Chapter 9 - The Second ProposalAdrian waited six months.
I appreciated that.
Partly.
Then became annoyed.
“You understand I told you to propose again.”
“Yes.”
“Was that unclear?”
“No.”
“So?”
“I’m planning.”
“You planned an entire false identity in less time.”
“That required fewer emotional variables.”
I almost threw a pillow at him.
Then one evening, he drove me to Harbor Point.
The collapsed structure was gone.
In its place stood a memorial.
Three workers’ names.
Beside them—
a plaque explaining the falsified investigation that had destroyed Thomas Cross’s reputation.
Adrian stood quietly.
“My father never saw this.”
“No.”
“But you did.”
He looked at me.
“You gave me the files.”
“We both know you would have found the truth eventually.”
“Maybe.”
Then he took out a box.
Not the first wedding ring.
A simple platinum band.
“No disguise.”
He looked terrified.
I enjoyed that more than I should have.
“No contract.”
He knelt.
“No debt.”
“No families deciding for us.”
Then:
“Evelyn Montgomery…”
I raised one eyebrow.
He corrected himself.
“Evelyn, who I probably should not reduce to any surname while proposing…”
I laughed.
“Recovering nicely.”
He smiled.
“Will you marry me again?”
“For real?”
“For real.”
I looked at the man who had entered my life wearing an eighty-year-old face and carrying ten years of rage.
Then at the memorial.
Then the ring.
“This time I choose.”
“Yes.”
May you like
I held out my hand.
“So yes.”
