“I know. It’s incredibly weird, and I’m not sure I get it. But, for you, if you wanted me to, I’d dress up like a dozen of these guys. Although I draw the line at hobbits. Their feet are really fucking creepy.”
She laughed. “What about Marvel? Oh, or DC Comics? There’s a Comic-Con in Texas that my dad is trying to get us to go to. We could go as Daredevil and Elektra. I could wear one of those tight black cat suits?”
His eyes traveled the length of my body before he shook his head. “You’re distracting me.”
I smiled, still focused on all his piratey goodness. “Yeah, well, you’re distracting me. Is this rented, or what’s the deal? Can we take this home later?”
“Can a guy propose?”
Lizzie laughed loudly.
I pressed my lips together, kissing his cheek. “Sorry. I’ll behave.”
“That’ll be the day.” A small smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Lizzie, you want to help me out with this part?”
She nodded wildly, coming up next to him, and together, as if they’d practiced it, they each went down on one knee. He carefully pulled the black mask from his face. My hands went to my mouth as butterflies filled my stomach. I had known this moment was coming. But, now that it was here, I didn’t know if I could calmly make it through, watching him look up at me with those determined, soulful eyes.
“Cora Carpenter, you are the other half of my soul. I was nothing but a broken man, but with you and Lizzie in my life, I now know what it feels like to be whole again. That is why I can’t go another day without asking you one very important question.”
He turned to Lizzie, who was beaming.
“Will you be the Buttercup to his Westley?” she asked her mother.
I laughed, but before I could answer, he continued, “Will you be the Leia to my Han?”
“The River to his Doctor?” Lizzie said.
“The Hermione to my Ron?” He grinned, giving me a wink. “The Ginny to my Harry?”
“The Arwen to his Aragorn?”
“And, finally,” he said, motioning to Lizzie, who pulled an already open ring box from behind her back, “the Cora to my Dean? Because, after all, there is no greater love story than the one we make ourselves.”
There, inside, was a gorgeous vintage gold band with a simple brilliant stone in the center.
“It’s my mother’s,” he said. “And she gives it to you with her blessing. If you’ll have it. Will you marry me, Cora?”
“Yes,” I said, tears pouring down my cheeks.
He placed the ring on my finger and lifted me in the air—one-handed, of course.
“I think it’s time to set sail, don’t you, Captain?” Dean turned to Lizzie, who was busy jumping up and down.
She stopped short and shouted, “Yes, sir!”
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“I do believe you asked for a tour around the island.”
I smiled, remembering my request made in the hospital many months ago. “Yes, I seem to remember I asked for something else, too.”
“Ah, yes,” he said as I walked up behind him, never growing tired of the sight of him manning a boat. “Everything, was it?”
“Mmm, yes, please.”
He turned around and gave me a wink. “As you wish.”
With the sun setting behind us and the future so bright ahead, I knew this was our forever. Our scars couldn’t hold us back anymore.
Not when we had each other.
And a world of possibilities waiting for us.
