A thrill moves through me just as the elevator makes a beeping noise. He’s right.
The elevator doors open and Harry takes me by the hand. Snow falls like little pieces of starlight, landing lightly on the concrete surface of the room.
I’ve never been up here before, but even so, the wooden cabin looks really out of place, sitting at the far end with the snow-swept New York skyline spreading out before it, the city like a gleaming jewel with sun and snow kissing every inch of it.
“I built this for you,” Harry says when he sees me looking. “I wanted to save it until after dinner, but …” He brings my hand to his lips and kisses away the snow, melting it with his warmth. “I can’t wait any longer.”
He takes a key from his pocket and unlocks the cabin, and then swings the door open.
Immediately, I smell the sweet fragrance of flowers wafting up to my nose, tickling pleasantly. Candle-like electric lights sit along the walls, lighting the scene, a glittering table and chairs sitting in the middle, a silver bucket with a bottle of champagne jutting out of the end of a freezer cooler.
“Don’t worry.” He grins. “There’s soda, too.”
I look around at the plants, a million different colors blooming magnificently. It’s like he’s taken a slice out of the prettiest garden in the world and brought it here, to snowy New York City.
It’s warm, too, a hum sounding from the back as a radiator throws its welcoming glow across the private haven.
“We’ve always liked having our own little world,” Harry says, turning to me, an intense look in his eyes. “And I’m sorry, Grace, that I couldn’t wait until dinner—”
Oh. My. God.
He’s really going to do it, isn’t he?
Could this day get any more perfect?
“No,” I whisper. “This is amazing. I can’t believe you did this.”
“So you like it?” He reaches behind me and closes the door, and suddenly it’s just us, in our own self-contained universe like it used to be when we were kids.
“Like it?” I giggle. “Iloveit, Harry.”
“Good,” he growls. “Because I love you, Grace, and I never want to be with anybody else.”
Harry falls to one knee, looking up at me with his glinting eyes.
I bring my hand to my face, gasping, tears already welling in my eyes.
He reaches up and takes one hand, but I can’t stop the other from clamping over my mouth, to stop myself from crying out in joy.
“I love you, Grace,” he says, clutching my hand tightly in his. “This is the happiest I’ve ever been. You’re perfect. You’re everything I could ever wish for. My only regret is that we can’t get those wasted years back. But I’m done wasting time, Grace. I love you.”
He reaches into his jacket pocket and comes out with a ring box, opening it to reveal a beautiful elegant diamond. The diamond looks like it has a million angles, each one of them catching the light in bright white winks, the band a solid silver color.
I love it.
It’s perfect.
“Grace Nicole Nelson, will you marry me?”
I just stare for a few long moments. I notice a flash of uncertainty pass across his eyes, and I realize he thinks I might say no.
Never.
He’s giving me everything I ever wanted.
It just takes me a second to let my mind tell me lips.
“Yes!” I cry, leaping down at him and throwing my arms around him.
