33
Raine
ONE YEAR LATER
“Iwasn’tsure I’d want to come back to this place again after the last time we unintentionally rendezvoused here,” Haven tells me, nudging her shoulder into mine. “But this is kind of our place whether we’re rich, poor, or somewhere in between.”
We take a seat at the edge of the dock and let our feet dangle over the side. The quiet here is something I always yearn for. It’s the peacefulness I can’t seem to ever create anywhere else. “Thisisour place,” I tell her, staring at her gorgeous smile as she gazes up at the sun. I run my fingers through the length of her silky hair and place a kiss on her warm, bare shoulder. “Haven?”
“Mmm,” she hums and glances over at me, shielding her sparkling, hazel eyes from the sun with her hand. “Raine?”
I scratch at the back of my neck and clear my throat, disregarding my frayed nerves. “Will you marry me?” I considered getting down on my knee, doing the whole typical routine, but that’s not us. This is us, like this. “Will you be my sunrise and my sunset, the one I’ll never be able to compare anything else to for the rest of my life?” It’s precisely how I have always thought of her. That feeling never changed.
My apprehension dissolves as I hear the questioning words come from my mouth. It feels like a release—it’s both a confession and a plea for everything I’ve ever wanted.
Haven looks blindsided since we haven’t talked about marriage or anything more than getting our lives back on track. We have done a good job at taking things one day at a time, but I want to know that the rest of my life will feel as fulfilling as the last year has felt. “You want me to be your wife?” her words are hardly audible as she cups her hand over her mouth. Tears fill her eyes, and I know in my heart they are tears of happiness.
Haven places her hand on my cheek and a smile trembles across her lips—a look of pure elation. “I want to be your wife more than I’ve wanted anything in my entire life.”
I breathe—the deepest breath I may have ever taken. “Okay, then.” I’m grinning from ear-to-ear as I slip my hand into my back pocket and pull out the small ring box I had been saving. I pull apart the aged suede box and remove the ring from the cushioned slit, holding it carefully between the tips of my fingers. “It was my grans, the woman who made my granddad believe there was nothing stronger than the love he had for her, even after she was long gone. It’s what I want for us.”
She doesn’t let me put it on her finger before she throws her arms around my neck, squeezing so tightly I can almost feel every ounce of emotion flowing through her body. “I know...that’s us. I just know. I love you. I love you so much.”
After a long minute, she pulls away with a smile brighter than the sun and allows me to slide the ring on her finger. I hold my hand around hers, squeezing gently, knowing now I finally have a family again, and I will be sitting here with her hand in mine when we’re old and gray, understanding the true meaning of our life’s path.
