And the man who once shattered her heart was no longer asking her to forget the past.
He was helping her build a future from its ruins.
Ethan came closer.
“So…”
Hannah narrowed her eyes.
“So what?”
“Still no ring?”
She looked toward the frozen lake.
Then at their children.
Then back at him.
“Maybe one.”
His breath caught.
“Maybe?”
“Don’t ruin it.”
He grinned.
Daniel shouted from ten feet away:
“DO IT NOW!”
Hannah burst out laughing.
Ethan dropped to one knee in the snow.
“You said you’d push me into the lake.”
“I changed my mind.”
“You haven’t even heard the question.”
“I know the question.”
He looked up at her.
No rehearsed speech.
No diamonds yet.
Only truth.
“Hannah Mercer, after everything I failed to be when we were young, will you let me spend whatever life I have left being better beside you?”
