“Lyra,I—” The smile on his face gives me all the encouragement I need to keep going, and I hold up my hand for him to wait.
“I love you,” I tell him again. It gets easier the more you say it. “And I did come on the show as a way to get back at you, as well as to get over you. You and Abigail—that really hurt me.” My voice shakes a bit. “In my head, I know it shouldn’t, but my heart said differently. But after talking to you, and Abigail—”
“You talked to Abigail?” he demands.
My smile is just a little smug. “I did. I may be a princess of Laandia, but I’m also a woman terrified of telling you what’s in my heart and you breaking it as you walk back to her. So I covered my bases. Talking to Abigail helped with that because she explained how it was a friendship between you and a little more. Do you feel the same?”
Spencer, still shocked by me bringing up Abigail, nods.
“You can speak now,” I tell him with a laugh.
“I love her as a friend,” he says in a rush. “It’s always been you. I love you, Lyra.”
I put a hand to my mouth. It’s what I wanted to hear for so long, but now the words are there… it’s so much more than I could have hoped for.
“You love me,” I echo.
“I love you.” Spencer is firm, losing the confusion and gaining confidence. “I love you and I finally realized this after you walked away from me in the brewery, so this has been a bit of a bad week for me.”
I laugh. “A bad week foryou?”
“Avery bad week for me, so if you don’t mind, I’d really like to kiss you right now.” He takes a step forward, but as much as I’d like nothing more than to be in his arms again, I take a step back.
“In a minute. I’m not done here.”
“What more is there?”
I pick up the rose. “I need to give you this, as a sort of way to finish the process of the show.”
Spencer frowns. “I don’t understand. The show is over? How does that work? I thought…”
“It’s over for us, and I’ll explain later. Will you accept this rose?”
He steps forward and snatches it out of my hand. “That’s a stupid question,” he says with a grin.
“I know, but they made me say it. And then this.” I pick up the box. “This is one of my mother’s rings. I’ve always loved it, and Dad said it was always mine to use as…” I watch Spencer’s face closely, waiting for him to grimace or show some reaction that this isn’t what he wants.
His smile only widens, and he doesn’t take his eyes off me.
“I would really like you to give me this ring someday, but I can wait—”
Spencer lunges for the ring box, but I hold it out of his reach for another moment. “I said I was ending this. I’m ending our past, and I’m ready to start a future with you, Spencer. A future where we love each other—and we both know how we feel. I’m not sure where that leads us—”
He grabs my wrist and takes the box from my shaking fingers. Andthen—
Spencer drops to one knee in front of me. “Lyra Erickson, I love you. And there will be no waiting. I can’t wait to start a future with you, and I want that future to start right now.” He flips open the box and the square-cut sapphire, surrounded by diamonds, sparkles in the last of the sunlight.
“Will you marry me?”
I pull him to his feet so I can kiss him.
“Yes,” I whisper, the tears beginning to fall. “Yes.”
And then his lips are on mine, and his arms around me, and I hope Johnny gets this shot because it’s the very last time I ever kiss anyone for the camera.
Epilogue
Abigail
