I’m really crying now, hot tears spilling over. He pulls me against his chest, and I let myself go. It’s strange for him to hold me while I’m crying about him, but he does. I have things to say, but I can’t speak yet. The terror and hurt are being purged. I don’t ever want to feel that way again.
Finally, the emotion subsides enough for me to breathe. “I don’t want to walk away. I didn’t want to leave. I love you, too. And I’ll be your fiancée any day.”
Leo’s mouth crashes down on mine. All-consuming passion burning us both. We’re tearing at each other’s clothes because we can’t be naked fast enough. He lifts me into his arms and I freeze. “My friends are on their way,” I say. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not be caught having sex a second time.”
He laughs. “I told Emily to call them. I figured that if you kicked me out you’d call them back, and if you didn’t…” The look on his face tells me all I need to know. “We won’t be disturbed.”
That’s good enough for me. I point down the hallway. “The bedroom is that way.”
Leo nearly breaks into a run.
Epilogue
Diana
Six Months Later
I walk toward the river at the exact time that Leo told me to. He’s been secretive all week but finally clued me in that he was planning something by giving me a time and a location.
I have to weave through the construction for the new cabins to get there. The structures are nearly framed out, and they’ll be ready for occupancy by spring. Leo’s family is fully funding his portion of Blue Mountain, and his parents are now regular guests.
It’s brisk in the late fall, but still gorgeous out. The sun set about an hour ago, so there’s a chill in the air. But as I walk up to the place he told me to meet him, I don’t think I’ll be cold at all.
My mouth nearly falls open. Not only has Leo set up a fire on the bank of the river, but there are candles melted to the stones in a big circle so the whole area is lit up. There’s a blanket and a picnic basket full of food, and then there’s Leo. He’s standing by the fire, grinning at me.
“Is this what’s been making you sneaky all week?”
“I wasn’t sneaky.”
I step through the circle of candles. “You most certainly were. It’s not like I can’t see you sneaking around.”
After we got back together, or, as Leo calls it, ‘The Day We Fixed It,’ I moved into the cabin with him. My work can be done from anywhere, and I didn’t have any particular attachment to my house. But his cabin was a little small for two people living there full time, so we are in the middle of expanding. Soon I will have an office that looks over the river, and I can’t wait.
“Fine,” he says. “I was sneaking. And yes, this was it.”
I step into his arms and he leans down to kiss me. “Not that I don’t love this, because it’s beautiful, but it’s a bit of a weird place to have dinner,” I tell him.
“I don’t think so. I think it’s the perfect place.”
“Why?”
Leo smiles. “Six months ago today, right here, I pulled you out of the river. And that’s a day that changed both of our lives.”
“True.” He’d managed to get me into the river a couple more times over the summer, but I stick to the calm waters now.
“So I figured, since this place changed our lives then, it can change our lives again.” He pulls away and sinks down on one knee, taking my stomach with him.
“Leo—”
“The last time I did this, we both thought it wasn’t real, and it turned out differently. This time, I don’t want you to have any doubts. This is real. I want you forever. Will you marry me?”
The ring in his hand is the same ring. I’d recognize it anywhere. I can’t believe it. “You kept the ring?”
“The ring is real too,” he says. “It was always real.”
“Oh my God.” I thought that he’d bought the ring at a dollar store, even though it was far more beautiful than any other cheap ring I’d seen.
“You haven’t answered my question.”
“Yes, of course I’ll marry you,” I say, holding out my hand for the ring. He slips it on, and my heart settles. Even though I only wore it for a few days, I’ve missed it. I love having it on my hand, like he’s with me even when he’s not.
I throw my arms around his neck and kiss him, sinking down onto the blankets and pulling him with me. He laughs. “What about dinner?”
“You didn’t think you could propose without me fucking my fiancé, did you?” I pull his face to mine and kiss him hard.