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Ana smiled when she saw the plastic toolbox with toy tools inside. What a perfect gift for Theo.

“Do you want to open it up?” Rory asked him.

“Yes,” Theo said.

It turned out to be more difficult to open than she’d expected because of some zip-ties holding the handle shut.

“I’ll have to use my pocketknife,” Rory said. “Stay still for me, okay, Theo? Because it’s very sharp.”

Theo nodded, putting his chubby little hands behind his back and watching in wonder as Rory flicked open the knife and made short work of the ties.

He unlatched the handle and then gestured for Theo to open it. Inside was a whole set of colorful plastic tools.

“They’re just like mine,” Rory told Theo. “But much nicer colors.”

But Theo was too excited to talk about it. He scrambled out of Rory’s lap and sat by his new toolbox, pulling out each and every item and examining it before putting it to work banging on the packaging they had removed.

“Thank you so much, Rory,” Ana told him. “He’s going to play with this every single day.”

“What a wonderful present,” Ana’s mom said.

“You’re up next,” Rory told her. “Now don’t get too excited, because it’s not something new.”

Ana felt the butterflies again. She couldn’t believe Rory had done something so special for her mom.

“Oh, now that looks very heavy,” her mom said.

“It is,” Rory told her. “Maybe you’d better open it on the table.”

The three adults headed back to the table and Rory set the gift down carefully.

Ana couldn’t help noticing the nervous expression on his face, like it was very important to him that her mom liked the gift. He had certainly planned it out carefully, with Ana’s help.

“Let’s see,” her mom said, smiling as she tugged at the ribbon.

A moment later she was pulling off the wrapping paper with tears in her eyes.

“Oh, Rory,” she whispered. “You fixed it?”

“I did,” he told her. “I talked to a buddy who repairs machines like this in the city and he talked me through what it might need and helped me find the parts. Easy as pie.”

Ana knew that it certainly hadn’t been easy as pie. Rory had even purchased another older sewing machine just to get his hands on some of the parts he couldn’t source.

But he knew that this one had sentimental value for her mom, and he had been determined to get it running like a brand-new machine.

Ana watched as her mother got up from the table and wrapped her arms around Rory, tears sliding down her face as she thanked him and told him he was a good boy, which Ana knew was her highest praise.

Ana had to turn away because she was afraid she might start crying too, and someone had to hold it together in case Theo stopped trying to fix the Christmas tree stand with his new plastic wrench and noticed all the tears.

“Your turn, Ana,” Rory said.

There was such a serious note in his deep voice that she turned around right away.

But instead of handing her a wrapped gift to open, Rory was down on one knee, holding out a little wooden box with something twinkling inside. His eyes were as blue as the sea, and filled with emotion.

“Ana, I know this seems fast, but I’ve known since the day we met that I wanted to marry you,” he said, his voice rough. “I want to wake up with you every morning, and go to sleep with you every night. I want to honor and be part of your family, protect you and provide for you. When times are good, I want to celebrate with you. And when they’re stormy, I want to be your rock. If you’ll have me, I promise to make all your dreams come true. Will you marry me, Ana?”

The tears came then, and she knew she couldn’t hold them back if she wanted to.