Her friends had stopped ahead of them, turning back to wait. As Susan and Paul reached them, she noticed something strange. Kathleen was smiling broadly, Isabel’s eyes were glistening with tears, and even Lynda looked less sad than she had all day. They were all watching Paul with expressions that seemed almost expectant.
“What’s going on?” Susan asked, suspicion prickling at the edge of her awareness.
Paul squeezed her hand. “Susan, there’s a reason I wanted everyone to come here today.”
Her heart began to pound. Around them, Main Street felt suspended in time.
Paul turned to face her, still holding her hand. “This tree has become special to Sapphire Bay. People come here to make wishes, to hope for better things, to believe in possibilities they’re afraid to speak out loud.”
“Paul—” Susan’s voice caught.
“Let me finish,” he said gently. “A year ago, I was convinced I’d spend the rest of my life alone. I thought I didn’t deserve another chance at love, at family, at building something real with another person.”
Susan’s eyes burned with unshed tears as she listened.
“But then you walked into my restaurant,” Paul continued, his voice steady despite the emotion flooding his face. “And everything changed. You challenged me to be better, to try harder, and to believe that I wasn’t as broken as I thought I was.”
He released her hand and reached into his coat pocket. When he pulled his hand back out, he was holding a small velvet box.
Susan’s breath left her in a rush. Behind Paul, Kathleen had her hand pressed to her heart. Isabel was wiping tears from her cheeks, and Lynda was smiling despite everything she was going through. And Frank had his arm around Tommy, who was almost vibrating with excitement.
Paul opened the box, revealing a simple but elegant ring—a diamond set in white gold, classic and timeless, exactly what Susan would have chosen for herself.
“Susan Timms,” Paul said, and now she could hear the tremor in his voice, the vulnerability he was offering her. “Would you marry me? Would you let me spend whatever years I have left showing you every day how much you mean to me?”
Tears spilled down Susan’s cheeks. She looked at Paul, at the man who had been wounded by loss and learned to hope again, who was offering her everything he had. Then she looked at the tree towering above them, thinking of all the wishes that had been made here, all the dreams people had dared to voice in this special place.
“Yes,” she whispered. Then louder, her voice ringing with certainty across the quiet street, “Yes, Paul. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
Paul’s face transformed with joy. His hands shook slightly as he removed the ring from the box and slipped it onto her finger. It fit perfectly, settling into place as though it had always belonged there.
Then he pulled her into his arms and kissed her—tender and sweet and full of promise. Around them, Susan heard applause and Tommy’s excited cheer, but mostly she was aware of Paul’s warmth, his solid presence, the way he held her as though she was the most precious thing in his world.
When they finally pulled apart, she was enveloped in hugs. Kathleen reached her first, pulling her close. “I’m so happy for you,” she whispered fiercely. “You deserve this. You deserve all of it.”
Isabel was next, then Lynda, who held Susan tightly. “Thank you,” Lynda whispered, her voice breaking slightly. “I woke up this morning dreading today. I didn’t think anything could make me smile, let alone feel genuine joy.” She pulled back to look into Susan’s eyes. “You’ve reminded me that beautiful things can still happen, even on the hardest days.”
Susan’s throat tightened with emotion. “You deserve a happy ending too, Lynda. Matt’s going to wake up, and you’ll have your wedding.”
“I hope so,” Lynda said, squeezing Susan’s hands.
Tommy tugged at Susan’s coat. “Can I see the ring?”
Susan laughed, a sound full of joy and disbelief, and showed him her hand.
“It’s so sparkly!” Tommy declared.
Frank shook Paul’s hand, his own eyes suspiciously bright. “Congratulations. Susan is a wonderful person.”
“I know,” Paul said simply, his arm wrapping around Susan’s waist and pulling her against his side. “I’m the luckiest man in Montana.”
As they stood together beneath the tree, the first snowflakes began to fall—soft and gentle, drifting down like blessings. Susan tilted her face, letting the cold flakes melt against her warm skin. At sixty-seven, she’d believed that moving to Sapphire Bay was about finding peace in retirement, not about discovering love again.
But standing here with Paul beside her, and their friends surrounding them, she understood something profound. Life didn’t stop offering gifts just because you got older. It didn’t run out of chances for joy or possibilities for connection. Sometimes the most beautiful chapters were the ones you never saw coming.
“Make a wish,” Paul whispered in her ear, nodding toward the tree.
Susan closed her eyes, but she couldn’t think of anything to wish for. Everything she needed was already here—the love of a good man, the warmth of true friendship, and the courage to embrace a future she hadn’t dared to imagine.
