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“We’ll just call this karma,” Milo says, folding his arms and leaning back. The water sprays the photographer from earlier, and he runs out, leaving all his equipment for the rest of his employees. Luckily, Robin and her friend Daphne are long gone, and after a few minutes, we shut off the water. Then we watch the last of the crew scurry away.
Cautiously, we make our way out of the room.
“Seems quiet.”
“Let’s make sure before we unearth gold,” he suggests. Looking all over, we confirm we’re alone.
“Perfect. To the altar, my love,” Milo says, offering me his elbow, which I take.
Leaving the garden, he leads me to the altar.
“It’s weathered hundreds of years and still stands, even after the old church crumbled around it.”
“Wow. And these markings? What do they mean?”
“If I’m not mistaken, it’s Spanish,” he tells me with a sly smile.
“As in Sir Rudolph’s Spanish gold?” I ask with wiggling eyebrows, filled full of excitement at being this close to solving the end of the poem.
“Maybe. We’ve got to figure out thebended kneepart. I don’t understand how that would point us to the conclusion.”
“Okay, let’s think back to the beginning. It says,treasure of gold, of jewel and lastly of heart. We found gold first in the mangrove,”
“The key,” he confirms.
“And then we found the ruby in the hands of the angel statue on Angel Beach,” I continue.
“Which covers jewel, but what doesof heartmean?”
I nod at his obvious question.
“Heart is the prize,” I say with a lightbulb going off in my mind.
I run up to the altar and stand where the bride would stand.
“I like where your head is,” Milo says with mischief. It makes me turn to him, only to gasp in surprise.
On his knee, he holds out a small black box with a beautiful vintage, gold and diamond ring. Tears spring to my eyes as I choke on my sudden emotions.
“Milo.”
“Meno, I love you, Cherub. I had this earlier, and I don’t know if you saw and heard everything between me and Robin, but it just didn’t feel right to do this in front of a bunch of strangers.”
I nod my agreement, still unable to speak.
“The length of time we’ve known each other might seem too fast to make a commitment like this, and you can say no, baby, and I swear I’ll understand, but ever since we started out on this wild treasure hunt, my feelings for you have only gotten deeper. I worry about my age and know, for many reasons, you’re far better off without me—”
“I’m not,” I cry, shaking my head.
“But I love you, and I give you my word I’ll never stop. I’ll be your rock, baby, no matter where you want to travel. Marry me and make your home in me, and let’s do this adventure of life together.”
“Yes. One hundred percent. You’re silly for all the other nonsense, Milo. I’m so in love with you and feel you so deeply rooted in me as my homebase that I can’t imagine saying anything other then yes. Time is nothing. I feel this, too.”
Our lips collide in a fierce kiss as I fall into his lap. My brain shorts out, blitzed out, too happy for words, and I hear something drop to the ground with a thud.
Turning, Milo grabs the box and plucks out the ring. I notice something on the ground, but I’m quickly distracted by the love of my life sliding on my gorgeous ring. I left the prop ring back in the dressing room. It didn’t feel right, but this one is perfect. My chest fills with warmth and spreads through my limbs. Milo tells me again he loves me, and this time, he has tears, too. We kiss for a long time. I tell him how perfect the ring is and how much I love him. For a moment, it’s as if time freezes, and we forget all about treasure. We just kiss and love on each other until his legs start to cramp.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t laugh,” I say, doing just that.
