“How did you know?” I accidentally murmured. Before she could say anything, I tossed my arms around her, squeezing her tight. “Thank you, Kiera…You don’t know how much I love this, all of this.” Pulling back, I felt an almost unbearable joy. “How much I love you.” Was it possible to die from happiness? Because I sort of felt that way.

Kiera’s eyes were glossy as she nodded at me. Clenching the tiny car, I pointed at her box. “Your turn.”

She exhaled a huge breath. Was she nervous? She bit her lip as she opened the present…so cute. When she saw what was inside the larger box, or the shape of what was inside it, she froze. My nerves spiked a little as I watched her. I knew what the ring box looked like, I knew what she was thinking, but I had no idea how she felt about it. It’s not an engagement ring…but if it was, would you want it?

She pulled the box out and popped it open, and the sudden tension in my body started relaxing. She opened it, that’s a good sign. When she spotted two rings inside the little box, her brows bunched. I smiled as I studied the confusion on her face. Reaching down, I grabbed my ring. “They’re promise rings,” I explained. Grabbing her ring, I slipped it on her right ring finger. It fit perfectly…thank God. “You wear one.” I slipped mine on my right hand, and I almost sighed in relief; I’d been wanting to wear it ever since I bought it. “And I wear one.” I stared at the matching rings on our fingers feeling nothing but complete and total bliss. “And we promise that no one comes between us. That we…belong to each other, and only each other.”

I pulled my eyes from the hypnotic rings to look at her. Wonder on her face, a tear rolled down her cheek as she stared at me. “I love it,” she whispered. She leaned over to kiss me, and I felt the truth in her words, in her lips. She did love it. She did understand. She felt the same.

Anna interrupted the moment with a wadded-up piece of wrapping paper so she could thank me for her perfume. Then Kiera’s dad awkwardly cleared his throat. “Yes, thank you…Kellan.” He wasn’t exactly smiling, but it was close enough. This one, I was going to claim as a victory.

As Caroline hugged a pair of plane tickets to her chest, I looked down at Kiera’s confused face. “I got them tickets to Seattle, so they could see you graduate in June.”

Kiera looked shocked that I’d done that. Her adorable expression made me laugh. “Kellan…you didn’t have to…”