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“I didn’t do anything you haven’t done for me a thousand times over, Ambri.”
His smile was charming and beautiful, but I had to make him understand.
I got down on one knee and reached into my coat pocket for the box I’d been carrying around all day.
Cole’s eyes widened. “What are you doing?”
“I was going to do something adorable and charming with your students, like in that comedic American movie?Meet the Fuckers?”
“Fockers,” he said faintly. “It’sMeet the Fockers,the sequel…”
“But that would’ve taken all sorts of planning and I couldn’t wait anymore. I couldn’t wait one more second.”
I opened the box to show a small but wide band of platinum tucked in blue velvet. I inhaled deep, conscious that a small crowd had formed to watch at a respectful distance.
“Cole Matheson, I love you. I love every bloody last thing about you. I love the little vein under your left eye that pops out when you’re angry, which is almost never. Even when I’m being a prat, which is frequently. I love my reflection in your beautiful dark eyes. I love how you see me. As if I’m enough, just the way I am. I’ve never been with anyone who made me feel that way, and that is true happiness. I want to spend the rest of my life giving that back to you, if I can. Will you marry me?”
Cole’s eyes were full. The crowd waited with bated breath. My heart felt like it had stopped too and wouldn’t start again unless he said yes.
“Yes,” Cole said, first a whisper and then louder. “Yes, Ambri. I’ll marry you. But you already give me all the happiness I could want. You don’t have to try.”
He pulled me to my feet, and we kissed, smiling through tears. The small crowd burst into applause and offered congratulations.
I took the ring out of the box, more nervous than I could ever remember feeling.
“It’s engraved.” I showed him the underside whereAlways and foreverwas written in small script. “And it goes here.” I slipped the ring over his right pinky finger.
Cole was staring at the ring and then at me, disbelieving.
My face grew hot. “I know it’s rather plain, but our actual wedding bands can have a little more pizzazz, and—”
“It’s perfect,” Cole said as I sat with him on the bench. “How did you know?”
“How did I know what?”
He glanced around, then slid his hand into his pocket and drew out a box of his own.
My heart crashed, and it was my turn to have tears flood my eyes. “No…”
“I don’t want to overshadow your proposal,” Cole said. “It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard. But you should have this too.”
He opened it to reveal a gold band, also wide and small. Too small for any finger but one.
“It’s engraved too,” he said with a teary laugh. “Bet you can’t guess what it says.”
A half sob, half laugh burst out of me. “Our angel is still whispering in our ears. She’s a cheeky one, isn’t she?”
Cole slipped the ring on my right pinky finger, then took my face in his hands. “I’m going to love you forever, Ambri.”
He kissed me, and I kissed him back with all the love I had in my human soul, which was infinitely more powerful than any darkness. And in that moment, I knew that my long exile was over and that my heart was home at last.
the end
