My heart broke and mended at the same time. “Snapper?—”
“I know I handled it wrong, but I couldn’t just sit by and watch your family’s legacy disappear.”
I stepped closer and reached up and cupped his face with both hands. “You were trying to protect me. Protect my family.”
His eyes met mine. “I…I care about you, Saffron.”
“I know. I care about you too. I was just too scared to admit it. Too scared to need you as much as I do.”
“And now?”
“I’m done being scared.” I rose up on my toes and pressed my lips to his. “I’m so sorry. For not trusting you. For telling you to leave. For not letting you explain.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
I looked him in the eyes. “You’re forgiven. For everything.”
He put his arms around me and gathered me close enough that our bodies were flush. “Do you mean that?”
“Absolutely.”
“At Thanksgiving,” he began, “I tried to tell you something.”
“I remember.” I said barely above a whisper. “I stopped you. I wasn’t ready to hear it.”
“Are you ready now?”
“I am.”
His thumbs traced along my cheekbones. “I love you, Saffron Hope. I’ve loved you for so long I don’t remember what it felt like not to love you.”
The words washed over me and through me, filling the hollow places inside me that I hadn’t known were empty.
“I love you too. I have for so long. I was just too stubborn to admit it.”
His mouth moved warm against mine with a kiss that was gentle, deep, emotional, and healing. When we broke apart, both of us had tears in our eyes.
“I was going to wait,” Snapper said. “Until after the auction. Until everything was resolved and you could breathe again.”
“Wait for what?”
He reached into his pocket and took out a small box.
“Snapper?”
He opened it.
The ring inside stole what little breath I had left. Even in the weak dawn light, it caught every ray and threw it back transformed. The center stone was larger than anything I would have chosen for myself—but it didn’t look ostentatious. It looked right. The band was what made fresh tears flood my eyes. Delicate vines wrapped around the stone and intertwined with each other. Grapevines. Our heritage. Our livelihood. Our story etched in precious metal.
My hands flew to my mouth, and my trembling fingers pressed against my lips as if I could hold in the sob that wanted to escape.
Snapper got down on one knee on his mother’s porch. “Saffron Hope.” His voice was steady even though his hands weren’t. “I’ve loved you since before I knew what love meant. You’re my best friend. My partner. The woman I want to spend forever with.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You challenge me,” he continued. “You inspire me. You make me want to be better. You call me out on my shit, and you steal food off my plate, and you sing off-key without caring who hears.”
A laugh escaped me.
“You’re stubborn and independent, and you’d rather break than bend. You carry the weight of the world on your shoulders and refuse to let anyone help. You work yourself to exhaustion and then get up the next morning and do it all over again because that’s who you are.”
More tears. My vision blurred, but I could still see him. Still see the ring. Still see this moment crystallizing into memory.
