Emotion tightened my chest as I listened.
“The story of my love for you is just beginning, but I want to write my happy ending… and I want to write and live it with you.”
Then he slowly lowered himself onto one knee.
My breath caught in my throat.
In his hand was a small velvet box, and inside it rested the most beautiful ring I had ever seen.
“Will you marry me, Jiya?”
My lips parted as my hand instinctively rose to cover my mouth.
The diamond was a round, brilliant centre stone—about two carats—surrounded by smaller diamonds along the band, each one catching the candlelight and scattering it into tiny shimmering reflections.
My mind raced.Were we ready for this?Was I ready?
But when I looked up at him, the answer rose quietly inside my heart.
No one could ever love me the way Cole did.With him, I felt safe.Seen.Understood.He had been there for me through everything—for me and for my children. He supported me, believed in me, and loved us without hesitation.How could I even question it?
“Yes,” I said, agreeing with all my heart, mind, and soul.
Even as I spoke, however, I couldn’t understand why, at that precise moment, Caleb’s face flashed before my eyes. The image startled me, but it disappeared just as quickly.
Cole slipped the ring onto my finger and rose to his feet.His hands gently cupped my face.
I leaned instinctively into his touch as our lips met softly with the promise of everything that lay ahead.
Happiness rushed through me.
I wanted to call Elle.
I wanted to tell the children.
I wanted to shout the news to the world.
But in that moment, none of that mattered as much as the man standing in front of me.
Right then, I simply wanted him.
When we returned to the villa, Cole’s lips brushed against my neck as he pulled me close, scattering kisses along my skin as we stepped through the doorway. Moments later, he lifted me easily into his arms and carried me toward the bedroom while laughter bubbled softly from my chest.
The night stretched around us as we made love under the stars.
Later, wrapped in his arms beneath the open sky beyond the bedroom windows, I felt completely carefree and deeply desired.
It was a feeling I cherished every time I was with him.
A feeling I held close in my heart long after the night faded into memory.
After our wonderfulweekend at the resort, Cole and I returned to Cowichan Bay and shared the news with family and friends.
Even now, every time I looked down at the ring on my finger, it was a gentle reminder that something extraordinary had happened in my life.
I was engaged… to Cole.
The thought still seemed surreal.
