Hey, Diamond," Ryan murmured as he leaned down to kiss her cheek. "How long have you been up for?"

"Since hearing you talk about giving him the house."

"I can't believe this," Theo said. He stood up and kissed Melissa's cheek. "I'm happy for you two. Do you want me to bring Mike in?"

"Can you tell him to meet me at the house when I come home tomorrow? No point in making plans if I can't wind up seeing. I'd much rather wait until we know for certain."

"Of course. We'll see you tomorrow?"

Melissa faced Ryan. "You're spending the night?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I'm more surprised."

"Do you not want me to?"

"No." She smiled at him. "I'm glad you'll be here with me."

Leaning down to kiss Melissa's lips, he chuckled softly. "I-"

"Don't say it yet," she murmured. "The next time you tell me, I want it to be when I can see you."

"What if you can't see me?"

"Then I'll need to hear it for sure. But I have a feeling I'll be able to see again. Do you have any idea of what my eyes are going to look like?"

"They're going to be dark brown, just like your last eyes. I'm not sure if it will be the same shade."

"Does the shade matter?"

"Not in the slightest."

Melissa wanted to tell Ryan she loved him. She loved him, and she was so happy to be his mate. But she didn't want to tell him until she could look him in the eye and say it. She wanted to see the way his eyes would react to her telling him. And she wanted to see the way his eyes would glimmer when he would say it back. The first thing she wanted to see when she came to was the happiness in his eyes and the jovial tears he would cry. She wanted to see pure joy.

"I brought something- Well, I had Theo bring something for us." Pulling out Pride & Prejudice from his bag, he opened the book to the first page and grabbed her hand. She smiled at him, running her thumb across his hand as he reads the first line:

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

Alright, this is it. The final chapter of "Black Diamond." I hope you all enjoyed reading this book, regardless of when you started it. Thank you for making it to the end. I always appreciate your support.

My newest book "Knowing Me, Knowing You" is up on my page right now, so I hope you will all check it out. I'm really proud of this new book, and I hope you will all enjoy it. Glam on, everyone!