"It's not meant to be." I release her and move to check the lines, more to give myself something to do with my hands than out of any nautical necessity. "We should take her out today. Just a few hours. The water's calm."
"Ford Callahan wanting to skip work for a pleasure cruise?" She raises an eyebrow. "Who are you and what have you done with my grumpy charter captain?"
"Charter's not until this afternoon. The Henderson party again. Fourth time this season."
"They do seem to enjoy your company."
"They enjoy catching fish. I'm just the delivery mechanism."
Sera laughs, and the sound warms something in my chest that I didn't know was cold until she came into my life.
"Alright." She drains the last of her coffee and sets the mug aside. "Take me somewhere beautiful."
I know exactly where I'm going.
The hidden coveon the back side of the unnamed island looks different in peacetime.
Without the threat of assassins and corporate mercenaries, the marsh reveals itself as something purely beautiful. Herons stalk through the shallows. Pelicans dive for their breakfast. Thelive oaks drip Spanish moss like something out of a Southern gothic novel.
I anchor Second Watch in the same spot where we weathered two nights of danger six months ago. The same spot where Sera came to me in the darkness and changed everything.
"I remember this place." She stands at the bow, her face turned into the morning breeze. "This is where everything got complicated."
"This is where everything got real." I move to stand beside her. "I couldn't stop thinking about you. Couldn't stop wanting you. Every protocol I had about professional distance, about keeping my hands to myself, it all disappeared the second you looked at me like I mattered."
"You did matter. You do matter." She turns to face me, and I see the love in her eyes that still catches me off guard sometimes. "Ford, what's going on? You've been strange all morning."
"Strange how?"
"Distracted. Nervous." She tilts her head, studying me. "I've seen you face down armed attackers without flinching. What could possibly make you nervous now?"
This is the moment.
I reach into my pocket and pull out the velvet box I've been carrying since dawn. Her breath catches when she sees it.
"Sera Mancini." My voice comes out rougher than I intend. "Six months ago, you stepped off a plane and looked at me like I was part of your problem. Six months ago, I was a man paying off a twelve-year-old debt and trying not to want things I couldn't have."
"Ford—"
"Let me finish." I take her hand, feel the tremor in her fingers that matches the one in mine. "You weren't supposed to matter. This boat, these two weeks, it was supposed to be a transaction. Keep you alive, clear my debt, go back to my quiet life."
"That's not how it worked out."
"No." I open the box, revealing the ring I spent three weeks choosing. Simple. Elegant. A sapphire that matches the color of the water around us, flanked by small diamonds. "It's not how it worked out because you refused to be a transaction. You demanded to be seen. You pushed back when I tried to keep you at arm's length. You made me remember what it felt like to want a future instead of just surviving the present."
Tears are streaming down her face now. She makes no move to wipe them away.
"I love you." I pull the ring from its velvet bed and hold it up to her. "I love your sharp tongue and your brave heart. I love the way you look at old paintings like they're telling you secrets. I love the way you've made this town your home without ever apologizing for where you came from."
"Ford."
"Marry me." The words come out steady despite the pounding of my heart. "Not because of debt or danger or circumstances. Marry me because you want this life. This boat. This man who didn't know he was broken until you showed him what whole could feel like."
She's laughing now, laughing and crying at the same time, and for a terrible moment I think she's going to say no.
Then she throws her arms around my neck and kisses me so hard I nearly drop the ring over the side.
"Yes." She pulls back just enough to meet my eyes. "Yes, Ford. A thousand times yes."
