“Can we hang this?” she asked, turning toward Dodger, but he wasn’t standing where she’d left him.
He was kneeling.
When she saw the ring he offered, her face crumpled and the tears spilled faster. “Yeah?” she asked, her words hard to get past her thickening vocal cords.
“Yeah,” he said, nodding. “It’s you. I’ll do all the human stuff you want. Anything you need. You can have both worlds.”
As her shoulders shook with emotion, her father balanced his hand on the picture so she could approach Dodger.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“You didn’t let me ask you yet,” he said through a chuckle.
Behind her, the others laughed softly.
She laughed and wrung her hands in front of her. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“Will you—”
“Yes.”
He hung his head and laughed, then stood in a rush and scooped her up as there was clapping and whooping behind her.
He spun her in a slow circle, hugging her so tightly against him. She cupped his cheeks and kissed his lips, kissed his cheeks, kissed his lips again through her happy giggles.
Dodger settled her on her feet and slid the ring onto her finger. “I asked your parents first.”
She threw a grin at Mom and Dad, and they looked so happy for her. Oh, it got her heart all over again.
“He did good,” her dad told her.
She smiled up at Dodger—her Dodger—her mate—her fiancé. Fiancé! Aaah!
Did he realize all he had given her?
“Let’s eat, you crazy lovebirds,” Nory announced. “We have made you a feast to celebrate.”
And she could see it from here—the tables of food. The coolers that would be full of ice and drinks. The desserts. Vic was carrying his travel case of sweater-clad hamsters, and Tabian was griping at him for taking them out of the house.
Bridger was quiet on the outskirts, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. The couples were happy and affectionate as they led the way toward the dinner.
Her parents hugged her up tight, set the picture on the porch, and then followed the others, and now it was just her and Dodger here, soaking up the moment.
She looked down at the solitaire on her finger and was overcome with happiness. “You’re just going to give me everything, aren’t you?”
A handsome smile took his face as he pushed a flyaway strand of hair behind her ear. “You do the same for me.”
“We make a pretty good team.”
He searched her eyes and brushed his fingertip under her green eye. “Are you happy?”
Destiny couldn’t control her smile if she tried.
“Ridiculously happy.”
Dodger rolled his eyes closed and sighed.
“Feel good?”
