“Oh!” she pauses mid-step along the path and tugs at my hand. I look down beside me at her, and she’s peering across the way about twenty yards out.
“Noah, look!” she gasps quietly, and I follow her gaze. I chuckle when I see two deer grazing and walking lazily beside each other.
“Yeah? Is this your first time seeing wildlife?” I ask her, a little surprised.
She only smiles and nods. “Oh my God, they’re so pretty. I want one.”
“In your dreams, sweetheart. Watch your step,” I add as we walk over the roots of an ancient subalpine fir tree. I step up onto a rock and help her clamber up, and then do the same for another and another and before too long, we’re higher than the lodge.
“It’s getting dark, Noah. Shouldn’t we head back?”
“Nah, we’ve got a few more minutes. Come on.” I squeeze her hand to encourage her. I’m glad she doesn’t put up a fight as she walks next to me.
“Oh my God, what if there are bears out here?” she asks and I keep her hand in mine because I feel she’s about to bolt and run in the other direction.
I laugh but keep my voice low. “There undoubtedly are bears out here, and with as much candy as you ingest, your blood probably tastes like honey, so stay close.”
“Noah, that’s not funny,” she scolds, walking closer to me. “I think we should turn back now. I’d rather not fall down these rocks.”
“Settle down, girl, I won’t let anything happen to you.”
We’re walking in almost complete darkness—well, I’m walking and dragging her along.
I step up onto a larger rock formation, which acts as a platform overlooking the lake; I look back at Heather to offer her my hand when I realize that the rock is half as tall as she is. I chuckle and hold out both of my hands to her, wrapping my fingers around her wrists with her doing the same to me, so I can lift her up and onto this larger rock.
“My, my, my, Greek God, are you trying to show off?”
I laugh because she weighs practically nothing; it’s like lifting a cracker.
“Hardly,” I reply.
As soon as I know she’s steady on her feet, I take her hand and lace our fingers together. I know this is the perfect spot because I can see it from here. I feel her shiver beside me, and I pull her in front of me to wrap my arms around her tiny frame. It’s pitch black now—just what I was wanting.
“Noah, what are we doing up here? I can’t see a thing. Are you trying to kill me and dump my body off the edge?” she kids, but it’s a horrible joke.
“Shh . . . I have a flashlight. We’ll be able to get back just fine.” My eyes are adjusted, and I’m surprised that she can’t see it yet. Is she that unobservant?
“What? You’ve had a flashlight this whole time?” she whispers loudly and half turns to look up at me.
“Yes, ballerina, I’m not going to go traipsing through the mountains without a flashlight at least.” I laugh and kiss her forehead. “Now turn around and look. Do you see it?”
“See what? It’s pitch black out here.”
I wrap my arms around her and turn her around to face the dark area below us where the lake is nestled between the mountains. She gasps and covers her mouth when she sees it: a vast constellation of stars and galaxies light up the night sky as it gets darker. The iridescent beauty of the Milky Way slightly reflects in the glassy cerulean lake. It’s a vertically stretched panorama of the most awe-inspiring view.
“Is that what I think it is?”
I grin to myself because I’ve been able to give her the twinkling stars she always dreamt of. And not just any stars, but the Milky Way. This feels good, being able to do this for her. It’s taken so much time and planning, but her reaction is well worth the wait. I peer up ahead of us and stare into the millions of stars. The pitch-black night sets the glistening stars off effortlessly, and the snowcapped mountains provide the unspoiled setting. There’s not a more unblemished place on this earth. I move my arms from around her and slowly crouch down beside her. She’s too completely awestruck and engulfed in what she sees above us to even notice.
“Heather?”
“Mmm?” she says before she turns and glances down at me. “Noah?”
“Heather, from the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew it was a pivotal moment in my life. I set out to leave you in my past, but you danced your way back in, and I couldn’t be happier. You are the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen and I am so lucky you wanted me—I adore you. I want to wake up to you every morning, fall asleep with you in my arms every night. I want to grow old with you, and I want nothing more than to live a long and fulfilling life with you by my side. I want to make you happy in every way possible. Being with someone has never been so simple or pleasurable before. I’d walk to the ends of the earth to have you for the rest of my life.”
I reach into my jacket to retrieve a little blue box from the inside pocket. She’s watching me intently when I shift from a crouch onto one knee. Her eyes glow under the starlight when she realizes exactly what I’m doing—damn I could get lost in those jade green eyes.
“You’re the most precious gift I’ve been given, and I want to take care of you. If what you need is for this to be a long engagement, I’m more than okay with it. I want—no, I need—to be promised to you in any way I can be.”
I open the unmistakable blue box and reveal a three and a quarter-carat pear-shaped diamond, hand set in a diamond halo platinum ring, while I watch and gauge her reaction. I can feel my heart palpitating savagely against my chest.
“Heather Adalyn Lane, will you do me the extreme honor of becoming my wife?”
HEATHER
My heart feels like it’s going to explode in my chest. I have such a burst of energy but I can’t move. I’m rooted to the spot.
He reaches for my hand and runs his finger down my left ring finger. “Heather?”
“Noah, are you serious right now?”
He looks up into my eyes as he waits for my answer. I glance down at the blue box in his hand and at the most gorgeous ring I have ever seen. I can’t seem to find my words, not a single one as a tear runs down my cheek.
He brings my hand to his lips and places a kiss to my ring finger. “Baby?” he prods.
“Of course I will! I love you so much. My answer is yes, yes, yes, Noah. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
He smiles a smile I’ve never seen before, and he drops his head before shaking it in . . . what? Disbelief?
“Yes? Damn, baby, I love you so much.” He gets up and takes the ring out of the box, before slipping it onto my left ring finger. My heart does a somersault and aches all at once. I love this man so much that it physically hurts.
“Yes . . .” I repeat softly.
Without warning, he picks me up and takes my mouth in a passionate kiss. I throw my arms around his neck and kick my legs up behind me as I start to kiss my man.
My fiancé.
His arms tighten around me, and I know that this is real. I followed my heart, and it led me to this man. He makes every moment I’m with him feel like magic. I’ve decided that, yes, I want to spend the rest of my life with him, and I want the rest of my life to start right now.
He pulls back from me and takes my left hand, pressing his lips to the oversized diamond. I look down at it shining on my finger and squeal excitedly, “Noah, we’re engaged!”
He chuckles and kisses up and down my neck. “You’re damn right, sweetheart. You’re mine forever.”
“I know. Oh Noah, I’d choose you over and over again without any doubt. I love you.”
He sighs heavily and pulls back to look at me. “You had me worried for a minute there, baby. I was about to beg.” He gently moves my hair away from my face.
I look down at my ring and giggle. “You took my breath away. You’ve given me every dream I’ve ever had in the span of one evening. You’re my happily ever after.”
He drops his forehead to mine. “Jesus, Heather, you’ve made me the happ
iest man alive. Thank you.” Lifting his head, he presses his lips to my forehead while he holds me snugly in his arms.
I turn my head to the side and look out at the beautiful scene before us. I will never forget this day as long as I live. I’m committing everything to memory: the rocks, the mountains, the lake below us, and the Milky Way . . . all witnesses to our engagement.
His hands move down to the small of my back. “Would you like to call your sister? Or my parents?”
I shiver and nod, taking one last look at the view. “Yes! Can we go back? I’m freezing, and I want to look at my engagement ring.”
He takes his jacket off and places it around my shoulders and I gratefully slip my hands into the comically long sleeves. I take in a deep breath because I’m surrounded by all things Noah.
“Let’s get you warm, ballerina.”
NOAH
This night couldn’t have gone any better, and right now I’m on cloud nine. She looks like a vision sitting there on the floor in front of the fire in her pink satin robe. That smile hasn’t left her face since we’ve been back, and fuck does it feel good because I put it there. She was distracted during our bath, looking down at her hand continuously. I guess it was a good distraction, though.
She’s currently on the phone with her sister. Her words are running together as she tries to tell Dani what our evening entailed. Heather looks back at me on the couch quickly and cups her mouth. “What? You knew?” She listens for another second before responding. “He asked you? Seriously?”
She turns her head and narrows her eyes at me cutely before pointing at me. Well, it seems as if I’m in trouble. I wink at her, and she beams up at me.
They talk for a few more minutes before hanging up. I get up to grab the bottle of champagne that has been chilling in the ice bucket and pop it open. “Would you like to call my parents next?”
“Yes!” she exclaims and looks up at me from the floor. I adjust my pajama bottoms before sitting down next to her, filling her champagne flute.
Once I set the bottle down, she shifts and moves onto my lap as she dials Ellery’s number. “I hope we’re not waking them up,” she adds as she sips on her champagne before leaning back against my bare chest.
I kiss the top of her head and wait for Ellery to answer. There’s one more ring before her voice is on the line.
“Hello?” she answers with a little hesitation. I smile because I know that she’s nervous as hell right now. I clear my throat and answer before Heather can.
“Mom? She said yes.”
Heather quickly turns around and looks at me with the biggest smile on her face. It’s the first time she’s heard me call Ellery Mom.
“She did? Oh honey, I’m so happy for you both. Hold on, Henry wants to hear the news too.” She takes a few moments to figure out how to put us on speakerphone and when she does, my future Mrs. Noah Ryan starts telling our story to my parents—our parents.
After I relive our engagement again through Heather’s memory, I hear my mom blow her nose loudly on the other end. I chuckle, and I hear my dad chuckle as well. “We couldn’t be happier for you two, son,” Henry speaks up.
“Thanks, Dad. We’ll need to go out to dinner when we get back next week. Oh damn, I don’t think we told you, but we got the house too.”
We both flinch a little when Ellery’s high-pitch squeal comes over the line followed by more nose blowing. “Oh goodness, this is the happiest day ever. You two are getting married, and you’ll be closer to us too.”
“We will be,” I say. “You’re both part of our lives.”
“Oh honey, you both mean so much to Henry and I. Listen, we’ve already spoken about this, and we would love to pay for the wedding. I understand that money is no longer an issue, but please let us do this. Heather? Darling? You wouldn’t mind, would you?”
She freezes on my lap and I move the hair away from her shoulder, pulling her robe down and kissing her skin softly. “Mom, we haven’t discussed anything yet, but that’s not necessary.”
“We know it’s not, but we would like to do this for you two. I don’t know how life brought the two of you together, but I’m not going to stand in love’s way. We’re going to encourage it. And I do not want to hear any ifs, ands, or buts about it.”
I drop my head back against the couch cushion with an exaggerated sigh. “Dad? Mind talking some sense into her please?” I feel Heather move and straddle my thighs and start kissing my chest. My fingers find her long, soft hair as Henry speaks.
“I’m on this side of the battlefield, son. I highly suggest conceding, because Ellery sure has her ways.”
I drop it for the moment because I don’t want an argument. Not on this night. “We’ll talk about it when we see you guys. Okay?”
“All right, darling, just answer me this: have you decided on a date?”
My eyes are closed with Heather’s lips on my chest when she stops kissing me. I open my eyes and raise my head to look down at my girl. She’s looking at me, her eyes are twinkling, and a smile is forming on her face. “Well,” she says, “I’ve always loved the snow . . . so I was thinking of a winter’s date.”
NOAH
It’s the morning after the best evening of my life.
Heather has agreed to marry me, and damn, I could not be more contented.
She stirs on top of me—her favorite spot—clad in her lace underwear. I’ve made the decision of a lifelong commitment to my ballerina, and I’ve never seen that spark shine so bright inside of her. That ember that won’t go out in my life—the one I won’t let go out—has grown into a glowing fire by night, one that can be seen by anyone. I place my lips against the top of her head and breathe her into my awakening senses. She lets out a deep breath and stills again, once she can feel the warmth from my bare chest.
I shut my eyes and replay the evening in my mind: from the Milky Way to the phone call to my parents. I grin when I remember the shock on Heather’s face when she heard me call Ellery Mom for the second time. As for the first time, I will never forget that day as long as I live.
After I had made the decision to ask Heather to marry me, it just seemed right . . . seemed like the right time. Heather and Henry were in his office, working on her physical therapy, so it was just the two of us in the room. I was watching Ellery busy herself in the kitchen—she’d insisted on making me a pie. I couldn’t get her to sit her ass down, so I just sat there and watched. I was sitting there at the island, my arms crossed over my chest, when something just told me . . . now is the time . . . so I didn’t fight it.
“Ellery?” I used caution when forming my next words. “Could I ask you to help me with something?”
She smiled and looked up at me as she wiped her hands on her apron, dusting it with flour from her fingertips. “Of course, darling, what is it?” she asked, not hesitating to walk around the island to stand next to me. Even with me sitting, I was still a foot taller than her, it seemed. My heart was pumping wildly in my chest, and my foot started to tap quickly. I looked down at her genuine smile and instantly felt a calm wash over me. It caught me by surprise, because Heather had been the only other woman to be able to calm me just as quickly.
“I’m going to ask Heather to marry me, and I’d love it if you would help me choose the perfect ring.”
I couldn’t help but laugh when she gasped and threw her arms around my neck. “Noah! Oh honey, yes. Oh, I’m so happy for you! Of course I’ll help you!” She was beaming when she pulled back to look at me and placed her palm on my cheek.
“Thank you . . . Mom.”
She stood there taking in the word, as if it hit her in the heart, before she just ripped her apron off and grabbed me by the hand. “To hell with the pie. It can wait.”
That was the first time I’ve ever heard anything resembling a swear word from my mother’s mouth. We told Heather and Henry that we were going out to lunch and then just outside of the city to one of Ellery’s favorite places to get supplies for her nur
sery business, which bought us some time to head to Tiffany’s in the heart of Manhattan.
She was more than a help. When I first picked out a ring back in London, I chose it in haste. The only thought in my mind was keep her, keep her, keep her. That turned out to be a disaster. This time, with my mother by my side, the selection process was much different. She perused the glass cases with a keen eye. She forced me to really think about Heather and what I could see my ballerina wearing. I laughed when she actually smacked my arm and scolded me when I told her that Heather would like anything that glittered.
“Noah Ryan, behave,” she scolded.
“Yes, ma’am,” I replied with a smirk.
Finally we came to the section of diamonds that were pear-shaped. I knew immediately that this was what my girl should have on her finger.
I’m snapped back from the memory when Heather bares her teeth, sinking them into my pec.
I grunt and look down at her. “It’s not nice to bite your fiancé, Heather.”
“It is if he likes it.” She giggles and sits up animatedly. “Can we go canoeing again? I loved it so much.”
“We can do whatever you want, but first I’m in dire need of a full breakfast.”
“You’ve got yourself a deal, handsome. I’ll go get ready, and we can head down. I think that I’ll order that hot chocolate again.” About to run her hand through her hair, she pauses to admire her ring. “I’m never taking this off.”
I laugh briskly and sit back to admire her face. “I’m glad you like it. Ellery made sure I put a lot of thought into it.”
“She did? She’s amazing, Noah. I can’t believe this is happening. I can’t wait to show the girls when we get back to the city.”
Heather swings her legs off of the bed and twirls once, before almost skipping to the bathroom to get ready for the day. I glance down at my watch on the nightstand and bolt out of bed. Shit.
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