He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, worn velvet box—not new, but carefully preserved. "I kept it," he explained, opening the box to reveal a simple diamond ring. "All this time."
Emotion crossed Sabrina's face as she recognized the ring he'd offered her at nineteen. "How?" she whispered.
"My father saved it. Left it with a note—'for when the time is right.'"
Silence fell between them and tears misted into her eyes.
Walker swallowed, a smile on his lips. “Dear old dad.” He took the ring from its box, holding it between them. "I'm not that impulsive boy anymore, Sabrina. And you're not that uncertain girl. We've lived. We've learned. We've earned this second chance."
He took her left hand in his. "Sabrina Clark, will you marry me? Not because we're young and in love, though I do love you more than I did even then. But because we know exactly what we're choosing. Because we've seen the worst the world has to offer and still chosen each other."
Tears spilled down Sabrina's cheeks as she nodded. "Yes," she managed through the emotion. "Yes, Walker. Now and always."
He slid the ring onto her finger—a perfect fit, as if it had been waiting all these years for this exact moment. Then he drew her close, kissing her.
When they broke apart, Sabrina laughed through her tears. "We're going to have to tell everyone at dinner."
Walker grinned. "Reed already knows. So does your mother. And Henry."
"So I was the last to know?" she asked, pretending outrage.
"I needed their blessing," he explained, his expression growing more serious. "For our fathers' sake."
Understanding softened Sabrina's face. She reached up to touch his cheek, her ring catching the last rays of sunset. "They're here with us, you know. In their own way."
“Yes.”
She sighed. “It was like our fathers had this all figured out from the start.”
“Well, I think they didn’t want to die,” he said.
She gave him an annoyed looked. “You know what I mean.”
“Yes, I do.”
“They were just so … planned. Strategic.”
“Tactical.” He filled in for her.
A grin filled her face. “Tactical love. Yes, I like that.”
He grinned back. “Me, too.”
Unrest filled her. "Walker?"
"Yeah?"
“I just want to make sure you know that I can’t?—”
"Sabrina—" he cut her off.
"Let me say this," she insisted gently. "I don't know if I can have children. The doctors were never certain why Rob and I couldn't conceive.”
“It’s fine.”
She persisted. “But I need you to be sure you’ve thought that through.” She couldn’t do that again; face a man who doesn’t want her because she couldn’t have a child.
Walker drew her close, his hands framing her face. "Sabrina Clark, soon-to-be Star, the only future I need is one with you in it. Everything else is just details."
