“I’m fine.” After another long hug Darby pulled away and walked over to Eban. She took his hand in hers. “And we have something to tell you.”

“Thank Christ for that,” Quentin said dramatically. “Maybe he’ll be less of a grouch at work now.”

“He’s right here, you know,” Eban complained.

“You knew?” Haley asked, kissing her fiancé.

“I’m a trained observer of human behavior.” Quentin grinned. “Of course, I knew.”

Eban let go of Darby’s hand and put on coffee for everyone. “I’m going to be looking for a job closer to Darby, or in Hawaii if she can arrange a transfer.”

Quentin nodded. “Good. I might be able to help you out. CNU could do with a negotiator based out west. But whatever happens, life is too short to wait sometimes. Not when something is right. Which is my cue to ask if you two would like to stand up for us at our wedding next month.”

“Next month?”

“Valentine’s Day to be exact—we decided if we were going to be schmaltzy, we were going to go all the way. And, we were going to ask Darby, and now you if she doesn’t dump your ass in the meantime, if you want to accompany us on our honeymoon for a week.”

“You want to take me on your honeymoon with you?” Darby said. “You know that isn’t normal, right?”

Haley smiled. “We’ll be staying on for longer. We’re going to my private island for a month and figured you might enjoy the break under the circumstances. Anyway, it isn’t just you. Alex and Mal and baby Georgina are coming, along with Dermott.”

“I’ll have to see if I can get the time off work,” Eban joked. “I’m also going to need some excellent references.”

“Not a problem.” Quentin winked. “I know a guy.” Then he cleared his throat. “When Haley and I were kidnapped in Indonesia and pretended to be married, we made up a story about our wedding. We decided it had been held on Haley’s island with Eban as the officiant. Although Haley wants to invite half of DC to the actual ceremony, we thought we’d recreate that scenario on the beach in the Caribbean. Kind of a last fuck you to the people who kidnapped us.”

Darby felt choked with emotion. “I’m in. Fuck them all.”

Eban smiled and drew back the curtains. “Wouldn’t miss it.”

The storm had blown itself out, leaving a crisp winter day with a clear blue sky stretched out above them. Darby glanced at the faint footprints tracking across the frozen lake to the ice-fishing huts about half a mile southeast of the cabin.

Eban put his hands on her shoulders. “We had quite the adventure last night, huh?”

Haley dragged them both away from the window. “Enough looking back on the past. Let’s concentrate on the future, for all four of us. Who wants a mimosa for breakfast?”

They all grinned as Haley whipped champagne and orange juice from her large tote.