Chapter 72: Chapter 72: I Love You, For a Lifetime

Wyatt Shaw wasn’t going to the office today. He had given himself marriage leave.

After breakfast, Yvonne Sutton went upstairs to find Wyatt Shaw, asking him to go for a stroll with her.

Wyatt Shaw demanded a kiss as payment. Yvonne Sutton blushed and gave him a quick peck, but he pressed her into a deep, lingering kiss until he was satisfied.

"Come on, I’ll take you somewhere."

He led her downstairs, out of the house, and onto the lawn. Then they walked west, and where the lawn met a grove of maple trees, there was a playground-style merry-go-round.

Yvonne Sutton hurried forward, then turned to ask Wyatt Shaw, "Why is this here?"

Wyatt Shaw shook his head. "I have no idea when, or who, put it here."

Yvonne Sutton sat down on it, looking at Wyatt Shaw expectantly.

Wyatt Shaw smiled and walked over to push her.

"There was a merry-go-round like this in a small square not far from my old house. When I was little, my friends and I would go play on it. But there were so many kids around, we always had to wait in a long line just to get a turn, and even then, we could only ride for a little while. My dream back then was to have a merry-go-round in my own yard so my friends and I could play on it all day."

"You can ride it all day today," Wyatt Shaw said.

Yvonne Sutton sat on the merry-go-round, looking up at the brilliant blue sky, then at the lawn covered in a thin layer of mist, and then at the maple forest, where the leaves had turned red like clusters of flames. And when she looked at Wyatt Shaw, he was smiling at her, as beautiful as everything else around them.

His eyes crinkled. He told her to hold on tight, gave it a few quick pushes, then jumped on, pulling her into his arms and kissing her in the faint morning mist.

The two of them played on that one merry-go-round for a long time.

When the sun had risen, Wyatt Shaw took Yvonne Sutton to the glass house.

The glass house was carpeted with a thick cashmere blanket and surrounded by bookcases as tall as a person, all of them filled with books.

Wyatt Shaw casually pulled out a book to read. Yvonne Sutton found one too, and rested her head on his lap to read.

’Let’s just spend the day like this,’ she thought. ’I love it.’

After turning several pages, Yvonne Sutton realized she hadn’t absorbed a single word. She didn’t even know what book she was holding. She had to look at the cover again: a history book about the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.

Yvonne Sutton blushed and decided to pull herself away from the distraction of his good looks for a while and actually focus on the book.

Time passed leisurely, the only sound in the glass house the turning of pages. Yvonne Sutton gradually became interested in the book, reading page after page. Suddenly, on one page, she saw a line of text at the bottom.

"If I disappear one day, you must find me. You absolutely must."

The words were scrawled, but someone had replied below them.

"Okay."

Yvonne Sutton’s heart clenched slightly. She couldn’t help but look up at Wyatt Shaw.

"What’s wrong?" Wyatt Shaw raised an eyebrow.

Yvonne Sutton sat up and moved into his lap, her eyes narrowing. "Have you ever brought another woman here?"

Wyatt Shaw froze for a moment, then shook his head. "No."

"Really?"

"No," Wyatt Shaw denied earnestly.

Yvonne Sutton huffed and lay back down to read her book.

Wyatt Shaw leaned down to kiss her before he too went back to his book.

But as Yvonne Sutton looked at that line of text, at the "Okay" beneath it, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had just stumbled upon Wyatt Shaw’s past—a promise he’d made to another woman.

’It’s the past. Everyone has a past,’ she thought, but her heart still felt a little sour.

Yvonne Sutton sat up again, pretending to look for a book. She walked around the bookcases, pulled a book from one of them, found a pen, and flipped to a random page to write a few sentences. Then she put the book back.

She sat back in Wyatt Shaw’s lap and whispered, "Husband."

The corner of Wyatt Shaw’s mouth lifted. He pulled her close, about to kiss her, but she stopped him.

"How many books are in here?"

Wyatt Shaw looked confused. "Uh, a few thousand, I think."

"I left a message for you in one of them."

"What?"

"If you want to know what it is, you’ll have to find it." Yvonne Sutton flashed a mischievous grin.

Wyatt Shaw’s gaze deepened. "If I find it, what’s my reward?"

Yvonne Sutton leaned in and whispered, "I’m all yours tonight." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Wyatt Shaw wrapped his arms around her and gave her a hard kiss. "A down payment."

Wyatt Shaw started searching, going through the books bookcase by bookcase, flipping through every single page of every single book. Meanwhile, Yvonne Sutton sat cross-legged on the cashmere blanket, watching him earnestly undertake such a childish task for her sake.

’I’m actually quite selfish,’ Yvonne Sutton thought. ’I want Wyatt Shaw all to myself. In his heart and by his side, there should only be me.’

Just as Wyatt Shaw had said, there were thousands of books. Finding the right book and the right page where she had left her message was truly difficult. The sky grew dark, but Wyatt Shaw was still searching.

Yvonne Sutton started to feel guilty and wanted to tell him to stop looking, but a part of her was unwilling to give up.

Wyatt Shaw showed no signs of impatience or wanting to give up. He just kept searching, one book after another, until finally, he found it.

He saw the words and stared at them quietly.

Yvonne Sutton’s heart leaped into her throat. ’Maybe I shouldn’t have asked that...’

Wyatt Shaw took out a pen and wrote a reply beneath her question.

Yvonne Sutton: Can Wyatt Shaw love only Yvonne Sutton for his entire life?

Wyatt Shaw: I love you, Yvonne Sutton. Forever.

Wyatt Shaw showed it to Yvonne Sutton. As Yvonne Sutton read his reply, her heart swelled, so full it felt like it would burst.

"Yvonne."

"Yes?"

"I love you."

Wyatt Shaw hugged Yvonne Sutton, resting his chin on the top of her head. "I think I must have fallen in love with you the first moment I saw you. And every day since, that love has grown, little by little, until I can’t hold it back anymore."

He whispered his love, leaning down to kiss her forehead, the tip of her nose, and then her lips, pulling her into a deep and passionate kiss.

"Not here..."

Wyatt Shaw picked up a remote from a bookshelf and pressed a button. The glass walls of the room turned from transparent to opaque.

"Is this better?" he asked.

"Let’s, let’s go back to our room."

"I can’t wait."

His love was always fervent and wild, but within that storm, Yvonne Sutton could feel how much he cherished her. ’I think I’ve fallen in love with him too,’ she thought. ’After all, he’s so wonderful—the very best man in the entire world.’

By the time they returned to their second-floor bedroom, it was already the wee hours of the morning.

Wyatt Shaw held Yvonne Sutton, repeating his declarations of love over and over. It was as if a switch had been flipped, and he took pleasure and pride in saying the words.

Yvonne Sutton had promised to go for a walk with Mr. Rhodes after dinner, but she had broken her promise. So, the next morning at breakfast, she made a point to apologize to him.

Mr. Rhodes snorted. "It’s not like I don’t have a wife. My wife can walk with me."

Yvonne Sutton’s face flushed. She suspected that Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes had walked past the glass house during their stroll.

After breakfast, the two of them planned to head to The Lucky Spoon. But just as they got on the road, David Sutton called.

"Today’s the anniversary of Hannah Abbott’s death. Are you coming or not?"

Wyatt Shaw paused for a moment. "Hannah Abbott? Oh, right, Ethan Abbott’s sister. Sure. Send me the location, and Yvonne and I will head over."

"You need me to send you the location of her grave?"

"Of course. It’s not like I know where it is."

"Wyatt Shaw, you... you’re unbelievable!"

David Sutton hung up, leaving Wyatt Shaw looking completely baffled.

Yvonne Sutton watched Wyatt Shaw. He seemed genuinely unfamiliar with Hannah Abbott. ’But who was the fiancée who was in the car crash with him? If it wasn’t Hannah Abbott, then who was it?’