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"I . . . I've passed on the message."
Angela sighed. "Okay, well, can you pass along another?" She looked me in the eye. "Tell my father I would really like to see him."
"Father?" Jack said as we walked along the beach, one last time before our red-eye flight home.
"That makes more sense than former lover if you think about it."
"Guess so. Just . . . father." He shook his head. "Think he'll go see her?"
"I hope so. But, like he said, it's complicated."
"Yeah." Jack watched kids run across the sand. "When you take this job, you can't get out of it. Not really. Ty quit the life years ago. Doesn't matter. You can't go back. Can't erase the jobs. Or pretend they never happened. Not if it affects someone you care about. It's fucking complicated." He lifted our hands and touched my fake wedding band. "Can't do this."
"I know."
"Part of me says screw it. Chances anyone will find me? Near zero. But not zero. Never zero."
I squeezed his hand. "I know that. Marriage means using your real name. You burned that long ago, and you can't risk claiming it again."
"Wouldn't put you through that."
"The issue for me isn't what you'd 'put me through.' It's that I'd lose you, and there is no way in hell marriage is worth that. We're a committed couple. That's enough."
He glanced at the matching band on his finger. "Yeah, I know. I just . . ."
"You like that."
"Yeah, I really do." He took a deep breath. "Which is why I'm going to ask. Not for a wedding. Not for a legal marriage. Just . . ." He took a box from his pocket.
I stopped walking.
"Yeah," he said. "Even that'd be complicated. I shouldn't ask."
He started shoving the box back into his pocket. I caught his wrist and pulled it out.
"That wasn't a no, Jack."
I took the box and opened it. Inside were three rings. Two gold bands and a diamond solitaire.
I looked up at him. "Are you asking me to fake-marry you?"
He sputtered a laugh. Then he went serious and took the diamond ring. "No, I'm asking you to be my wife, Nadia. In every way that counts."
I held out my hand.
He tilted his head, blue eyes meeting mine uncertainly.
"That's a yes, Jack," I said. "God, you can be--"
He cut me off with a kiss. A long, sweet kiss, and when I finished, I had a diamond ring on my finger. I took the larger band from the box and picked up his hand.
"Will you marry--" I began.
"Fuck, yeah."
I laughed and threw my arms around his neck and kissed him. Then I pulled back, took out my phone and placed a call.
"Hey, Emma?" I said when she answered. "It's Nadia. We'll be home tomorrow, but something happened, and I wanted to tell you in advance."
