“A drive in the country would be perfect,” she said. “Good idea. I’m in.”

It was just below freezing out, but perfectly climate controlled inside the car. I put on some John Legend, pointed north, and watched the world sail by for an hour or so.

Bree didn’t even notice where we were headed until I got off 270 in Maryland.

“Oh, goody.”

“Oh, goody?”

“You heard me. Oh, goody. Goody, goody gumdrops. I love this place!”

Catoctin Mountain Park is something of a sentimental favorite for us. It was the first place Bree and I ever went away together, and we’d gone camping there a few times since, with the kids and just the two of us. It’s beautiful year round—and closed on New Year’s Day, as it turned out.

“No big deal, Alex,” Bree said. “It’s a beautiful drive here, anyway.”

I pulled over at the big stone gate outside the main entrance and turned off the car’s engine.

“Let’s go for our walk. What are they going to do, arrest us?”

Chapter 116

A FEW MINUTES later, Bree and I had the Cunningham Falls trail all to ourselves, as alone as we were going to get in the course of an afternoon. The snow was fresh; the sky was bright blue—one of nature’s perfect days.

“Got any resolutions?” I asked her.

“Sure,” she said. “Work too much, stop going to the gym, and eat until I’m fat. How about you?”

“I’m going to stop recycling.”

“Good plan.”

“Maybe spend a little less time with the kids.”

“Definitely that. Great idea.”

“And I want to see if I can’t get the woman I love to marry me.”

Bree stopped short—I would have hoped for no less. I took advantage of the moment and pulled the ring out of my pocket.

“It was Nana’s,” I said. “She’d like you to have it too.”

“Oh, my God.” Bree was smiling and shaking her head; I couldn’t quite read the expression. “Alex, so much has just gone down in your life. Are you sure this is the right time for you?”

If this were some other woman, I might have thought it was code for letting me down easy. But this was Bree, and she doesn’t do code.

“Bree, do you remember the night of my birthday?” I asked her.

“Sure,” she said, a little confused. “When everything started. All the gunk. That’s the night you first heard about Caroline.”

“And up until that phone call from Davies, it was supposed to be the night I asked you to marry me. So if we can’t have that back, I’d say right now is just about perfect. Will you marry me, Bree? I love you so much I can’t stand it.”

The wind kicked up, and she reached inside my coat to put her arms around me. Then we kissed for a long time. “I love you too,” Bree whispered.

“Then yes, Alex,” she finally said. “I do love you so much. Yes to you. Yes to your amazing family—”