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Doc barked. “That means yes,” Josie said. Josie was hopping all around her where she still sat on her chair.
Avery pulled at the bow on the dog’s neck and it came off. A little ring box had been tucked under Doc’s chin.
She almost dropped it on the floor. The only piece of jewelry Carter had gotten her was a necklace at Christmas with the letter J on it. She was so touched he’d done that and she’d worn it daily since.
But this, this was a ring box. Not a necklace box.
He took it out of her hand before she could do anything else. There were some gasps and giggles from the women here. It seemed to her everyone was in on this.
Never did she think Carter would do something like this, least of all in this setting and in front of so many people.
“Back to what I started to say,” he said. “A year ago you came to this island with the help of Laine and me. It seemed only right to do this here. And also to do it in front of the people that are the most important in your life and mine. Josie’s too. Because family is more than what comes from our ancestors or our blood.”
“That’s so sweet,” Natalie whispered. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”
No one replied to that comment. Avery was too stunned herself.
“You’re my family,” she said to Carter.
“And it’s time to make it official.” He flipped the lid and got down on one knee. “Avery, will you marry me? Be my wife and the mother to Dopey and Doc.”
“Good lord, those dogs,” Vanessa whispered loudly.
“Yes!” she said, hugging him.
She sat back as he slid the diamond solitaire on her finger.
“This island,” Vanessa said. “Never thought it’d hit my kids, but it did.”
Avery laughed over that statement and shook her head when she could see Carter wasn’t going to argue. No way, because maybe she believed it too.
Josie ran over and hugged her. “I’m so happy,” Josie said. “Can Carter live with us now full time? I don’t care where we live, I want to be under the same roof every night together.”
“Me too,” Avery said, her eyes a little glossy. She was giving Josie the family she never had growing up and she knew Colleen would be as proud as she was to be able to do it.
“Come here,” Carter said. “I’ve got something for you too.”
“You do?” Josie asked. “Is it a diamond ring like Avery’s? It’s really pretty.”
There was a lot of laughter there. “No,” Carter said. “You’re way too young to get a diamond ring. Maybe when you’re thirty. At least thirty,” he said.
“My daddy told me forty,” Adele said. “That’s not fair.”
Avery looked at Ava and winked.
Carter pulled out another box. It looked to be a necklace. He handed it to Josie.
Josie opened it. “It’s a locket.”
“Open it up,” he said.
Josie was struggling, so Avery took it out of her hand and opened it and burst into tears. She wasn’t sure how Carter pulled this off.
“It’s my mothers,” Josie said, clutching the locket. There was a picture of Colleen on one side and Avery on the other.
That might have been the only other thing that could have made this day any better. Was Josie calling her her mother.
The End!
