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For a long moment, I held him and cried, but those tears felt different from every tear I had shed over him for the last six years. There was still grief in them because I would always hate what had been stolen from us, but there was happiness too. Somehow, against every rule that should have made this impossible, I still had a future with him.

When I finally pulled back, Caspian took my left hand and slid the ring onto my finger.

I stared down at it.

“Turn your hand over,” he said.

I did.

There, engraved along the inside of the band, were four words.

Come home to me.

I leaned forward and kissed him.

He kissed me back, one hand settling at my waist while the other remained wrapped around mine. By the time we separated, we were both smiling.

I held my hand up again and admired the ring. “You really had this waiting for me all these years.”

“Yeah.”

He stood and helped me up before pulling me against him.

For years, I had tortured myself wondering how different my life might have been if Caspian had shown up that Halloween night. I would probably always wonder about some of the moments we lost, but standing there with his ring on my finger made one thing easier to accept: I didn’t have to live inside the what if anymore.

Caspian was here.

Our story had changed, but it hadn’t ended.

He glanced toward the empty room before focusing on me again. “Well, beautiful… the party’s over.”

“Thank God.”

“But I still owe you something.”

I smiled cautiously. “What now?”

“A dance.”

My expression softened.

Caspian took my hand, and the lights dimmed until the chandelier gave off only a warm glow.

A moment later, the opening notes of Dru Hill’s “Never Make a Promise” flowed quietly through the speakers.

That was our relationship theme song.

My eyes filled again. “You remembered.”

“How could I forget?”

Caspian pulled me against him, one arm settling around my waist as my hand rested on his shoulder.

We began moving slowly through the center of the living room.

No crowd surrounding us this time.

No DJ or sister yelling over the music.