* * *

Sully awoke the next morning, and the first thing he saw was his reflection in the clear-green color of Melissa’s eyes.

She was watching him sleep.

Last night had been magic between them, and today he needed to keep a promise he’d made to her.

“My lady…my love…can you leave town today? Nothing that needs to be done regarding the shop?”

“Yes.”

“You are due one slightly late engagement ring, and today’s the day I put a ring on your finger.”

She sighed. “You’re already in my heart so deep that all the sad and broken parts of me are gone.”

“That’s what love is supposed to do. It took us a long time to find our way back to where we began, but I don’t want to wait any longer to make it official.”

They hurried through getting dressed and settled for coffee and cereal before leaving town.

A little over an hour later, they were at a jewelry store, standing in front of a display case and getting ready to try on rings.

Melissa had done her best to cover up the scratches on her face and had on a long-sleeved top to hide the scratches on her arms, but there wasn’t a thing she could do about her hands.

Sully knew she was embarrassed and quickly put her at ease with a brief explanation to the jeweler that she was recovering from an accident.

Melissa gave him a grateful glance, and when the jeweler began to size her finger, she happily obliged.

“We always start with your proper size, but if you find something you like that isn’t in your size, we can size it for you. Do you know the style you want?” he asked.

“Not really. I’ll know it when I see it,” she said, and then for the next thirty minutes tried on three-stone sets, then the settings he called halos, and then the channel sets, none of which she cared for.

“If you don’t care for the ones with multiple stones, maybe these would be more to your liking,” the jeweler said, and took out a display of solitaires.

Melissa smiled. “Yes,” she said, pointing to one with a white gold band and a small stone.

“No,” Sully said. “That one. Let her try that one on.”

Melissa’s eyes widened. “But, Sully, it’s big.”

He grinned. “Honey, I’ve been single for a long time and didn’t plan on ever doing this again, until you happened. Try it on for me, please.”

“These are all in your size.” The jeweler smiled as he handed the ring to Sully. “Maybe you’d like to put it on her finger.”

Sully took the ring.

Melissa held out her hand, then looked up.

He winked, slipped it on her finger, then kissed her.

The emotions that swept through Melissa were a mixture of the past and the present. Andy was before, and sometimes it was hard for her to remember what he looked like. Sully was here and now, and they loved—oh, how they loved.