Page 113 of I'll Be Home for Christma

She lifted the lid, and her heartbeat picked up pace. Inside was a gold ring set with a dark opal that sparkled with green and orange rainbows in the lamplight.

“It’s called a chocolate opal,” said Ryan, sounding a littlehesitant. “It has the colors of our auras in it, and the base color is brown, like the color of our two auras mixed. Do you like it?”

“I love it.” Her words came out in a rush. She looked up at him; his eyes searched hers, and she could see he was nervous. “I absolutely love it,” she said, breaking into a smile. He seemed to relax a little. “You’re not going to make me bury it, are you?” she asked, and he laughed.

“No, I was rather hoping you would wear it. For the rest of your life.” He paused and took a steadying breath. “In fact, I was rather hoping that you might like for us to become Mr. and Mrs. Frost-Hallow-Hart.”

Her mouth dropped open. “What?”

Ryan took the ring out of the box and held it up, looking deep into her eyes as he asked, “Will you marry me, Fred?”

She felt as though she must be dreaming. “You want to marry me?” she whispered.

He smiled. “Of course I want to marry you. I realize now that it was always going to be you. Always was, always will be.”

Her whole body was infused and pulsating with love as she reached up to cup his face and repeated his words back to him. “Always was, always will be.” Tears of joy pricked at her eyes as she lowered her hands, holding her left one out to him. “Yes, please”—her words came out choked with sobs—“I would like to marry you. Very much.”

Taking her cold hand in his, he slipped the ring onto her finger. “I love you, Fred Hallow-Hart.”

They kissed then, with the moon and the stars and thesea as witnesses to their promise. Soon they would go back inside to join their perfectly bonkers noisy families, and share their happy news. But for now, they sat, arms wrapped tightly around each other against the cold, looking out over the cliff into the vast expanse of the black velvety night. It felt as though they were sitting at the edge of the world. Soft white snowflakes swirled down and disappeared into the darkness. And when Fred sent out a silent thank-you, she felt the universe smile back and knew that she was precisely where she was meant to be.