Then she padded across the room to pick up the LEGO spaceship. “I was thinking about Finn. Should we…” She wiggled her fingers, making a show of glancing at my scattered things, Finn’s scattered chaos, the pregnancy test lying in state on the bathroom counter. “Should we make it official? Like, actually get married?”
Her tone was half-playful, but underneath it, I caught the wish. Raw and real, it was a longing for permanence, not just for her but for Finn and the baby we’d just discovered.
A shiver ran through me. Fate making itself known.
And I knew.
I stepped into the kitchen. Fished for my bag on the table once again, my pulse fluttering like it was the very first time I’d ever faced her. I unzipped the back pocket—business cards, a stray pen, a velvet box. I held it in my palm, thumb running over the nap of the velvet.
Harper froze, brow knitting, mouth half-open as she saw it. “Chase… what is that?”
I gave her a look, soft and wide and wry all at once. My face heated, some of that old shyness coming back. “I bought this about a week ago. I’ve been carrying it around everywhere so you wouldn’t stumble across it. I kept waiting for the right idea to strike.” I shook my head, almost embarrassed. “Turns out, the perfect moment is standing in the kitchen with a pregnancy test on the bathroom counter.”
Her hand flew to her mouth, eyes so wide it felt like the cottage itself was holding its breath. I opened the box. The ring—solitaire, brilliant, chosen for her simplicity and grace—caught the overhead light and glittered.
I didn’t get down on one knee. I wanted her to look me right in the eye, both feet on the floor, both of us present in every sense. I held it out, everything I felt stripped down and pure. “This might not be an elaborate proposal under the stars. But my feelings haven’t changed. If anything”—my gaze dropped to her stomach, then back to hers, heart thumping—“they just got exponentially more real. I loveyou. I want to build this life with you. The messy parts, the surprising parts, all of it. Marry me?”
For a split second, she only stared. Then the world snapped into motion. She laughed, breathless, almost giddy, and threw her arms around my neck. “Yes! God, yes!” She kissed me, messy and deep and a little unhinged.
I fumbled the ring from the box, found her left hand, and slid the diamond onto her finger. She looked down, dazed, then met my eyes again, tears shining, her smile stretched as wide as the horizon. We stood tangled up, her laugh trembling through both of us.
She wiped her eyes, still beaming. “Okay, now that that’s settled… I guess we should set a date soon?” Her tone shifted from wonder to practical in the space of a breath as she rested a hand on her abdomen. “Like, really soon?”
Elation, as pure and sharp as the Keys sun, surged through me, and a laugh I hardly recognized as my own barked out. I pulled Harper against me so tight I could feel the frantic beat of her heart against my ribs. It was a counterpoint to the sudden, overwhelming calm that settled in mine. Staring down at her, at the slightly dazed, beaming face of the woman who had somehow bulldozed her way past every defense I owned, my entire future clicked into place.
Messy, unpredictable, and more real than any blueprint I’d ever drawn.
I pressed my mouth to her hair, breathing in her irresistible scent. “Anytime, anyplace,” I said, overcome with emotion too big for words. “You just say it, and I’m there. Not just for the wedding, but for all of it. The scraped knees, the budget meetings, the quiet Sunday mornings, and whatever comes next. I promise you. I’ll always be there.”
