“I had that wrong.” He drew her back a little, to see her. “What you are is perfect for me. So.” He dug into his pocket, pulled out a box, flipped it open.

She stared at the diamond, then at him. “You—” She didn’t know how to get the words out through the stunned surprise and joy. “You bought me a ring?”

“Of course I bought you a ring.” Annoyance shimmered. “What do you take me for?”

“What do I take you for?” She tried to catch her breath, couldn’t. And stared down at the ring that flashed like a star in the porch lights. “Exactly what you are. Just exactly.”

“I love you, so we’re getting married.”

She held out her hand, tapped her ring finger.

“Right.” He took the ring, slid it on her finger.

“It fits,” she said softly. “How did you know?”

“Measured one of your other ones.”

“I’m so lucky to be marrying a handy man.”

“When you do, you’re moving. My wife’s not living at the inn.”

“Oh.” Details, she thought. She was good with details and adjustments. So she wrapped her arms around him. “I bet Carolee will be happy to take over the innkeeper’s apartment, shuffle the schedule. We’ll work it out.”

“Later,” he decided.

“Later,” she agreed, and lost herself in him. “It’s beautiful. It’s all beautiful.”

She leaned her head on his shoulder, started to sigh. And her breath caught. “Ryder. Oh God, Ryder, look. There.” She pointed to the other end of the porch.

They stood together in the shadows, locked in an embrace. He wore the rough clothes of a laborer, not a torn and bloody uniform. Hope saw his hand fist at the back of Lizzy’s dress, as Ryder’s often did with hers.

“He found her. Her Billy, he found her. They found each other. They’re together now.”

“Don’t cry. Come on.”

“I cry when I need to. Get used to it. After all this time, after all the waiting, there they are. You look like him a little. Like her Billy.”

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

“I do. I think you showed him the way. I don’t know how. It doesn’t matter how.” For a moment her eyes met Lizzy’s. Joy into joy. “Everyone’s exactly where they belong.”

EPILOGUE

EPILOGUE

ON A BLOOMING EVENING IN SPRING, AVERY TWISTED HER gumball-machine ring while Clare and Hope fastened her wedding gown.

“I’m not nervous.”

“Of course not,” Hope said.

“Okay, a little, but just because I want to look really good.”

“Believe me, you do. Turn around and look,” Clare ordered.

In the bedroom of The Penthouse, Avery turned toward the big mirror. “Oh, I do. I really do look good.”

“Gorgeous is what you look,” Hope corrected. “Avery, you’re gorgeous. The dress is stunning. I shouldn’t have doubted your online acumen.”