"You'll see."
He pulls open the door to the rink, and the cold air hits me immediately.
The stands are empty except—wait—Emma's in the first row, holding Sofia, who's bundled in a pink blanket. Chase is beside her with Ethan, the toddler bouncing excitedly on his lap, both of them grinning. They wave.
"What's going on?" I turn to Jackson, my heart starting to race.
"Trust me?"
"Always."
He grabs skates from somewhere behind the door. My size, somehow, which means he planned this. He helps me lace them up with fingers that shake. His nervousness is contagious, and I can feel my own hands trembling.
"Jackson, seriously. What's happening?"
"You'll see. Come on."
He leads me onto the ice, and I'm immediately unstable, grabbing onto his arm for support. I haven't been skating since that night in Emma's backyard, and I was terrible then, too.
"I'm going to fall."
"I've got you."
We move toward center ice slowly, Jackson holding me steady with one arm around my waist. The arena is silent exceptfor the scrape of our blades against fresh ice, the echo of Emma shushing Ethan in the stands when he tries to yell something.
At center ice, Jackson stops and lets go of me for just a second. I flail, nearly fall, and grab his shoulder. Then he drops to one knee.
On the ice.
Which makes him wobble dangerously.
I start laughing despite the tears already forming. "You're going to fall."
"Probably." He's grinning, balancing carefully on his bent knee, pulling a small box from his pocket. "But I'm doing this anyway."
My heart stops. Completely stops, time freezing around us.
"Maya Rivera." His voice carries in the empty arena, bouncing off the high ceiling. "You're my Stardust. My light. The person who makes me believe in things I thought I'd lost forever."
I'm crying, the tears streaming down my face while I try to stay upright on the ice.
"You survived hell and came out stronger. You faced your trauma and won. You went back to nursing and saved lives. You loved me when I was too stupid to admit I loved you back." He opens the box with hands that shake. Inside is a ring. Simple, elegant, a single diamond on a silver band that catches the light. "I want forever with you. Every morning, every night, every moment in between. Will you marry me?"
"Yes." The word comes out choked, barely more than a whisper. "Yes. A thousand times, yes."
He tries to stand, knees unsteady on the ice, and nearly falls. I'm laughing and crying at the same time, trying to stay upright while he slides the ring onto my finger with shaking hands that can't quite steady themselves.
Then we're kissing, and I'm definitely falling, and he catches me, but his balance is already gone, and we go down togetheronto the ice in a tangle of limbs and laughter and complete ridiculousness.
"Yay!" Ethan's voice echoes through the arena. "Uncle Jack and Auntie Maya on the ground!"
From the stands, Emma's crying while Sofia sleeps obliviously in her arms. Chase is grinning wide enough to split his face, phone out and recording the whole thing.
Jackson and I are sprawled on the ice, both laughing too hard to get up, the cold seeping through our clothes, but neither of us caring.
"You planned this," I say between gasps.
"I did."
