He opened the box and held it up to me. The ring was gorgeous—the ruby had been set in white gold and was flanked by smaller diamonds—but I wouldn’t have cared if it had been hideous. All I cared about was that Rafe had remembered how upset I’d been about losing that ring, so many years ago, and that he’d cared enough to try to find it for me.

I jumped off the chair and into his arms. He swung me around in a circle, hugging me tight. “I love you,” I whispered into his ear.

“Get down, Niswander!” Chris shouted. “Do it right.”

“Good idea.” Rafe set me on my feet and dropped to one knee. “Sorry it took so long, Minnie. I know you said ‘yes’ a couple of months ago, but . . .” He slid the ring onto my finger. “Will you say it again, just to shut him up?”

“With pleasure,” I said, laughing. “Yes, I will marry you,” and kissed him. This time the applause went on for a long time.

“Okay, everybody!” Kristen shouted. “Back to work, then we can eat!”

With so many people helping, it didn’t take long to get everything moved, and the party ended up where good parties always do, in the kitchen, where Rafe and I, then Mia and Josh, were toasted with cheers and beer. It was a great party, but I couldn’t enjoy it fully until I did one more thing.

I quietly slipped away and went upstairs. In the master bedroom, exactly in the center of the bed, was Eddie.

“Just like Rafe said.” I climbed onto the bed. “Getting cat hair all over everything. So what do you think? Are you going to like it here? Is this okay as your forever home?”

Eddie licked my face, something he rarely did.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” I said. “Tomorrow I’ll show you around. You’ve been here before, but now everything is done. No smells, no tool noises. You’re going to love it here, I’m sure of it.”

Well, “sure” might be a strong word, but there was a lot for Eddie to like. Deep windowsills to lounge on, half walls to drape himself over, floor registers to sleep on. In many ways the place was designed for a cat.

“You know what?” I asked. “I’d say we have everything we need.” I kissed the top of his furry head. “The only wrinkle is Rafe and I still haven’t settled the whole ‘who’s paying for the house’ thing. But I have great friends and coworkers, the job of my dreams, a gorgeous home, I’m engaged to a wonderful man, and I have an Eddie.”