Nic started to say something, but he took her index finger in his and smoothed it over the trigger. “I didn’t know what to do with your ring after you were gone. And this gun was with me everywhere. This is what I did: the trigger’s gold plated. I couldn’t get Roman’s tattoo. I couldn’t scream from the rooftop that the woman I loved was gone. But I could have this with me, no matter where in the world I was.”

“Cash…”

He looked at her in the dark, trying to make out her features and read her mind. “The Creed goes on to say My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. It just fit. You’d always been with me. And somehow, thinking about us together in spirit, trenched out in the hellholes and kill zones I’d been sent to, it was nice to know you were in my foxhole. And Nicola Beatrice became… Miss Betty.”

She paused, then her voice was strong and powerful. “I love you, Cash. And I love that you did that.”

“Miss Betty kept me sane. Safe. I talked to her. Trusted her. She defended my life, my country. But it was always you, and I’ve always loved you.”

Nicola palmed his face. She drew him in for a kiss that warmed his soul, reinvigorating his belief that no woman on the planet was more perfect than her.

He placed the rifle back in its case and put it away. Crickets chirped, and a night owl sang. Taking care to remember every moment, he turned back to her, and a smile curled his lips.

“I love you, Nic. But gun, or no gun, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I loved you years ago, I loved you when you were gone from me, and I love you still. Always have and always will.” He slipped a ring out of his pocket and took her left hand in his, sliding it onto her finger. “I’ve grown up with you, fallen in love with you, and I want to marry you. I hope to God you want the same thing.” He cupped her face in his hands. “What do you say, sweet girl? Think Nicola Garrison could be more than just a name on paper?”

A smile so bright he didn’t need the sun blossomed across her face. “Of course I want to marry you. That’s my dream come true. I’ve wanted to since the first day I met you.”

With her in his arms, with those words, life was perfect. She softened into his embrace, pushing into his kiss. This was more than a dream come true. This was his woman, his life, molding into what it should’ve been.

“It’s a new house, but if you don’t like it, it’s on the auction block tomorrow.”

“I love it.”