Standing at the edge of this pool, I’m flooded with memories from that night. The moonlight splashed across his bare skin while his hands gripped my waist beneath the surface. That night, I knew I couldn’t go back to being the woman I had been before I met him.
I made up my mind that I’d do anything for the adventure with him. Anything.
We opened our hearts that night and proved how we felt in the weeks that followed. Nothing has changed for me other than falling even harder.
“I think about that night often,” Louis says, pulling me back to the present. “What we said to one another, what we promised.”
“It was special. Back then, I really thought it was theright person, wrong timescenario.”
“Right person, somewhat-latescenario.” He laughs. “I told you I always get what I want.”
I snicker. “You do.”
He turns to face me and takes both of my hands in his. “I had no idea how serious it would get. I’m so damn glad you didn’t give up on being with me. You could’ve, and I wouldn’t have blamed you.”
“That was never an option.”
His thumb runs across mine.
“May we both win,” I say, reminiscing.
He squeezes my hands. “We have.”
“You are everything I’ve ever wanted.”
Louis grins, tucking loose strands of hair behind my ear.
“In chess, the queen is the most powerful piece on the board,” Louis says. “She can move anywhere and do anything and protect the king in ways no other piece can. Without her, the game falls apart. Without her, there’s no victory.”
He releases one of my hands and reaches into his pocket. A smile spreads across his face. “You’ve been three steps ahead of me since the moment we met. You see things I miss, you push back when I want to retreat, and you refuse to give me up when every logical thought screams you should.”
He pulls out a velvet box, and I go still because I now understand what this is and what’s happening. I’ve waited my entire life for someone to look at me the way Louis does.
“This ring belonged to my grandmother.”
He opens the box. The center diamond catches the afternoon light, and then I notice it’s surrounded by pink diamonds. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Addison. What we have is real, and I’ve been given the opportunity that no one in my family has ever had. I get to marry the love of my life.”
The tears are falling freely now, sliding down my cheeks, and I don’t wipe them away because I want to feel every second of this.
Every wall I ever built, this man dismantled piece by piece until there was nothing left between us.
“If you’ll have me. I’m asking you to choose me, not because duty demands it or tradition expects it, but because we earned this. Every time someone tried to end our game, we put the pieces back, and every time they told us it was impossible, we proved them wrong. You make me want to be a better man. You make me braver and happier than I’ve ever been. Let me prove to you, every single day, that I’m the man you deserve.”
He sinks onto one knee, the velvet box open in his palm, the waterfall thundering behind him, and I’m shaking because this is happening.
“I called your family and asked for their blessing, and they gave it.Patterson and Jameson said if I ever hurt you, they’d break both my legs, which is fair.” He laughs softly. “Your father said he’d never seen you fight for anything as hard as you fought for us.”
A sound escapes my throat that’s half-laugh and half-sob.
“Miss Addison Cross”—his voice is steady, but his eyes are bright—“you are the most stubborn, brilliant, infuriating, talented woman I have ever had the honor to meet. I don’t want to play games anymore. I don’t want to pass notes or steal moments or hide what we have. I want mornings where I wake up next to you and have lazy Sundays. I want the world to know that you’re mine and I’m yours. I want to build a life together and grow old with you. I want to watch you paint until the sun sets, then fall asleep next to you and do it all again the next day.”
He looks up at me, this man who escaped his own palace and was willing to fight anyone who stood in his way.
“Please marry me, Addy,” he says. “You’re the love of my entire life. And I’d have no greater honor than for you to be my queen.”
“Yes. A million times, yes,” I say, moving to him, happy tears streaming down my cheeks.
He slides the ring onto my finger with trembling hands. It fits perfectly, the cool metal settling against my skin. The diamonds are full of promises kept across generations.
