He kissed me again. He was looking at me so intently that I wasn’t sure he noticed anyone else was in the room. “I know you have said over and over that you don’t want to get married. And I get it. Kind of. But, Alice, I love you and I’m not letting you go again. It’s you and me. Okay?”

I smiled and nodded. “Okay,” I whispered.

Then, in a day of shocking things, he did something that was perhaps the most shocking. He got down on one knee, reached in his pocket, and pulled out a beautiful gold and mother-of-pearl ring that was engraved AP. “I know what you’ve said, Al, but I want to be all in. I don’t want to just move in together. I want to be together forever. I want it to be you and me, and I don’t care if I’m sharing a bed with your ghosts or your fears. Because I’m not afraid. And when I found this ring yesterday, I knew it was a sign. So, Alice, I might be crazy. But I’m leaving it all on the table tonight. I want you to marry me. I want to be your husband. And I don’t give a damn what Juniper Shores Socialite has to say about it. Will you marry me?”

That elicited laughter from the women around me, reminding me that Elliott and I weren’t alone here. Had he asked me this this morning, I probably would have said no. But everything seemed different. Jeremy hadn’t died. I hadn’t been the bad luck charm. In fact, looking down at that beautiful ring with my future initials—perfectly selected by this wonderful man—I couldn’t help but feel like good luck was all around.

I nodded at him and started laughing. “Elliott, I didn’t kill Jeremy. He’s alive!”

He gave me a puzzled look. “Right. So I’ve heard.” He gestured around him. “Um. Kind of on one knee down here, babe.”

I leaned down and kissed him. “Sorry. So what I’m saying is that, if I didn’t kill Jeremy, then I won’t kill you. So, yes! I’ll marry you,” I said. Then, in a very serious voice, I added, “Why did it take you so long to ask?”

Elliott let out this relieved and shocked little laugh and picked me up, kissing me. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” I said. “He stole eighteen years of my life. I’m doing whatever I want from now on. And I want to get married. To you.”

Elliott slid the ring onto my finger. “I’m really glad to hear you say that because I made an offer on a house today.”

I gasped. “The one on the sound?”

He shook his head. “Nah. The one on the beach.”

I gasped again, covering my mouth. “Really?”