“You can open it.”
Stella’s hands were shaking as she carefully took the box from me and peeled away the plain red-and-green striped wrapping paper. She took her time unwrapping it, like she wastrying to delay the inevitable, and I had to resist the urge to just rip it open for her.
When she finally lifted the lid, she inhaled sharply, her eyes flying up to meet mine before dropping back down.
Inside, nestled in black velvet, was a delicate gold filigree ring with a deep red ruby at its center. It wasn’t flashy or large—just simple and beautiful and timeless, like the woman in front of me.
“Cade,” she whispered, her voice cracking as she reached out and brushed the pad of her finger over the stone, like she wasn’t sure it was real.
I gently took the box from her and lifted the ring free, holding it up to the light. The ruby caught the pale winter sun and glowed like fire.
“It was my grandmother’s,” I said, the words coming out in a rush. “My mom’s mom. She gave it to me before she died—I was twenty-one, just a kid, really—telling me to hold onto it. She said I’d know when I met someone special enough to deserve it. Someone who made me happy. Someone who made me want to be a better man.”
Stella reached out without seeming to realize she was moving, her fingertips brushing the back of my hand. That touch steadied me in a way nothing else could.
“I’ve been carrying it around for years. I almost gave it to you for your twenty-fifth birthday, but I couldn’t figure out how to do it without making it weird. How do you give your best friend’s older sister a family heirloom when she doesn’t know you’re in love with her?”
“You’ve had this for ten years?”
“Yeah, give or take.”
“I almost gave it to you the night you won that blind taste test, and I watched you accept that trophy with tears streamingdown your face.” I smiled at the memory. “You were so fucking beautiful, and I knew. I just knew it was meant for you.”
Her chin trembled, and she pressed her lips together like she was trying to hold it together. But a tear escaped anyway, sliding down her cheek.
“Hey,” I said softly, cupping her face and wiping the tear away with my thumb. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.” She looked up at me, her eyes shining. “I just—what did I ever do to deserve you?”
“You were just you,” I said simply. Honestly. “What choice did I have but to fall for you?”
Stella let out a watery laugh and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. "You knowI hate crying, Murphy.”
“I know. But you’re cute when you cry.”
“Shut up,” she said, smiling through the tears.
I took her left hand, then paused. “I’m putting this on your middle finger, okay? When I put a ring on the other one, I’m going to do it properly.”
She nodded, a tiny, wet sniff escaping her as she held her hand out to me. I slid the ring onto her middle finger. It fit perfectly, like it had been made for her all along.
She stared down at it for a long moment, turning her hand this way and that to watch the ruby catch the light. Then she looked up at me, her eyes searching mine like she was trying to determine if this was really happening.
“Do you really mean it?”
“Mean what?”
“That you actually want to marry me someday?” Her voice broke slightly on the last word.
“With my whole fucking heart,” I answered without hesitation. “I’ve known since I was fifteen years old that you were it for me, Stella. I’ve just been waiting for you to catch up.”
She stared at me for another beat, and then—to my complete shock—she pulled the ring off her middle finger and held it out to me.
My stomach dropped. “Stella?—”
“I’m not saying we get married tomorrow,” she said quickly, cutting off whatever spiral I was about to fall into. “But I know what I want, and that’s you. Forever. So if you’re serious about this, then put this ring where it belongs.”
Time stopped, and the world narrowed down to just the two of us.
